#Also hi Zer0 fans

[brooklynisher]

Short Fanfiction Time

Because I am incapable of writing long ones apparently.

Had a long conversation about Spine angst and how it affects his relationship with his siblings and that's what this is.

Do not be fooled though! This fic is quite lighthearted despite the what it's about.

Here's the link, but you can read the full story under the cut!

Summary: Zer0 notices that The Spine seems uncomfortable whenever he's around. He looks towards Rabbit to explain what the problem is.

Annoying Little Brother

After Hatchworth left the band to pursue his career in gold-fishing, Rabbit and The Spine were left in the dark. That’s one more robot to leave their old life behind in the pursuit of something greater. And though Rabbit and The Spine are always proud of their siblings for chasing their dreams, it doesn’t exactly feel great to be left behind as the “old life”. Not to mention that they cannot have a band of just two robots! They’re already so familiar with their three-robot dynamic. How could they adjust now?

Luckily a young robot was able to step in. Many years ago, Peter Walter VI accidentally discovered a robot originally used for war deep down in the basement. When he was discovered, he joined the band for a brief moment before pursuing a solo career. However, the success of his solo career was short-lived. He ended up going bankrupt and found himself coming back home. But now that he’s back, he’s more than happy to rejoin the band of his siblings! Especially now that they’re one robot short. Will he bring peace to the minds of his new bandmates?

"No Zer0! Now you just got paint all over your clothes!" Rabbit whined.

It seems not.

"You dip the figure into the paint. Y-y-y-you don't dump the paint onto the figure!"

"I don't get it!" Zer0 protested. 

"Rabbit, I've never done this before. I'm trying really hard to do it right but-"

"What even is that? Is that an alligator?" Rabbit interrupted.

"No! It's a-"

"Rabbit?" Another voice calls down the halls. 

Before Zer0 could explain his clay creation, Rabbit shifts her attention to her other brother's voice.

"Spine?" She calls back.

The Spine enters the room looking quite different than usual. The bots had gotten familiar with The Spine's tendency to overdress when he's not on stage, but to see him all decked out in cowboy attire is… different. 

"Hey, Rabbit, I was wondering if you- oh. Zer0, I- I didn't know you were in here." The Spine's mood seemed to slightly dampen at the sight of Zer0.

"How couldn't you with all his whining?" Rabbit teases. 

Zer0 lets out an embarrassed yet offended puff of steam.

"Oh. Well... Is everything alright over here?" The Spine asks.

Rabbit, sensing that The Spine's motives have changed, tries to coerce some honesty out of him. 

"Oh, w-w-w-we're just messing around! It's fine. But what about you huh? Whatcha doing over here?"

"I just wanted to see if..." His voice fades. 

The Spine seems to be a little uncomfortable as he speaks.

"Well... Never mind." He sighs.

With that, he takes his leave.

Rabbit nearly gets up in an attempt to stop him but she stays put, simply groaning in defeat.

"Annoying..." She mutters.

Rabbit returns to the original task at hand which was making clay figures with Zer0. Zer0 however, seems to be a bit put off by his older brother's behavior. He stares at the doorway trying to figure out what was so strange about what just happened. Spine walked in dressed like a cowboy, he was confused about Zer0's presence, he wanted to talk about something with Rabbit, but he left before he could say it. He left when he realized Zer0 was there…

"Hey, Rabbit?" Zer0 asks.

"Yes, Zer0?" Rabbit responds.

Zer0 paused. He couldn't help but feel like he was about to ask an inappropriate question, but he wanted answers.

"Do you think The Spine... doesn't like me?"

Rabbit tilts her head in genuine confusion.

"What? No! What makes you think that?"

"Well... You saw how he was acting when he saw me. He got upset and left. You don't think it's because I'm a new member, do you? Or maybe he's mad that I left you guys behind for that solo career... or maybe-"

"Zer0!" Rabbit stops him early. 

"Calm down! He isn’t-isn’t mad at you."

Despite Rabbit’s efforts to keep Zer0’s mind from making this worse, he still seems to be overthinking this.

"But he always acts like this Rabbit! Every time I'm around, he gets uncomfortable and he always tries to hang out with you, but never with me! I know I'm new and needed in the band and all but I don't feel like he wants me to be here… And I think-”

"No! Zer0 he... The whole reason he came here in the first place was because he wanted to play cowboys! He’s not-" Rabbit starts

"With you. Not with me. Because he hates me, I get it." Zer0 interrupts failing to hide his stubbornness.

"Oh come on Zer0 it’s not because he hates you! N-n-n-not at all! It’s because… Well… “

Rabbit pauses for a second contemplating if she should dig this deep. Zer0 raises an eyebrow. 

“Honestly? He's afraid of you Zer0." She reveals.

That stops Zer0 in his tracks.

“Afraid of me? Is it because of-”

“‘Afraid’s a strong word’ Okay okay. I get it, but the point is, it’s not because of y-you.”

Rabbit’s tone has gotten rather serious compared to how she usually is. Zer0 can be rather stubborn when he’s all worked up. And although there can be something endearing about his stubbornness, it’s quite a challenge to deal with when it’s about a serious topic. During moments like these, Rabbit finds it easiest to shut down any attempts at pushing his worries further.

“Spine’s just not used to this.” She continues.

“Used to… what?”

“Used to behaving like… well… a brother. Or more himself I suppose” 

Rabbit leans towards Zer0, standing up a little as to intimidate him.

“Listen-listen, I’m going to tell you a secret. Alright? You cannot tell anyone, especially-ly-ly The Spine, that I told you this. Can you keep it?”

Rabbit can be scary at times, but usually, it’s in a silly way, much like how many people find clowns to be scary. But this time, it’s different. It’s as if she’s threatening him without words. Even though Rabbit herself isn’t known for her ability to keep secrets, whatever it is she tells Zer0, he has to keep it between them.

“Yes ma’am.” He responds unintentionally showing a bit of fear.

“Good.”

The lights go out. Suddenly, Rabbit’s entire face glows up as a flashlight shines on her from underneath. Was this a bit dramatic for the tale she was going to tell? Absolutely, but she could figure out people fast, and although Zer0 was new, she knew this was exactly what he needed to understand this secret.

“You see Zer0, Spine grew up very different from the rest of us. Unlike us, The Spine was designed to be perfect. Perfect in every way. Such an impossible goal. But Pappy Walter believed he could achieve it.”

As she speaks, she walks around the dark room, still facing Zer0. Zer0 follows her as needed.

“He tried his hardest, but no matter how hard he tried, something always went wrong. There was always something that The Spine did or said that needed to be fixed. So he kept trying and trying and one day…”

Rabbit flicks the side of her head to create a dinging noise.

“The Spine figured it out. If it was his behavior that was the problem, then it’s up to him to fix it. And so he did. He taught himself how to appear to be perfect.”

She takes a step towards Zer0.

“And you know what perfection means right?” She asks towering over him.

“Wh-what does it mean Rabbit?” He responds, shaking a little.

“That means no whining.”

“Ah!”

“No crying.”

“AH!”

“And no playing.”

“AHHHHHH!!! TURN IT OFF RABBIT TURN IT OFF!” Zer0 screams as if this is a movie.

Rabbit chuckles a little before turning off the flashlight, which only induces more screaming from Zer0. She walks over to the doorway, now covered with a tarp, and flicks the light switch back on. Zer0’s screaming subsides.

“How… how did you know all of that?” Zer0 asks.

“I know everything. I’m the oldest.”

“Oh.” Zer0 looks away for a second before another question finds him.

“But… wait...” Zer0 starts. 

“What does The Spine being perfect have to do with him being afraid of me?”

“You see Zer0, The Spine has a bit of a hard shell.”

“Aren’t all of us made of metal?”

“Not literally.”

“Oh.”

“But I’ve managed to break through it in recent years. He’s getting comfortable with me. And-and I’ve managed to actually get him to let his guard down around me. To be imp-p-perfect with me!”

“But it’s just you?” Zer0 asks.

“Exactly! That’s why he was uncomfortable when he saw you! He was wearing his cowboy outfit! Y-y-you caught him playing pretend!”

“Ohhhhh…” Zer0 pauses before coming to a realization.

“Oh, well he probably feels terrible now! Oh no, he definitely doesn’t want me around now! I should-” Zer0 begins to stand up.

“No! No!” Rabbit interferes. “Spine NEEDS you around Zer0!”

“What? Really?” Zer0 asks feeling genuinely surprised. 

“Yes! Even beyond-ond all that band stuff. Spine’s gonna need a lotta help before he could ever learn to be himself”

She sits herself and Zer0 back down.

“There’s a lot of things Spine doesn’t understand because of his perfectionism. He d-d-doesn’t understand how to enjoy himself, how to be honest with himself, or even how to be an actual brother!”

She grabs his shoulders.

“And with everyone else out and about doing their own things, you’re the only little brother out there who can teach him how to be a big brother!”

Zer0 looks perplexed.

“Rabbit… do you think I’m a good little brother?” He asks.

“You’re the perfect little brother!” She exclaims.

“But, you’re always yelling at me for being dumb and-”

“EXACTLY! The Spine needs an annoying younger brother to yell at and an annoying older sister to dunk on him and we need to love him through all of that! Th-th-th-then he will know the true meaning of being a brother!”

Zer0 was now getting excited at the prospect of being an annoying little brother.

“Yeah… Yeah! If Spine needs an annoying yet loveable little brother, then that’s just what I’ll do! I’ll be the most annoying most lovable little brother in the world! I don’t even have to try!”

“That’s the spirit!” 

Rabbit pats Zer0’s back. Before looking towards the doorway.

“You know… I think Spine has a lovely red coat that can use some decor-decorating… If you catch my drift…” Rabbit winks.

“Ohhoho... we’re gonna turn Spine’s coat into party banners…”

Rabbit pauses for a second.

“That… Actually, you know what? I like that idea better. Let’s do it!”

Zer0 and Rabbit go on to destroy a perfectly good coat out of love for their brother. Perhaps Zer0 is exactly what the band needs to bring peace to their minds after all. Even if he needs to vandalize a few things with Rabbit to do so.

[deconstructivesurgery]

top five things i am currently insane about in borderlands as usual:

a) timothy lawrence and the way that he's so commonly misinterpreted. i want to see an in-depth exploration of all the less "funny cute anxious bean" or whatever aspects of his personality. i want to see the remnants of jack still lingering in his personality and the way this makes other people uncomfortable sometimes. i want to see the fact that he's a resilient mf who survived being a vault hunter. i want a genuine exploration of the relationship (platonic or romantic) that he could have with moxxi, where they both simultaneously explore the people that they are underneath the literal mask/corporate image of themselves that they present. i want to see the crimson raiders send him to atlas for a new hand because rhys fucking OWES them after they saved his ass, and i want to see him have a conversation with zer0, one of the people who killed jack. i also want to see him accidentally scare the shit out of rhys on multiple occasions. I WANT TO SEE IT ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HE'S TERRIBLE AT ACTING LIKE JACK ON PURPOSE, but when he's not intentionally doing it? jesus, it catches you off guard. sometimes the things he says as himself sound like something that would naturally come out of jack's mouth.

b) katagawa jr. can i ever decide entirely whether or not i wanted him to be reworked into a more competent, long-standing antagonist that would EVENTUALLY be killed by rhys personally in a grand display of him killing a foil of himself/ a representation of the worst person that he could have become in order to protect the new future he built for himself and all the people working for him- OR an eventually slowly redeemed character who survived the vault hunter's attack only to be disgraced by Maliwan and forced to gain a new perspective on the world much the same way Rhys was when he was initially ousted to being a janitor at Hyperion before going to Pandora? no. i cannot decide which of these paths i like better, but i really want either of them to have happened.

c) pure unadulterated rage about what they did to vaughn's character post tftbl. that's it. no elaboration needed.

d) the lack of content about maya meeting and knowing about other sirens and getting to connect with them over their experiences. i want to see more about her personal horror encountering angel in bl2- realizing that this can be a siren's fate sometimes if they're unlucky or defeated, weaponized and used for their powers as a tool. i want to see her meet lilith, and bond with her over the weight on their shoulders- being a vault hunter and a siren all at once and being looked up to as a legend, a myth, and a saviour all at once. also why the fuck did they kill her off in bl3 it's so fucking awful she could've been an awesome returning character and instead of just having her return to athenas they could have done a whole arc about her begrudgingly returning to her place of origin despite complicated feelings about it because they're in danger.

e) TANNNNNNNNNNNISSSSS. i love patricia tannis. number one tannis fan over here. i just want to see more of her interacting with everyone in general, actually. sirens and eridian history are her favourite, let me see her talking lilith and maya into silly experiments for her own personal gain. making friends, slowly, as she connects with the crimson raiders more closely than she thought she would, with other scientific minds. like hammerlock! they have different realms of study, but i like to think they'd get along. have her wander begrudgingly into moxxi's bar (unpleasantly loud and busy, but needs must) and ask her for a favour because she needs someone persuasive to convince the vault hunters to spare a bit of eridium for a machine she's got in the works. more her please

[shinakazami1]

Give me a 12, 13 and 22 for rhys, soldier 🫵

FELLOW RHYS ENJOYER (krotiation I LOVE YOUR ART TOO SM GAAAAH THIS FANDOM HAS SUCH GREAT ARTISTS)

12. What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with?

I have in total, three AUs I have to finally write anything for fhasfsa (I do plan on posting Tales AU first chapter this week tho!!). 1) RHYS AI AU is something you saw me post snippets of - in general, it's an alternative version of Borderlands 2, where Jack kills Lilith and Roland very quickly and survives. Due to mourning for Nisha, Wilhelm and Angel, he one day writes code for a companion based on an imaginary friend he had but also, gives him some trait of each one of those he misses. While Rhys was going to slowly become the silly personality we know and love, this was my typical 'give the character therapy when they don't want it, and end up with them hurting someone else and trying to change'. 2) JUST WING IT AU is my Tales AU that starts with changes in ep 5, with how Rhys handles the news about Jack wanting to get that exoskeleton in him and focusing on exploring Jack's loneliness and adding him as the third character, making sort of second season for the game. The additional driving point would be that Loader Bot would be able to grab Gortys and run off with her, so the search for Vault would become longer Yet the AU I really hope to start exploring in the future, is this one: 3) Loss of what once happened but never before AU. It's a Borderlands 3 Rhack au that would focus on Rhys finding out he is a siren with huge time-travelling powers and the costs that come with it. He would turn back in time, when Jack was still known as John during the nights, and watch some of the consequences happen in the present during the day. He doesn't know though just how strong the butterfly effect will be...

13. What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to someday?

Characters: Timothy, Angel, Nisha, Zer0, Katagawa, Axton, Moxxi, Lilith, Roland

Ships: Rhysothy, Rhack, JackxNisha, MoxxixTimothy, Rhysagawa, Axton x Turret (cus she is my wife I luv her)

(The list prob isn't finished cus I still have to finish playing the second game and play the third one oifhaiof)

22. Give us headcanons for Rhys

He actually likes fashion and likes casual official style in general.

He has a sweet tooth but pretends to like spicy food in college.

He actually had a heterochromia before the echo eye and decided to keep it.

He admired Jack a bit but he laughed at psycho fans, as he has some critical thinking.

Even a few years after getting Atlas running again, he still tries to make some guns himself, even if he doesn't have as much time.

He was the one dumped by his ex girlfriend even if he didn't like their dynamic because he was actually scared nobody else would be into him.

He spends a lot of time in the morning preparing his hair. It's quite wavy which gets visible in wetter climates but fortunately for him, he lives mostly in dry ones.

He met Katagawa and at first, couldn't believe he had a fan even if he had some boosted ego but felt something off about him. He turned off an invitation to Zanara because he still thinks about his talk with Vaughn about being good at faking cool. That's why he is even more awkward in future games, since while chasing the younger years, he wants to show he matured, hoping that maybe that will bring Sasha back. That's also why he got the moustache - to show he is becoming more serious. Which fails miserably.

He seemed the most confident in his new Atlas CEO stage because he had to look like it. There was nobody else to help him at the time, so he tried his best to do what he had done - acted the plan out.

He still imagines his plans the same way he did in Tales - with fantasies.

[rafs13]

Gojohime/Gouta fanfic

Here’s a k pop inspired fanfic idea of gojohime for anyone who’s interested. I’ve had it in my mind for a while now.

It’s called Sweet Debauchery.

It will include be a reverse harem romance where a lot of the characters are pinning for Utahime giving Gojo competition It’s slow burn, fluff, flirting, loss of innocence, angst, kissing etc in chapters to come.

Summary:

Sweet Debauchery is the newest hottest sensation in Japan, a boy band that has taken the world by storm. The billion-dollar group consists of 6 members who have the world to their name with riches and fame. Gojo Satoru is known as the Face of the group with his infamous nickname ‘’Baby Blue’’, known for charming ladies, wooing, and breaking hearts. He lives on the edge, on the high and fast life fueled by exhilaration, however, everything changes when he accidentally comes across paths with a lady named Lori Utahime. A poor lady with humble ambitions to become a professional baseball player ends up applying for a job as a personal assistant for the group to save up and fund her dreams.

Here’s the prologue

Prologue -D Day

Sunset had peaked at its zenith, and the sky shined a blood-red orange with dark hues creeping in. It was the eve of summer in the year 2020. After 7 years of tremendous preparation, 1 million auditions, and vigorous training, JJK Records, Tokyo’s most prestigious record label finalized their first official boy band. The idea to debut a new boy band came to fruition in 2013 when the boom of boy bands rose again in Japan. Before that year the interest in boy groups from Japan had declined with the Japanese audience as international groups (specifically in the States) dominated the music charts. However, a shift occurred in 2013 when a Japanese solo artist from JJK records named ZER0, debuted with his hit song ‘’Lost In Paradise’’ which charted number 1 on the Billboard Charts and went viral worldwide. The world was now interested in new talent found in the depths of Japan, it was a new world for a new audience to discover with curiosity. The culture and spin on music were fresh and unexplored territory.

This wave of change was dubbed ‘’The New Gen’’.

‘’Are you all okay with the conditions?’’

Six contracts were placed on a sleek metallic table in a horizontal line, all printed and ready to sign by the six young men standing before two male figures. The six young men all were found muttering to themselves in a small circle as minutes before they had, had the time to look over the contracts. The most they did was skim through the first couple of pages as the excitement to debut was too hard to contain. Behind the two men was a huge widespread fine glass-tinted window giving a view of Tokyo at sunset. It was a Friday so traffic, city lights, fumes, and people were buzzing on the scene. The city chaos outside was a huge contrast to what was going on. The six young men were in the office of the CEO of JJK Records, being offered to sign with the company as a six-membered group. Each contract presented to the group is seven hundred and three pages long, but out of all the pages, page seven clause three point one is the most important. This page included a list typed out in thick red capitalized words that stated the following:

The Ten Unbreachable Rules

1. NO DATING. AS A SIGNED AND ACTIVE MEMBER OF JJK RECORDS, YOU MUST NOT DATE. THIS ALSO INCLUDES SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH ANYONE, ESPECIALLY A FAN. THIS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE.

2.ALL UNRELEASED/RELEASED WRITTEN SONGS/MATERIAL, INSTRUMENTALS, REMIXES, AND COLLABS THAT ARE RELEASED UNDER JJK RECORDS OR BY ANY SIGNED ARTIST UNDER JJK RECORDS WILL BE COPYRIGHTED TO THE COMPANY. THEREFORE 100 PERCENT OF THE RESIDUALS/ROYALTIES WILL BE SUPPLIED TO THE COMPANY

3.50 PERCENT OF ANY MUSIC SALES MADE FROM THIRD-PARTY BRAND DEALS WILL BE GIVEN TO JJK RECORDS

4.ALL SIGNED JJK RECORD ARTISTS WILL BE ASSIGNED A WORK SCHEDULE REGARDING THE YEAR. OUT OF THE 365 DAYS IN A YEAR, EACH ARTIST WILL GET 1 MONTH OFF, ZERO SICK DAYS, AND MUST WORK OVERTIME/ON WEEKENDS

5.THE NAME, BRAND, MUSIC, AND IDENTITY OF YOUR ASSIGNED GROUP AND GROUP MEMBERS ALL BELONG TO JJK RECORDS

6.A LOAN OF ¥300,000,000 WILL BE PAID IN ADVANCE AS A NEW ARTIST. THIS MUST BE PAID BACK A YEAR AFTER THE DEBUT THROUGH SALES.

7.ALL SIGNED ARTISTS UNDER JJK RECORDS CONTRACTS ARE ACTIVE FOR 7 YEARS WITH THE OPTION TO RESIGN ONCE THE 7 YEARS COMPLETE.

8.STRICT DIETING MUST BE INCORPORATED INTO THE EVERYDAY LIFESTYLE

9.STRICT DECORUM AND PROFESSIONALISM MUST BE KEPT AT WORK, PUBLIC EVENTS, CONCERTS, FANSIGNINGS, AND ALL PUBLIC APPEARANCES. NO DRINKING PUBLICALLY, NO CRIMINAL/ILLEGAL ACTIVITY SUCH AS DRUGS, GANG/YAKUZA ACTIVITY, OR USE OF GUNS/KNIVES & INAPPROPRIATE ACTIVITY SHOULD BE ENGAGED IN

10.IF AT ANY TIME ONE OF THESE RULES IS BREACHED THIS CONTRACT WILL BE CEASED AND VOID

‘’Think carefully. Once the ink is dry you’ll belong to us.’’ joked the older male playfully, the man looked ancient as if he had passed his life limit spotting sunken eyes that were hollow you could barely see through them, due to being cast over by thick black shadow. The elder was sat down hunched in his chair with his slender weak hands resting on the table for support. This man was named Yoshinobu Gakuganji who owned JJK Records, he was notorious in the music business for making dreams come true for up-and-coming artists. Gakuganji made stars such as platinum two-time seller Mei Mei, a ballad/soul singer who debuted last year and is now gaining international fans. Teen pop sensation Momo also busted onto the scene debuting earlier that year in 2020, but has been actively promoting in Korea & Thailand outside of Japan. Plus Gakuganji hit it big with ZER0 which gave him huge credentials for his record label to the point that American labels are looking to do business with JJK Records in a partnership.

Gakuganji smiled at the view of the six young men speaking upon themselves, despite doing so he already knew they would accept the offer. These young men were desperate to debut, it was too easy for him to know that as they wouldn’t have trained for so long to debut. It made it easier for him to set his traps…

Aside from Gakuganji the other man now stood up placing a hand on his hip and waiting for an answer, in contrast to Gakuganji this man was middle-aged, presumably in his late 30s, and was bulky in stature with tanned sun-kissed skin. The man wore black thick shades of sunglasses, spotted a spiky dark brown undercut, and was clad in dark purple shiny clothing. His name is Masamichi Yaga, he is currently the CEO of JJK Records, he specifically is responsible for scouting potential trainees, all auditions that take place to select trainees, and the whole training process. He would drop trainees like flies if he believes they are too lazy, weak-minded, and fail to progress/improve. For one to make it to debut is a testimony itself, because the training period is madly chaotic and built for the Marines.

The fact that literally 10-year-olds are trainees is astonishing as it can make (lead to debut) or break (become cut after years of sacrifice to train) a person. Both sides of the coin are tainted.

‘’So…do we have a deal?’’ Yaga spoke up, and the group split quickly after hearing Yaga’s voice. The names of the six young men were as follows: Kento Nanami, Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, Ryomen Sukuna, Toji Zenin, and lastly Choso Kamo.

The first to get scouted and join the company as a trainee was Toji at the age of 15 years old. He originally got scouted to be a child actor under the acting division of JJK Records after a talent scout saw him and thought he would make a good child villain in a TV show. But he was a terrible actor, he could never remember his lines and later got transferred over to train after showing promising skills in rapping. By blood, Toji is a part of the Zenin Clan, one of the most prestigious families in Tokyo known for being elite in talent. Every member was exceptional in something and had built an empire. Still, Toji was VERY average and couldn’t make a name or make a living for himself independently leaving him banished from his family. As a member of the Zenin Clan, Toji inherited the family's good looks with raven dark hair and spiky tussled bangs, emerald shiny tinted eyes, and a lean long muscular build, but was still seen as average to his family in terms of their standards. But Toji still had a huge share of female admirers from girls to women. He trained for 10 years, working normal odd jobs to get by while he trained watching other trainees debut before him left him bitter and filled with jealousy. Despite his hardships, Toji learned how to pull on his strengths, being born with a lot of strength in his bones and body, he used that ability to hone in on acrobatic skills. This was a skill no one else had which kept him from being cut as a trainee and eventually led to his debut at 25 years old being the oldest member.

Toji was extremely jealous of Gojo Satoru though, even though he had come to like him after training with him for some time, Gojo had trained for 6 months and was chosen to debut so fast. Gojo Satoru was the golden boy, the be-all and do-all, the Ace who could do almost everything well without much effort. Dancing, singing, performing, you name it. Like a Chameleon Gojo could copy, rinse, and repeat anything taught to him. His brain works at an advanced level and his eyes can scan and picture anything he sees just like a camera. Many things about Gojo made everyone fond of him, he dripped charisma and charm without even trying, and his undeniable aura drew whoever was around him to him like a magnet. Guys wanted to be his friend and be him, girls wanted to date him, and old women wanted their daughters to marry him for him to become their son-in-law. At 6 feet 5, with messy silver-white hair undercut, and cerulean crystal orbs of blue eyes that looked like an image of the sky trapped in time, it was very easy to fall for him or be jealous of him.

One look at his baby blue eyes and dreamy lopsided smile was enough for any girl to be under his love spell. Let's just say his rizz is insane. The world was at Gojo’s fingertips and he loved it, he was ready for the fun of the music world, and choosing this life meant he was free from his family’s rules. Like Toji, Gojo was from a wealthy family/clan, but he decided to pursue a music career to gain independence, so getting a shot at living the high life as a celebrity didn’t hurt.

Gojo was hungry for it and would devour every part of the experience.

Nothing would bring him down.

Gojo accidentally got scouted after his best friend Suguru Geto got scouted at the mall for an audition at JJK Records. Geto had told Gojo about being scouted and was convinced by his other best friend Leiri Shoko to do the audition as she saw the huge opportunity Geto had. Geto only agreed after Shoko asked him to do it because he had a huge fat crush on her then. All 3 of them went to Geto’s audition, Geto and Gojo saw it as a fun joke to kill time. But Geto passed his audition with flying colors by singing (never expecting to make it that far), and Gojo was scouted without an audition based on his looks alone. Shoko wasn’t offered anything but was okay with it as she already dreamed of becoming a doctor.

Like Gojo, Geto is exceptional but his strongest traits are singing/songwriting. You see his voice brought liquid gold out of the ears of whoever heard it. His voice is sultry, breathy, and husky in tone, but the control and power over it is strong. Geto could hit high notes like nothing after months of training, his whistles were insane and his voice could go dangerously low to the point that other female trainees could not stand around the guy without falling in love. It didn’t help that he had long long sleek luscious jet-black hair that he loved to tie in a bun or half bun leaving the remaining hair out. Or his attractive androgynous facial features and nose and ear piercings that set the bill. With his lax but sweet charming behavior, Geto was a genuinely nice guy to be around. Geto also trained for six months but truly fell for being a music artist once he saw how his voice moved the room whenever he sang at evaluations/in practice. From then on his dream was to move people with his voice and help others with his songs, he wanted to share his gift with the world. He like Gojo debuted at the age of 23.

Likewise, Kento Nanami shared the same conviction as Geto, using his gifts to help others in the world. Nanami got scouted in a bathroom at a dance competition where he competed and won 1st prize. At the time Nanami was going through an emo B-Boy phase after being tired of dancing at contemporary/ballet competitions and always winning 1st prize. To challenge himself he decided to learn breakdancing for fun in one week and compete, but to his dismay, he was amazing and defeated all the competition. Kento had been dancing ever since he was three years old, he would be what you classify as an abnormal dancer. The art ran through his veins, it was like breathing to him. He mastered tap, jazz, contemporary, ballet, hip-hop, alternative dance, and Afro-fusion, at the age of 13 years old, and mastered breakdancing at 19 where he became a trainee. You see Nanami could have debuted earlier but didn’t because he kept leaving and returning to the company, his training period lasted for 3 years as he took many hiatuses to find his true purpose in life.

Other trainees didn’t have this luxury but Nanami was given the grace because he was simply too good of a dancer to let go. JJK Records even had plans to debut him as a soloist, as he also is an amazing singer but he turned them down because he was still searching to see if dance was his true purpose. Nanami even had a normal job for a while as a stockbroker but found no purpose in that and left. His reason for returning to train at JJK Records was that he danced to cheer up a sad girl at a bakery after she was having a bad day. His dance lifted her mood completely and the light in her eyes returned, that hopeful look she gave was something he drew out with his dancing, and from there on Nanami knew his purpose.

When dancing Nanami’s body flowed like water, moving slowly and smoothly like a pouring stream of water at the riverside. Peaceful and serene. But then he would bring up the tide of the water and go hard with a splash, leaving the audience quenched with thirst for more. Girls couldn’t get enough of him. You could not take your eyes off of him. His hips were a danger zone because the way he could move them was unhuman-like. He was incredible. Nanami's biracial heritage was also another insight that drew him admirers from many female trainees, he is Japanese and Danish and the perfect blend of the two. With a rich champagne blond undercut neatly parted and styled, stunning cheekbones sharp enough to cut glass, a tall build and defined long jawline, warm chocolate brown eyes, and creamy beige skin, you’d think he’d be a model on the page of Vogue (he also declined the chance to model for them years ago). The humble, caring, and honest character traits of Nanami are something Yaga couldn’t let go of regarding this group. He cared for other trainees and was often one to help out a trainee if they were stuck, his best friend Haibara was cut and that devastated him but Nanami told Haibara he would debut for him. Nanami debuted at 22.

The last two members Ryomen Sukuna and Choso Kamo debuted under sad circumstances. Sukuna lived the ghetto life, he was born in the slums of Japan and was involved with the Yakuza from the age of 10 years old. He committed crimes like stealing money from stores, participating in drivebys, and selling drugs on the corners of the streets at night. Despite his struggles, Sukuna would rap to escape it and taught himself how to do so by watching old-school rappers such as 50 Cent, Nas, Tupac, and Notorious B.I.G. He even learned English from studying their videos and watching their interviews over and over again. Rapping and MCing were something that Sukuna could do to express himself and the hardships he was facing, he was a lyricist who could play on words well and could rap extremely fast.

JJK Records came across Sukuna after hearing a mix tape of his on an underground radio station, as soon as the company was aware of him they searched to find his whereabouts and asked him to train with the offer of being in the company's boyband. His position was already secured, and Sukuna accepted with the hopes of becoming a rapper/MC who could be respected internationally. He was scouted at 20 years old and trained for 4 years. The company needed someone who had a gruff, hard exterior, someone who could bring the smoke, and Sukuna had that. He’s crazy, unpredictable, and deadly you never know what he’s thinking and will bring the fire. His hot pink hair, face tattoos, bulky body, handsome face, and somewhat sadistic character brought a darker edge to the group. He had many female admirers too like the others because of the list mentioned before, and he would often flirt with them despite not being allowed to. Sukuna debuted at 24.

Choso Kamo is the boy lolita type, a little dim-witted, shy, and innocent and he is the youngest of the bunch. Choso trained for 2 years and was scouted at the age of 16 years old. Before becoming a trainee he was living in a foster home with his other friends who he took as siblings. When it came to talent Choso could sing well, his voice was great for harmonies and blending with other voices. His talent lay in his voice being used as an instrument to amplify and invoke a feeling/vibe. He was the only member who knew of JJK Records before auditioning and attended an audition of his own free will. Choso barely passed his audition due to his huge stage fright but spent 2 years overcoming that. However, he still comes off as shy and unsure of himself but tries his best. Yaga decided to debut Choso because he believed his talent for harmonies with any other voice/vocal was needed for the group. In addition, Choso also carries a cute, meek relatable persona which would be easy for the audience to relate to and crush over. Choso was adorkable, he wore sweaters and jeans that were too big for him and tied his black spiky hair with two puffs. His talking voice was sweet and earnest, and his pale shiny skin, toothy smile, luminous violet eyes, and purple eye shadow made him look like a cute luscious vampire. He is too cute for his good but when he gets serious another mature sexy side of him comes out.

Choso won the popular junior trainee award after 1 month of training, and most of the votes were from junior trainee fangirls.

All six members had spent time training together and forming a genuine bond despite fighting at times. They had hoped to debut together because they all got along. Despite Toji’s secret jealousy of Gojo, he did respect his talent and drive to show up and work. Everyone loved Nanami’s leadership Geto’s support, and Sukuna’s will to stick up for others especially when it came to Choso who got bullied by other trainees. But from now on the group's relationship would be truly tested. Once they debuted there was no going back.

‘’Yes, Yaga. We’ve all talked it through since we got the news. We’ve taken a little time to look at the contracts but we trust we are in good hands.’’ Nanami spoke kindly, Gojo brushed past the group and went up to Yaga leaning his hands on the table before the contracts. Gojo groaned like a kid in the candy store, his patience was running thin.

‘’We’ve gotten all of the formalities out of the way now. Let’s sign and move on to the good stuff.’’ Gojo groaned now bouncing up and down like a manchild. Geto shook his head and Nanami laughed in agreement. They both knew Gojo couldn’t contain his excitement.

‘’What I wanna know is what our group name is gonna be, it better not be cringy or some crap like that.’’ Sukuna deadpanned shoving his hands in the pockets of his camo pants.

‘’It’s not gonna be cringy, if so we’ll just force them to change it.’’ Toji chimed now stretching his arms and legs as all the other members laughed, before he and the other members went to sign their contracts.

Choso signed his contract slowly with a small smile on his face, ‘’I can finally get my siblings and me out, we can have a better life.’’ he whispered sadly, Geto placed a warm hand on Choso’s shoulder as a sign of comfort.

‘’You should be proud of yourself Choso. And don’t worry you and your siblings will be fine.’’ Geto reassured Choso

‘’You did good kid,’’ Sukuna says giving Choso a small punch on the arm, before Gojo whines and groans again loudly slouching down his body for dramatic effect. ‘’Stop with the waterworks already, we should be celebrating we just got signed,’’ he whines

All the contracts are signed and Yaga takes them off the table as Gakuganji stands up to leave the room bidding the group a small wave on his way out. Yaga then turns his back towards the group with his hands behind a serious feel to the atmosphere.

‘’Congratulations to you all. You’ve worked hard. Celebrate if you must, but that will only be for a short while. All 6 of you have a lot of work ahead of you. Once you debut everything will change, but you must stay grounded’’ Yaga started ‘’But first things first. I will reveal to you the group name.’’

Finally, Gojo thought to himself as he could see his friends look up in anticipation to hear what it was, the name of this group would be its trademark to the world. It had to be catchy and work well with the public. If not the group won’t hit well with the public and Gojo would have to kiss goodbye to his independence and chance at the high life.

‘’So what is it Yaga we don’t have all day?’’ Gojo yelled

‘’Watch it Satoru…Anyway…All six of you will debut next year. The name of your group will be…..’’

—-

Late 2020

Lori Utahime sat in her bedroom faced with an old Mac laptop in front of her, the room was very small and cramped, there was only enough space for a bed and mini wardrobe. Plain and bland were the words to explain how the room looked, it was grey and beige with minimal decoration or color. That’s the kind of person Lori was, she didn’t care about the vanities of the world, what mattered to her was the important things, the little things.

The only thing she cared about was her little dream. The dream wasn’t much but she just wanted to play baseball as an official athlete in the women's league. At age 11 she fell in love with the sport after watching a group of teens play baseball at her school, how they all worked as a team and achieved victory as a unit. Lori was often alone and isolated from others as a child, her interests often didn’t align with the other girls her age. She was into baseball, rock climbing, cartoons cosplay, and geeky stuff, while every other girl was growing up, being in love, and starting their life as a young woman. Boys saw her as weird for not being girly enough, they also judged her for the huge scar she has on the bridge of her nose, calling her names.

She wasn’t an attractive girl in her eyes, just a bland one.

That was okay with her, she was content with that.

Lori’s dream to compete in baseball professional was on the verge of a breakthrough, she worked hard at practicing in the batter position and was good enough to eventually be scouted by the women's Tokyo team for training. However, due to financial issues, Lori couldn’t afford to pay the fees and had to help out her family with the bills. She came from a poor family and times had gotten much harder since her dad got ill, therefore more financial burden fell on her. To help with the burden Lori left her baseball training behind to get a normal office job, it paid okay but it was a temporary role and now she desperately needed a new job.

The laptop screen was on the Indeed job search website, numerous jobs had been applied to but Lori just kept scrolling applying for any job she felt suitable for.

A buzzing sound came from Lori’s jeans pocket, it was her phone ringing, and in quick haste, she answered.

‘’Hello, this is Lori Utahime. May I know who’s speaking?’’ Lori spoke in a professional relaxed tone

The call was from the Human Resources & Administration Team of JJK Records, Lori had interviewed for a position as a Personal Assistant and had not heard anything in 3 weeks. The interview went well so she was hoping she’d get the job.

‘’Thank you Lori Utahime for taking the time to attend the interview for this position. We are truly amazed at your credentials and skills. Congratulations, we would like to offer you the role of Personal Assitant. Please let us know if you’d accept this offer.’’ said the voice from the other side of the phone.

Lori stood up slowly, gave herself a small congratulatory pat on the back, and gave a small smile before answering.

‘’Thank you, Nitta, I’d be delighted to take the offer.’’

——

I have uploaded this on my A03 account (my username there is different-Mint Bunniez)

You can find it here

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

so everyone knows ur the wainlock guy but are there any blands characters that remind you of certain mutuals bc of how much they like them?

oh boy time 2 tag a few people (sorry if its 2 am and i pinged you)

i had a few Handsome Jack mutuals over the years (hi monty if ur reading this 👋) but pretty much all of them have largely moved on from the fandom except for . Well. John (@handsome-john) as well as Straw (@sosorryjack) who also carries the title of Rhys mutual + only full time Rh//ack fan I like to be around (truly a eridium brick in the skag pile, as they say)

i also had a few Zane Flynt mutuals, the current one is Snowball (@snowballeclipse)

Maya belongs to Mars (@gaymars97). also Krieg. Psyren in general actually

Cicero (@enbytwink) is the Zer0 mutual of all time

Val (@phanztombzz) is the CEO of Timoxxi and i as the CEO of Wainlock consider myself allied to her and her apprentices

honorary mention to Percy (@jakfeaster) who is a secondary Zane mutual but also a Timothy mutual without the Timoxxi part attached

i have had many such other mutuals over the years but again, most have moved on. some have blocked me, and some i have blocked; this is how life is. but my eternal dedication to old man yaoi stays

[kitsumidori]

I finally got motivation to make another fanfic.

I was playing Borderlands 3, but then I got to the Rampager and the bad scene that is never canon because Borderlands 3 story isn't canon anti it's all Claptraps nightmare.........

Anyway I made this to make myself feel better

BUT FIRST: this isn't the full fic and I'm planning on making it longer (either a long one shot or have multiple chapters, I'm still debating) also while in my rewrite, Maya stays on Pandora and Ava meets Maya a little earlier, here this takes place during the main story with some elements of my rewrite in it, mainly that the Calypso's were never siren's and are vault touched instead.

Lastly (spoilers) TROY FUCKING DIES EARLIER, R.I.P BOZO.

This all seems too easy……..or at least that's how Moze feels……..

She and her comrades had just defeated the Rampager and are now inside the vault to grab whatever in it. While Zane, Amara and Fl4k were admiring their loot, Moze can't help but feel uneasy.

Call it a gut feeling, but she feels like something really bad is about to happen. She wasn't surprised that Ava followed them to the vault. She kinda grew a soft spot for the kid, seeing a little of herself in Ava.

"It's going to be Darzaran Bay all over again" Moze thought to herself.

Her mind starts to wander. Would the Calypso's pop in and kill them both? Would they also bring their followers to fight? Fearing the worst, she heads out of the vault, just out of curiosity.

----------------------------------------------------------

Moze was eternally glad that she listened to her gut because as soon as she stepped out, not only did the Calypso's show up, not only did Tyreen drain the dead Rampager, but are attacking after Ava taunted them. It all culminated in Tyreen holding Ava hostage and Maya doing the same to Troy.

But before anyone could act, Troy grew an evil smirk and used his free hand on Maya, and started to drain her powers.

Time stopped for Moze, her hands started to sweat, her breathing was picking up and the memories were flooding her head. That rat faced bastard knows what he's doing and at that moment Moze has to act, FAST! Or it'll be like with Lilith all over again, or worst, Darzaran Bay…….

Without thinking, she pulled out her gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

----------------------------------------------------------

Maya felt intense pain all over her body, like if her life is being drained and is about to turn to dust. Everything slowed down as her entire life flashed before her eyes. She then reflects on her time in Pandora, her teammates, Axton, Gaige, Salvador, Zer0 and…..Krieg…….she promised him that she'll come back when she goes back to Athenas and that's now a promise that she'll never make.

Why did she even go back to Athenas? Why did she drop everything to be the protector of the same people that used her? Why did she rejoin The Order even though she hates them? Why didn't she just take Ava with her and go back to Pandora sooner?

All these questions kept running in her head, waiting for death…………

Until she heard a gunshot………

And a shriek………

"TROY!!!!!!!!"

Maya's eyes shot open, the pain was gone, everything was coming back to her, tattoos still intact and Troy's grip started to loosen. His body then slumped over and revealed a gunshot wound on his head and blood pouring out of both the wound and his mouth.

Troy Calypso, the self proclaimed God King, probably the only male siren……is dead….

Her vision starts to clear up as she notices Moze standing by the vault entrance, pistol out, breathing heavily and shaking violently.

With no breathing time, Tyreen let go of Ava and teleported to Moze, grabbing her by the neck.

"You think you're so clever, huh Super Fan, taking out my brother just to one up me!" Tyreen said in a bitter voice while trying to keep her smile. Moze then noticed that she's changing, her face and hands are showing this weird purple rash, her eyes are purple and glowing, but the most shocking surprise is that……her siren tattoo's….. they started to flake off?!?!?!

"What the fu-" before Moze could finish, Tyreen threw her to the wall, hard. Tyreen then approaches Moze, but before she could do anything, Maya phaselock her and threw Tyreen to the other side of the room.

At that moment, Amara, Zane and Fl4k were coming out of that vault to witness the reveal.

"What the?" Zane said in a shock.

Fl4k then spoke up "So wait, she's…"

Amara then cuts them off by answering"A false siren."

Tyreen looked at the, the jig is up and she doesn't have an excuse. She just walked over, grabbed Troy's body, now showing the same rash around his eyes and hand and shouted "THIS. ISN'T. OVER!!!!!!!!!" and with that, they both disappeared.

Without a beat, Amara went to help Moze up, while Zane and Fl4k helped Maya. Maya then winced at the pain and noticed a bruise and some make up on her wrist, likely from Troy trying to drain her as well as having a strong grip on her.

Maya then asked Amara "Wait, you said false siren, right?"

Amara simply nods and explains "A lot of women would try to make fake tattoos and claim to be siren's, there have been multiple cases but all got off with a warning since they only did it for attention."

Zane then asked "But, what about the eyes and her hands, is that something they have as well?"

"That might be more of a Tannis question." Amara answered.

Moze, after regaining her footing spoke up "We should definitely ask her, when that bitch grabbed me, I can feel her powers teetering on leeching me or not!"

Everyone can see that Moze still has a slight panic in her eyes, Amara puts her arm on her shoulder, trying to reassure her vault hunting teammate. This did cause Moze to blush but was able to calm down.

But then Maya's attention turns to Ava, who is sitting, holding her legs to her chest, and is still crying. This causes Maya to go into her mother hen mode.

"Hey….Ava….." Maya tries to talk to her, only for Ava to turn her head away in an attempt to ignore her. Maya took a deep breath and told her "Look I'm past the point of being mad, right now I'm relieved that you're safe. How about we just put this all behind now and head back to the ship, sounds good?"

Ava then looked up and the first thing she saw was Maya's warm smile. This caused the dam of tears to break, giving Maya a death grip of a bear hug and buried her face into her chest. Maya returned the hug and started to pet her head.

An idea then popped up and Maya asked her apprentice "Hey, once this whole C.O.V bullshits over, how about I take you to Pandora, we can raid bandit camps, steal their loot, I can even introduce you to my team. I've been telling them about you and they want to see you as soon as they can, would that be fun?"

Ava didn't speak, she just looked up and nodded yes.

Zane then spoke up and asked "So, should we get back to the ship?"

"Yeah, we should, Lilith is going to freak out with what happened." Maya answered. As everyone head's back, Zane notices Moze staring off into space. He then asked her "Think you're going to be ok lass?"

All Moze could answer was "I don't know old man…….I don't know………"

----------------------------------------------------------

If I ever do a finished version, I'll post it on AO3.

[brokentoys]

i dunno if i'm a fan of how in the comics, eddie didn't realize how addictive drugs/amphetamines were and didn't intend to get "hooked." and i get that's how a lot of writers depict drug addictions. and that it is also true there are quite a few people who do test drugs without the intention of becoming addicted. but there are also many who do drugs regardless of its addictive or negative side effects. plus, you know, i'm very wary of DC and its recent depictions of eddie in comics. i mean, fucking hell, they had LEX LUTHOR explain to eddie the ORIGIN OF THE QUESTION MARK. YOU KNOW. ED'S ENTIRE SYMBOL. like the TRIVIA KING wouldn't know why the fucking question mark (HIS SYMBOL) is shaped the way it is. fuck off. so that's my issue... eddie being like "haha i didn't realize how addictive it was!! i thought i'd be ok with small doses!!!!" just makes me feel like it's DC, once again, presenting eddie as "Incompetent."

especially when eddie said he started taking them to "improve focus" and help his intellect or whatever. and it's like. why? did eddie have trouble focusing before? that would require to acknowledge that, perhaps, eddie is mentally ill. which DC also has either forgotten or chosen to ignore for many years despite the fact he literally goes to a hospital. (which zer0 year made the disgusting excuse it's just because Prisons Are Overcrowded!!111!! fuck off with that too.) idk if his drug problem was actually ever properly explained (beyond guessing eddie just wants to be the Greatest that he resorts to drugs for it. lmao fuck off x3) or if it was even properly resolved. i guess they thought they didn't need to resolve it or explain that he's off them now (bc i don't think they've brought up the drug issue thing since uhhh either 2020 or 2021) because he got Nearly Killed while on The Hunt for them or whatever. as if you know. getting off drugs is that easy. (ppl who suffer from addiction often go through immense trauma and near death experiences, and even homelessness, and that doesn't stop them)

or who knows. maybe they did explain and resolve it properly. i'm no longer big into new comics and i rarely check them out. but i know i probably would've heard about it if they had.

[brooklynisher]

You're probably going to get a gazillion responses because it's basically an indirect invitation to infodump, but I still want to add my 2¢ (show)! I'm a newer fan, but I've dug deep into a lot of a lot, and also being an active Patreon patron of theirs helps me discover a LOT of information. I've got a bit of a reputation as the info guy kinda I think. Hopefully, that's not just me stroking my ego.

Anyway, get ready for way more information than necessary

-Do the Robots have emotions?

They might. They might not. It's one of those things that are constantly messed with. Especially in their live shows. There are many instances where the robots claim to not have feelings, but there are just as many instances where they claim they do. Songs might be more reliable, but The Spine has said on stage multiple times that he doesn't really care about the topics of the songs they sing and that they're just songs. Not everything from the live shows is canon, but sometimes they become canon. When Rabbit freaked out after being left alone on stage during the 10th-anniversary show, Bunny confirmed that that was improv, but she also considers that to be Rabbit's biggest fear. More recently though, the robots have been leaning into this "We can feel emotions, but not physical pain" thing. It was never written down officially and there's a lot of contradicting moments relating to this matter, but the band doesn't like having a concrete answer for everything. That way the fans can have fun with it. SO BASICALLY, it's up for interpretation.

-what is the meaning behind the lyric "I know you don't like how I feed?" In 'Electricity is in my Soul'? What are they feeding on and how?

The robots all rely on water, but there are other things too that may or may not be canon! Rabbit is also apparently powered by milk, and The Spine is powered by curiosity. The Jon used to be powered by water like everyone else until he got that Crystal Pepsi upgrade. They couldn't get rid of that, so now he only runs on Crystal Pepsi. But more likely, that lyric could be referencing their first music video featuring the robots in back in 2008! Where the robots quite literally ate electricity depicted as blue electric beams. It's also referenced in the song's cover art which depicts The Spine eating electricity, and The Spine himself mentions eating electricity for breakfast during some live shows.

-Are Upgrade and The Jon canon to the lore of the band? It seems like Hatchworth is, but the other two haven't been in the comics

A quote from David: "Hatchworth is kinda the only one with an actual “departure” as the performer (Sam) planned his departure with the band and stayed on until we had a replacement ready. Upgrade has the “went off to become a princess”, but I don’t recall us ever saying that on stage before the 10 Year show. I believe that was said by all of us as just performers. In short, people leaving/being kicked out of the band does mess with the lore, and we didn’t always have a good lore reason why certain robots left. It’s relevant for fans of course trying to piece a story together, but based on the band’s current stuff, it’s safe to say Hatchworth still exists along with Rabbit, The Spine, and Zer0. They all appear in our comic (or will), and Zer0 was retroactively added to the Vice Quadrant timeline by being included in the VQ Calendar we did a few years ago. It’s messy, and yeah we have to be meta a lot on stage sometimes, but it’s a comedy act, so I think people will forgive us for characters suddenly vanishing in lore for in-real-life reasons. We are not above retroactively explaining things. It’s just probably less important for us for The Jon and Upgrade, until it’s relevant for an anniversary show like we did 😬 It’s less about us being lazy and more about marketing and where our energies are spent. Current lineup is the most important to us." [x] Essentially, there isn't really an actual answer. It's a complicated thing, so to keep things simple, they don't really want to mess with their lore unless it's genuinely relevant, which it rarely is.

-Speaking of, what happened to the comics? They seem unfinished but maybe I'm missing something

They've got big plans for their comics! There isn't really anything to suggest that Hatchworth and the Blue Ghost or Red Core will receive continuations, but the main comic is their current focus. Their aim is to turn it into a cartoon! They've already pitched the idea. Although it was rejected, they plan on expanding the comic more to get their ideas off the ground. Bunny plans on working on it this year :)

-Why does Rabbit have a 'mask' now? It's cool, but what's the reason for it?

In lore, Rabbit has a closet of faces. Out of lore, the whole white-face thing started with their music video for Hold Me. Bunny wanted to do something unique for that music video specifically. It was meant to be a one-time thing. But she ended up liking it a lot and incorporated it into her ongoing design. Not to mention that she also hated the copper face thing. The only reason why she was copper in the first place was because The Spine was already silver, and The Jon was already gold. Her faceplate design has had a gradual shift in design over time either because she made a mistake, wanted to try something new, liked one thing more than the other, etc.

-I don't understand the lore of The Vice Quadrant. I'm sorry, but I don't. 😭

I mean, I COULD explain it because I do understand it, but it wouldn't be as easy to digest as this video.

-Who are Captain Albert Alexander and Rex Marksley? I think the wiki says they're brothers, but like… who are they?

Who they are is exactly what their songs claim them to be! Rex is an extremely talented gunslinger and inventor who is also a friend of jackalopes. Alexander is a very generous captain who loved the sea so much that he died in it. They are not brothers. That is likely a reference to the song Weird Weird West by Professor Elemental featuring SPG. In the music video, there is a tough group known as the "Three Brothers" portrayed by Sam, David, and Bunny. David was dressed as Rex Marksley, Sam as Coinsley (Rex's tax attorney), and Bunny as Captain Albert Alexander. The music video was recorded at the Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention, so their costumes were likely just cosplay and nothing more. They were also born in entirely different periods so it's kind of impossible for them to be brothers. They have other possible connections in lore as well. Ravaxis Starburner is said to be a descendant of Rex Marksley. Bunny also mentioned that at one point she wanted Captain Albert Alexander to be an ancestor of Peter A. Walter. However, that isn't necessarily confirmed. More like a possibility Bunny has considered.

Hopefully this isn't too much for you aaaa

I just like to be informative :]

Okay, so I'm still making my way through the last few SPG albums, but I have a couple questions:

-Do the Robots have emotions?

-what is the meaning behind the lyric "I know you don't like how I feed?" In 'Electricity is in my Soul'? What are they feeding on and how?

-Are Upgrade and The Jon canon to the lore of the band? It seems like Hatchworth is, but the other two haven't been in the comics

-Speaking of, what happened to the comics? They seem unfinished but maybe I'm missing something

-Why does Rabbit have a 'mask' now? It's cool, but what's the reason for it?

-I don't understand the lore of The Vice Quadrant. I'm sorry, but I don't. 😭

-Who are Captain Albert Alexander and Rex Marksley? I think the wiki says they're brothers, but like... who are they?

I think that's it.

[elaineiswithyou-blog]

Poly KiriBaku X Cam girl Reader

A/N: I do tend to use the term cam girl as well as describing female parts during smut scenes so just be aware of that. Also this is a poly kiribaku x reader fanfic. Both characters are aged up and pro heroes. Credit to sailorcuba on Twitter for the fanart.

Characters: Kirishima and Bakugou

Both Kirishima and Bakugou were now super famous pro heroes and openly in a romantic relationship with one another. The two didn’t do a ton of PDA other than hand holding occasionally and the two were very private about their relationship with one another to the public expect for the fact they were dating. The two lived together in a luxury penthouse and enjoyed each other’s company.

 One day while Bakugou was out to work, Kirishima was casually just browsing some cam girl sites, mainly because Momo had told Kirishima as about the unfair treatment a lot of porn stars go through in studio productions so he opted to pay the sex worker directly, when he spotted you. You were a diamond in the rough. You didn’t have a ton of followers so Kirishima quickly followed you and donated a bit of money for you. You, of course, thanked him and went along with your show. Kirishima felt as though he couldn’t take his eyes off you. You were just so infatuating to him. He wasn’t even jerking off to you, so entranced by your body, and as soon as it had started it was over. Kirishima definitely had a hard on and definitely talked to Bakugou about you that night once he got home. Over the next few months, Bakugou (Under the screen name ground zer0) or Kirishima (Under the screen name Crism_riot) would always be at your livestreams. You even did a few private shows for both of them and boy were they excited. They had yet to tell you about their career or who they were but they already wanted to meet up with you to fuck in person. 

The two paid you a nice 600 dollars to meet up just simply for drinks. To your shock, the famous pro hero couple walks in. Red riot had always been your favorite pro hero with dynamite not being too far behind. The three of you chat and hit it off right away. Soon enough, Kirishima and Bakugou take you out back to their car and take you to their penthouse while the three of you were all being tipsy from drinks. From there, you and the two pro heroes had a wonderful threesome, lasting many hours with you and the pro heroes ending up cumming multiple times together. It was a passionate long night and soon your relationship grew and you moved in with them.

The two still didn’t mind if you decided to do sex work, sometimes even joining in as long as their face would remain out of frame. The three of you remained a secret until you decided to quit sex work. The only reason the two hid you was because you were doing sex work. They weren’t embarrassed about it or anything but they weren’t looking to get into a huge scandal. Also as long as you were a secret mostly, you were safe. Since you weren’t a pro hero, you wouldn’t be able to defeat villains or anyone who came after you as easily so one of them likes to be with you at all times, whether you stay in or go out. Bakugou, Kirishima and you eventually did end up getting married and moved into a house together. Kirishima wanted at least one child while Bakugou isn’t a huge fan of kids so it was more your call whether the three of you had children or not. Either way, the two pro heroes loved you regardless and were happy they meet you.

[brooklynisher]

“I can’t wait to see all the Ralph fanart!”

And then no one made Ralph fanart.

(Spoilers for the Nov 11 Walter Manor livestream concert below, but also very necessary context)

For those who don’t know, Ralph the robot is an SPG character made up by the robots during their last concert.

He never showed up, and ended up being a weird thing Zer0 was dreaming and hallucinating about.

The robots described them to have 6 legs (due to being an offspring of Sleipnir) and very wide body (Enough for them to have to decommission a wall.) They’re really cool and can skate with two skateboards while swinging whips of fire. A lot of the info was made up on the spot and he’s not a real SPG character, but Jenny wasn’t a real SPG character either until she received a LOT of fan content.

My Ralph design is 7’4” because horse body (and it further justifies the reasoning for busting down a wall for them), and uses he/they pronouns because that’s what the bots were using.

Also he has a tail. You can’t see it but it’s there.

He wears no clothes on the lower half of his body like a typical centaur, but has lots of cool shirts and necklaces.

[trashroyalty99]

It has been a while since I introduced my ocs, soo have another one.

-His name is Orion and he's an graffiti artist from Promethea.

- He's got nickname Neon Artist. As he often used neon colors in his works and because of how Promethea is lighted.

-He's famous around the galaxy from his graffitis as he publishes his works on the echo net.

-He has light brown hair, with purple highlights, that reaches to his neck. He has implanted himself, so the graffiti mask can digistruct on the spot.

-He's 5.7 feet tall and isn't the most masculine man. He wears a choker, that he found during his first graffiti. He considers it his lucky charm.

-Speaking of jewelry, he also has few earrings on his right ear.

-He's your usual jokester, taking very few things in life seriously. He means good usually. He likes to pull some pranks at times.

-His favorite things in life are art, having fun, cider and money. Sometimes love.

-Speaking of love, his love life is non-existent. He has had few relationships over the years, but none of them have worked out. He's a bisexual mess.

-He's that guy that has no idea when to stop talking and will joke about everything. Bad puns, are his specialty.

-He utilizes his spray cans in combat as well. He has three sets of them. Cryo, flame and corrosive are his usual ones. He did consider slag at one point but he decided against it.

-He has a Jakobs pistol, that he calls Life. (It's funny, cause he takes lives with it.)

-Common face in the local police force as he gets caught from doing pickpocketing and occasional mercenary work. And his graffitis as most of them are illegal.

-But this doesn't slow him down. Quite the opposite. Once, the graffiti gets cleaned up there's usually a new one the next day.

-He met Zero during one of his missions, which is how he met the Promethea gang.

-He and Lorelei got along really well, as they both share the dumbass energy. Rhys also enjoyed his company, as he brought much needed humor to the crew.

-Rhys commissioned him to work on the interior and exterior design of Atlas headquarters. (Orion loved the job offer.)

-Rhys didn't expect the graffiti work to look so, bright but his employees liked it so he let it go.

-He ended up working on regular basis at Atlas. But once he stole something he shouldn't have, he set sail towards Pandora by Zer0's recommendation.

"I recommend Pandora for you/I liked it there, lots of things to kill/ But be, warned. It's no catwalk out there."

-And he did that. As he couldn't afford an straight fly to Pandora, he traveled on various ships as a bunny.

-It was a slow trip but he made it there eventually.

-First few weeks were hard for him. He had been so used to the availability of ac and cooler environment of Promethea.

-He absolutely used one of those mini fans.

-As he traveled the Pandora, he met with early COV. The psychos were already lunging at him but Troy stopped them.

"Hey, stop it." Troy steps out of the shadow to greet Orion. "Hello, there stranger."

"Heyoo. Are these friends of you safe to be with?" Orion asked as he pointed at the psychos. Troy nodded.

"Perfectly as long as you don't piss on them. Hey, do I know you from somewhere you seem familiar." Orion took an smug look on his face.

"Maybe. If, name Neon Artist says anything." Troy then jumped excitedly towards him.

"Holy shit! I'm such a big fan! Selfie time!" Troy quickly took an selfie before Orion could say anything. He quickly put his fingers up to do an peace sign.

-After this Troy commissioned Orion to do the graffitis for COV. He worked on them for the few weeks and he got paid well.

-He spent some more time on Pandora just exploring and making art. But this is where he heard about vaults for the first time.

-He got interested in them and after doing some research, he also got interested on the cash and sirens.

-His thoughts about Pandora.

"God, what a shit hole it is. But, I'd lie if there wasn't any charm to it. There's no law enforcement in there and huge canyons just waiting to have some art sprayed on to them. Sure, locals can make an issue but. As long as you can pull the trigger, you're good to go. Besides, what're they gonna do? Swing their bone clubs at me? I'm scared skele-ton of them. Just kidding. Not really."

Vaults tho? Now, we're talking. If, I could find one I could make some easy cash and if it's mega dull looking vault, well I can always spice it up little bit. Imagine, that. This vault was found and the graffiti on it by Orion aka Neon Artist. That sounds fucking amazing. I've heard that though it takes a siren's call to get to it. So, let's find an beautiful siren first. Let's start with COV sirens."

Similarly to Caroline, some basic information and their first trip to Pandora.

[shinakazami1]

Break Rhys' ass down- I mean, thoughts? :D

MEL?? HELLO HI HI HI IM HAPPY TO SEE U HERE AND SURPRISED IT'S RHYS AND NOT RUFUS OR STH SJSHSUS I wish u a lovely day and you r been doing such great job with your art fights!

How I feel about this character

Few men are stuck in my head for years. This one has been in it since 2015.

I'm so mad how people forget he IS an asshole canonically!! I feel it's due to us playing as him and people trying to do nice options but without us, he can also be an ass!! And I love him for it! He's lovable!

I love a lot about this man. The fact he's jokes to be an obsessed Jack fan but he can be so critical about the man. He isn't like those dudes who put on masks. He gets closer than anyone to Jack. It's important to his character to see it. He had to bend his morale to stay in Hyperion for so long yet he can try to help others too and even get a crush during that, trying to be respectful.

He's quirky, loving horrible taste of Frogurts, getting that ball and trying his best to show he still can hack in BL3. He tries to be a hard and respected boss in new tales but also, does his best not to be a tyrant.

He's my fav character from the series. I love his design and I'm so mad we don't see him in that black outfit more cus he rocks that shit sm. And he also rocks the moustache. It's just the bl3 model giving him injustice sjsjwh

All the people I ship romantically with this character

*coughs*

As I said before, romantic relations are hard for me to exactly imagine but. Jack. Timothy. Katagawa Jr. Zer0. This guy can have it all.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

His friendship with Vaughn, Fiona and Loader Bot are awesome. I also love how much he cares for Dumpy and Timm E. He is a softie for bots. And like the fact Anu's goggles also have their own personality (before Octavio adds his programming in) - it's so cool to me. Haha hi Jack's thoughts stop looking at me he maybe was inspired by those

My unpopular opinion about this character

He is STRONG. fork.haha. No but for real - this man lost his job and immediately went to make a revenge and does it, going to a dangerous planet. He talks back to Jack, he tries to fight with his stun button without any training before. He rips his eye off. He has to get Atlas from grounds up, without Marcus help and he does it. He controls Gortys at the moment of need. He tries not to become Jack while being a strong lead of his company.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

He has his soft moments. He had a soft spot for Sasha and while I don't think their relationship works out, it's supposed to represent that need of achievement for freedom. She is assertive and strong and he likes and wants that. He's just not what she needs. And I hope in the future, he will move on from her. And maybe meet Tim, it would be interesting.

But also, I want to learn about his tattoo sm. Why give it to him and not talk about it PLEASE GUYS DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

And pls don't... Don't decay like Vaughn did... Please......

[sakuraalexia]

Some Maya headcanons of mine

Since I had nothing to do and I wanted to keep track of my headcanons and things for my own stories, here’s a rather long list of headcanons and small things of mine about Maya, and how I like to write her. This is personal interpretation, but do feel free to add up ir take inspiration from them, I don’t mind.

She lived in the monastery with the monks and before running away then returning from Pandora to Athenas, she didn’t know much of how her planet looked at all, because she had been confined in the abbey all the time and not allowed out.

The Order took her away from her parents when she was still a little baby, and her parents were killed. However she had never been directly told what happened to them, she just assumed they were dead after she discovered what the true face of the Order was about.

She thought of Brother Sophis as a surrogate father when she was younger, as he was her main handler and he was the one interacting with her the most. However it was all a facade from him to get her trust.

Always Brother Sophis had a rather violent temper, and when Maya got older and started showing powers, he would take his anger up on her disguising it as training, purposefully beating her up whenever he felt like it, or when she disobeyed him. He had claimed those as training to boost Maya’s “pain tolerance”, they became more rare as Maya grew up, as he was afraid she’d find out and rebel against him.

Because of those sorts of “trainings” Maya has a rather large number of scars littering her body, they are however covered from her clothing most of the time, or hidden under her Siren markings. She absolutely hates to show them to anybody, as she is deeply ashamed by them, even though she knows it wasn’t her fault for believing in Sophis’ words as a young and naive child.

She despises the type of training she was brought upon that, when she meets Ava, she is the sole responsible to train her, making sure to never push nor hurt her in any way, as she doesn’t want her to fall victim of the Order like she had been.

She’s incredibly protective of Ava whenever other monks are around her, even though she knows not all of them are bad, she doesn’t trust them after what they did to her in her younger years.

Maya didn’t know a lot of things when she came to Pandora, that’s because she was never allowed to do them herself before, nor she had ever been taught such things. Such as driving a car or making herself a proper meal.

About driving, she is a rather bad driver, she had to learn mostly from Axton and Zer0, and she was surprised that even Gaige knew something about the topic and she didn’t, as her father had started giving her lessons before she had to run away from Eden 5. So she lets the boys drive most of the time, she does it only if she can’t help it.

She is an awful drinker, she can’t hold alcohol almost at all, the really mild stuff of the abbey didn’t help in raising her tolerance. She becomes a giggly mess before inevitably ending up sick.

Maya doesn’t know how to express feelings very well, as the Order always hindered her ability to do so, they had told her that as a Siren she didn’t need useless emotions, and that she needed to control them if she wanted to control her powers. 

She was also a complete stranger to things such as friendship and displays of affection, both given and received, and her being a Siren also didn’t help, as it made her much more wary of other people. She used to not like being touched, and even flinch away entirely at first, but she eventually learned to trust her fellow Vault Hunters and adjusted, ending up even craving friendly contact at times. She won’t admit it, but she knows how touch-starved she truly is.

Maya didn’t know what music outside of sacred chants was, it was Gaige that made her listen to some at first, and she became fond of it. However, she discovered herself to be a pretty good singer, as she has a very nice voice, to which Krieg is particularly a fan of, the others too, but him the most.

On top of it, she can play the piano, she learned at the abbey, but she didn’t really have a reason to play it until she met the rest. They’d make her listen to songs for her to redo on the piano of Moxxi’s bar, as she only knows sacred music, and occasionally having her sing or even sing all together. 

Maya loves reading not only because she is a curious person, but also because it was pretty much her only past time in the abbey and it stuck to her.

She is not interested in the idea of romance nor even in sexual things, living in an abbey doesn’t give you a chance to experience much of either thing, she was pretty much forbidden to even mention them from Brother Sophis. So, by the end of it, she is no more interested in either thing, she knows what they are yet she very much prefers sharing a hug with a friend than anything else.

She’s lowkey really proud of her powers, even if they brought her a lot of problems. However she prefers to not show off much and would rather act like a normal person, since she hasn’t really had occasion to be nor to be treated as such before coming to Pandora.

She not only can use her powers of Siren, but she has also been trained to fight hand to hand. And when Axton challenges to a duel, mocking her, he ends up with his face on the ground eating dust, while the rest laughed at his misery.

He did however teach her how to swim, another thing the monks didn’t teach her, after he had pushed her into the waters in the rivers of the Highlands as a joke, and she almost drowned because of it. He taught her not only because it would be useful, but also because he felt guilty about it.

Maya had no healing powers when she was on Athenas, they had manifested after a mission had gone particularly awry, even though they got out of it alive and successful, but badly hurt. They showed up out of Maya’s own fear to lose her only friends.

She however can’t use such powers on herself to heal her own wounds, she has to do so the normal way.

She hates using Eridium too, after seeing what it had done to Angel, and after seeing Lilith almost falling victim to it too, she swore to not use it unless it was strictly necessary.

Eridium also used to hurt her at the beginning, unlike Lilith, she’d get sick if she tried to use it, ending up with a raging fever, aches and nausea for days. Until her body either managed to fully absorb the substance or it would manage to throw it back out. With time and a lot of attempts, her body eventually adjusted and she no more has these effects, however, absorbing it still causes her to feel some pain and aches for a little still today.

Maya despises the Children of the Vault, and cults in general, as one that has been worshiped for the wrong reasons almost her entire life, she knows better than anyone that such things are only a plain lie.

But she despises the Calypsos’ cult the most, as the leaders only give Sirens a bad name for being the crazy murderers they are, and making their race look like nothing else but that.

Always on the topic of cults and followers, she had scolded Lilith back then when she had her own little thing, and then much later on Amara too, for taking pride in it. And made them aware of the dangers that lurk beneath the adoration of other people, so they may not fall into a trap like her.

Having had no friends nor people that truly loved her before, Maya is very afraid of losing them, which is why she tends to ignore her own wounds to check the others and make sure they are okay first.

Maya is very secretive and also rather ashamed of her past, that she hadn’t told anyone much of it. She’d rather take other people’s problems on her shoulders than share her own, she only does if it becomes too much for her to handle alone, only in that case she’d seek out someone for comfort.

[littledraga]

Dust Bunnies

The ever growing Series of Robots and Roombas! Spine is small and Roomba always seems to know when he needs them.

Roomba had shown up just in time. Little Spine was nearly dry when they made it to the kitchen to find Six sleeping on his feet, again.

Spine sighed. There wasn’t enough in his boiler to steam. “Six!”

Nothing.

Grumbling, Spine stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth. “SIX!”

Still, he slept, softly snoring as he leaned against the counter.

This wasn’t going to be easy, and Spine didn’t like what he was going to have to do to get Petes to wake up. But he was desperate. Boiler low, and shrunk so small, he needed help, now.

Steeling his nerves, Spine kicked Petes’ shin as hard as his tiny titanium legs could manage. When Six yelled, Spine fell back onto Roomba with a yelp. Even Roomba beeped and rolled back a ways.

Looking around, Six rubbed his hand under his mask when he looked down. His head tilted slightly to the side, seeming to question if he was dreaming.

“Good! I was afraid you’d sleep all night! Can you get me some water? I’m pretty low.” Asked Spine, waving an arm. When nothing happened right away, he sighed again. He was getting hot. “Six! I need water!” He yelled.

That seemed to jar Six from his thoughts. “Right, right.” Bending down, he carefully plucked up the doll sized robot and sat him on the counter before filling a glass halfway with water. He wouldn’t need that much, surely?

“Thanks, Peter.” It was a little awkward, lifting up the giant cup, but he wouldn’t let Six help. He was perfectly capable of drinking water, or he was until he poured the water over himself, knocking him on his back. At least he’d gotten plenty in his boiler before giving himself a shower.

Crossing his arms, The Spine quietly pouted and steamed while Six laughed at him. Water dripped off his face and his clothes. At least he wasn’t wearing his fedora. It might have shrunk even more. As if being small wasn’t bad enough.

Still giggling, Six gently poked at Spine. “So, care to explain why you’re doll sized, Spine?”

Grumbling, Spine pushed Six’s away. He wiped his face as he staggered to his feet. “Your shrink ray turned on, on its own, and blasted me in the core. Guess it really did just need more power,” he muttered bitterly, trying to ring water out of his suit. He didn’t need anything else shrinking any more than they already had.

Listening, the young master curled a finger on the edge of his mask. A most interesting reaction, indeed! “Fascinating! I wonder if I just added more blue matter, would it work. Or making a blue matter screen? Like a magnifying glass.” As he pondered, he started to pace the kitchen, seeming to completely forget that there was a tiny automaton in need. At least until he tripped over the Roomba, nearly falling over.

“Careful!” Warned Spine as he hurried to the edge of the counter to look down at the little machine as their wheels spun in the air, beeping in distress. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to his little cowboy.

Six let out a soft sigh and bent down to right the Roomba. They lapped the room before going out the door. Shoulders slumped, he walked back to Spine and crossed his arms. “Well, I can try to reverse it, but you’ll probably have to be small for a little while, Spine.”

That made Spine jump and panic, nearly tumbling into the sink, if Six wouldn’t have caught him. “I can’t stay small! How do I practice? We have shows coming up!”

Sitting Spine to rights, Six crossed his arms over his chest and somehow managed to look amused even through his keyhole mask. “I haven’t even finished the shrink ray. I need time to work on it and figure out how to reverse it. If I even can.”

Steam started to pour out of every one of Spine’s vents. Tiny, forever? That couldn’t happen! He couldn’t stay this small forever. Rabbit would use him like a doll. Zer0 would steal his fire truck, and he wouldn’t ever be able to get it back! And what about music? Were there guitars small enough for him? Could they make one that small that still sounded good? What would happen to the band? Maybe they’d have to disband, or worse, replace him! The Spine absolutely could not stay small. That was not going to happen. Right?

Petes stood back and let Spine spiral for a moment before he tried to gently pat his head. He nearly knocked the bot over. “It’ll be alright, Spineo. I’ll figure something out.” The look on his face told Six it didn’t help. Petes sighed and laughed a little. “For now, try and relax a little. Try and think of it as a vacation.”

Vacation? Robots don’t take vacations! That was ridiculous. He was programmed to entertain. What was he supposed to do? This small, Spine couldn’t even try to write songs. He was barely bigger than the pen.

“It’s late. Why don’t I take you up to your room?” Six offered Spine a hand so he could carry him up.

Not that he was happy about, but Spine stepped onto the offered hand. Trying to get comfortable, he held onto the sleeve of the lab coat so he wouldn’t fall. Hopefully, he would feel better in the morning.

Come morning, The Spine was in another spot of trouble. He needed water, and it was a long way down from his bed. They really hadn’t thought that through.

Stepping to the edge, he looked down. It was a long way down. Leaning over a little more, he flailed his arms when he started to lose his balance and fell back onto the thick comforter. That was going to be a problem. He could try and scale the bedding, but that might damage some of the more intricate workings if he lost his grip. He was smaller now. He wasn’t sure how hard it would be to fix him now, or if they could make parts small enough for him.

Humming softly, he tapped his chin while he tried to figure out a solution. Snapping his fingers suddenly, he grinned and carefully walked back to his pillow. That would give him something soft to fall on. Dragging it back to the edge of the bed, he tried to toss it down. While he threw it down, he threw himself with it.

Screaming, Spine scrambled, trying to grab the quilt. When he hit the pillow, it nearly swallowed him, wrapping him in down comfort. For once, it was a good thing he couldn’t feel pain. That might have hurt. And a better thing he had begged for soft down pillows.

Spine brushed himself off with a sigh. At least there weren’t any doors to contend with. One challenge he didn’t have to worry about while he walked down the hall. He still had a long trek ahead of him before he could get water yet.

Worse than long halls? Stairs. The Spine was really starting to hate the stairs. Why couldn’t he just take the elevator? With how small he was now, he was light enough it wasn’t a risk. Of course, he was also small enough he didn’t stand a chance at hitting any of the buttons. Puffing an annoyed cloud of steam, he started down the stairs, trying not to fall this time.

By the time he made it to the bottom, the titanium bot was starting to overheat. Steaming, Spine leaned against the stair, trying to cool off. Overheating would be a real problem when he was small. He didn’t need to be confused for a toy. He quietly scorned that he didn’t even have his favourite hat to try and fan himself.

If Petes couldn’t fix him soon, he was going to have to start going into stasis under the sink. Now, didn’t that just sound cozy? He thought to himself as he finally made it into the kitchen and walked up to the sink. The very high up and out of reach sink.

Head in his hands, Spine let out a quiet groan. This being small had become far too much of a hassle. Couldn’t just one thing be simple for a little robot that wasn’t meant to be little?

At least he was still strong enough to push a chair over to the sink, barely. He could feel his hydraulics strain as he pushed the chair until it hit the counter. At least it would be easier after this. So long as no one moved the chair back to the table.

Now, he just needed to get up there. Standing on his tiptoes, he reached up to pull himself up. Only his fingers didn’t quite make it to the seat. Fuming, more steam billowed from his vents. All this work, and still he was falling short! He was going to run out of steam at this rate. There had to be something he could use.

While he looked around for something to help, there came a familiar whir of one of his favourite machines. Looking up, he beamed. “Hey, there, cowboy! You always know when I need you, don’t ya?” He laughed, trying to wave them over. “Mind giving me a bit of a lift, buckaroo?”

Trustworthy as ever, Roomba rolled up to the chair. They beeped when they hit the leg but stayed perfectly still for Spine.

With a grin, he gave his not so little friend a pat before crawling up. It was just enough to pull himself up onto the seat of the chair. Just about there! Getting up the back was a little easier, and he finally managed to get himself onto the counter. He really needed water now.

At least the cup was still there, one less thing he had to worry about. He dragged it back to the sink. He tried not to drop it in on its side. He wasn’t sure how hard it would be to get out of the sink. Getting it under the tap, he had to walk around to the back of the sink to turn on the tap, leaning over to watch the cup fill. Not too much. His boiler was a lot smaller, and he didn’t want to make another mess.

Which he did anyway. At least this time, he wasn’t totally soaked, but he got more on him than in him. Grumbling, he resisted the urge to try and throw the cup. He’d need it later. But at least for now, his boiler was full.

Setting the cup by the sink, Spine went back to the chair to look down. He was surprised to see Roomba was still there, spinning around the legs of the chair almost excitedly.

“Are ya waitin’ on me down there?” He asked, laughing when the machine beeped in return. “Alright, alright. I’m comin’ down.” And very carefully, he did just that.

Barely getting both feet onto the top of Roomba, they took off like a shot. Or, at least as fast as a Roomba can manage. Flailing his arms, he tried to catch his balance, only to fall squarely on his rear.

“Careful now! What’s gotten into you?”

Instead of an answer, Roomba lapped the kitchen table before starting out to the hall to go on their rounds again. The manor really seemed like a new world this low to the ground. Spine could hardly recognize the rooms they passed and cleaned being so small.

While they roamed the halls and rooms, Spine started to notice some of the dust bunnies were too big for Roomba. They just rolled them or pushed them around until they got unstuck from a wheel. That wasn’t good!

“We gotta wrangle those dust bunnies, partner!” Tapping on Roomba’s sides, he guided them off to a small sitting room where Annie often sewed. It was early yet, so she was still busy elsewhere in the manor.

Climbing off his friend, Spine dug through her sewing basket. A large spool of black thread was just what he needed. Digging deeper, he found a box of pins. Perfect! Proud as punch, he went to put them on Roomba.

In Annie’s seat laid a small plush cowboy that caught his eye. One of Spine’s favourites. Annie had been fixing him up. One of The Spine’s knuckles had gotten caught on a thread, nearly ripping off the poor doll's arm. He had oil in his eyes when he had shown it to her. The cowboy was nearly as good as new. She was even patching up threadbare clothes.

Just a moment of hesitation, and he took the doll’s hat, holding it protectively to his chest a moment. He did need a hat. “You don’t mind, do you? I’ll give it back when I’m big again,” he promised. Slipping on the hat, he jumped back onto Roomba to start their adventure.

While Roomba didn’t go very fast, Spine still had a grand time of it! At first, he had tried to lasso them with a single piece of thread. That went about as poorly as one would expect it to. More thread wrapped together helped, but it wasn’t quite enough to catch little blobs of dust and hair. It took a few more tries and a few ruined pins that he hoped he never had to tell Annie about, but he managed to catch them!

He guided Roomba to gather them all up in a lesser used study. He got them packed tightly together. Not much room to roam, but that kind of the point, after all. They were dust bunnies, not wild horses or cattle.

Hopping off Roomba, The Spine made a pen for the dusty critters with more black thread and pins. He wrapped the thread carefully and made sure to stick the pins deep enough they wouldn’t tip over and end up in some poor Walter Worker’s foot.

Some of them hung over the edge, and he grinned widely at that, just like a horse trying to get grass from the other side of the fence. For being shapeless masses, if he tilted his head just right, he thought they looked like a pretty good herd.

Once he was satisfied with his work, he climbed back onto Roomba and looked over their hard work. Gently, he gave his friend a pat. “We did real good, didn’t we, cowboy?”

Roomba let out a soft beep and stayed in place, watching over the dust bunnies they’d caught.

Chuckling softly, Spine curled his knees to his chest and draped his arms over his knees. He sighed a happy cloud of steam as he relaxed with Roomba. Rounding up dust bunnies was a lot of fun. Things were different, but he didn’t think he minded too much if his days could be like this.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad being small, just for a while.”

[snappedsky]

Borderlands: Skies the Bodyguard 3

The Crimson Raiders finally catch up with Skies.

*Links to previous and next chapters in reblog*

--

Chapter 18

           Three buzzards fly across the ocean, carrying Lilith and the Crimson Raiders. She carefully watches the map on her ECHO device, making sure they’re going the right way, as they approach an island.

           “Look!” Mordecai exclaims, pointing to a flying vehicle parked on the coast. They land the buzzards nearby and examine it.

           “What a piece of junk,” Gaige comments.

           “It is empty,” Zer0 observes.      

           “They must be on the island,” Lilith says.

           “Wait, listen,” Axton orders.

           Everyone’s quiet for a moment and they hear gunfire in the distance.

           “Gunshots,” Maya states as everyone draws their weapons.

           “Sounds like we’re late for the party,” Salvador grins.

           “Meat,” Krieg chuckles darkly and everyone jogs into the trees. They only make it a short distance before they’re ambushed. Shock blasts hit the ground at their feet, narrowly missing them as everyone leaps backwards.

           “Guardians!” Maya exclaims as the insectoid creatures emerge from the shadows.

           “Some party,” Mordecai scoffs and they open fire.

           Meanwhile, not too far away, Skies, Timothy, August, Claptrap, and Gortys race around the trees and buildings. They dodge the guardians’ attacks while firing off some of their own, their bullets barely wounding the creatures.

           “Gah! What are these things?” August snaps.

           “Guardians! They guard the Vaults,” Claptrap replies.

           “This is the first time I’ve seen them in person,” Skies remarks.

           “Not me and I’m not a huge fan,” Timothy adds.

           “What do we do?” Gortys asks frantically.

           “Just keep moving!” Skies orders.

           They continue rushing around the abandoned facility but are forced to skid to a stop. Five guardians are standing in their way, blocking them off. They try to go back but four more jump down, surrounding them.

           “Aw, crapsicles,” Timothy squeaks.

           Skies snarls and starts to draw a grenade from her coat. But before she can throw it, the guardians attack. They all fire electrically charged blasts. Skies, Timothy, and August do their best to dodge but there’s nowhere to go and they’re all hit. They cry out in pain as the shocks travel through their bodies before collapsing.

           Claptrap and Gortys remain unharmed, the guardians seemingly uninterested in them. They just watch in horror as their friends pass out around them.

           The guardians chitter with satisfaction before approaching. Claptrap and Gortys look up at them in a panic as they get closer and closer. Then Claptrap spots the grenade Skies had in her hand.

           He quickly grabs it, pulls the pin, and shouts, “I’m a Vault Hunter too!” as he tosses it into one of the groups. It goes off, splitting into multiple smaller grenades which also explode.

           Most of the guardians are taken out in the blasts and the survivors are startled into backing away, giving the robots a chance to escape.

           “Grab August!” Claptrap orders as he pulls both Skies and Timothy onto his head.

           “Ah, o-okay!” Gortys squeaks and hoists Augusts onto her head.

           Together, the two robots make a break for it, dragging their unconscious friends away from the remaining guardians.

           “We need a place to hide,” Claptrap whimpers and spots a door with a glowing control panel. “Here!” He skids to a stop, pushes the button, and the door jerks open, dust falling away as it slides into the wall. “Inside!”

           Gortys follows him inside and he quickly closes the door.

           The building is small, just one room with no windows. There’s one large computer that appears to be on standby, the blank screen dimly illuminating the room.

           Claptrap and Gortys lay their friends on the metal floor. All three of them remain unconscious and unresponsive.

           “They’re not waking up,” Gortys points out.

           “I know,” Claptrap replies.

           “What do we do?”

           “I don’t know!”

           They both cry out in a panic and race around in circles, exclaiming, “what do we do? What do we do?”

           Suddenly, a compartment on the computer console opens up and something flies out. It hits Claptrap in the head, interrupting his fit. When he stops to look at it, he exclaims happily.

           “Insta-health!” he squeals and picks up three syringes.

           “Huh?” Gortys questions.

           “Here! Stab this into August’s neck,” Claptrap orders.

           “Wha-! But I don’t wanna hurt August,” she argues.

           “No, no, this will help him!” he insists, “just do it, hurry!”

           Gortys hesitates but obliges and jabs the syringe into August’s neck while Claptrap does the same for Timothy and Skies. Immediately, the three of them gasp awake and shoot up.

           “You’re okay!” Gortys cries happily, hugging August.        

           “Ugh, my head,” Skies groans and looks around. “Where are we?”

           “We saved you,” Claptrap states as he and Gortys stand proudly before them. The three of them stare at the robots with shock.

           “Really. Well, uh…good work, then,” Skies comments.

           “Thanks,” Gortys chimes.

           “Alright, what now?” August asks as they stand up.

           “We gotta find the others,” Skies replies.

           They all perk up at the sounds of gunshots just outside.

           “Oh, maybe that’s them,” Timothy says and opens the door. Outside they see the guardians getting shot at before Brick bursts out of the trees and punches one in the head. He turns towards the open door and spots them.

           “Found ya!” he exclaims.

           “Brick!” Skies squeals.

           He charges them, laughing victoriously.

           “Close it, close it!” Skies cries, frantically slapping at Timothy’s hand before hitting the control panel. The door slams shut just as Brick swings his fist. He hits the door, denting the metal inches from Timothy’s face.

           “Whoa,” he peeps.

           Before Brick can have a chance to open the door, Skies shoots the control panel with her pistol. They soon hear him cursing outside.

           “Who is that?” Timothy asks.

           “Let’s just say for now, he really doesn’t like us,” Skies replies, “well, me. Mostly me.”

           “How did they find us?” August asks.

           “I don’t know, I don’t know,” she says, panicked as she grips her head. “Argh, I don’t what to do! We’re trapped and Brick’ll smash through that door in no time.”

           As if to prove her point, Brick punches the door again, creating another dent and making everyone cry out in fear.

           “Oh, what did I get myself into,” Timothy whimpers as he backs away.

           “We’re gonna have to fight our way out,” August says.

           “I don’t like our chances but you’re right,” Skies nods.

           They ready their weapons and wait tensely for Brick to break through the door. But then they hear an odd scraping, like metal on metal.

           “What’s that?” Skies asks as they look around.

           “Look!” Gortys exclaims, pointing at the floor. A small section has shifted, revealing an open space beneath. It scrapes against the rest of the floor as it tries to open wider.

           “A secret door?” Skies questions as she and the boys quickly kneel down and pull it the rest of the way open. Beneath is a dark tunnel that goes straight underground.

           “I can’t see where it goes,” Timothy says, “what if it’s dangerous?”

           They all jump as Brick punches the door again.

           “I’d rather deal with whatever’s down there than Brick,” Skies declares.

           “Okay, so who’s first?” Claptrap asks.

           To answer, Skies pushes him into the hole. Then, with reckless abandon, everyone else jumps in after him and the door, seemingly on its own, slides close.

[archived-brokentoys]

@dearaliceliddel​ asked:

🔥 unpopular opinion of R!ddler in general? Ya love ya boy

IT’S UNPOPULAR OPINION TIME ! / ACCEPTING !

I feel I have a few unpopular opinions of R!ddler... but honestly? Mostly it’s in regard to fandom views or fanon whatever. I will say the obvious one that I’ve made known is that... upon creating this blog I thought NO ONE would care about it because it has nothing to do with G0tham verse or Zer0 Year R!ddler. Because I noticed a MAJORITY of R!ddler fans... at least the ones on this website loves those two depictions a lot. Because most of every R!ddler fan blog I see has either G0tham icon, or Zer0 Year!! Which is funny... I’ve already expressed my issues with G0tham Ed. (I have rants on this blog, mostly because I feel he’s portrayed as oddly kinda ableist, and apparently homophobic. I also don’t appreciate that his OCD is absent and instead replaced with DiD. Either give him DiD and OCD, or don’t give him DiD in general and keep his OCD intact.)  

And as for Zer0 Year Ed? He’s... not a bad Ed. I mean, when it comes to modern portrayals, I can see why people love it. Just because... haha, modern Eds in comics are usually pretty bland and bad. BUT. I know LOTS of people try to treat him like he’s the sexiest Ed ever... and honestly? I don’t get it! I really, REALLY don’t see it! Imo, he’s one of the most unappealing Eds. (Tho, I also don’t blame people too much. Because Ed has also had some... very, VERY bad designs. They LOVE giving Ed ugly designs, but still.) As I’ve said before, everyone has their own tastes. But to me personally, the way Ed’s drawn is just... so unappealing to me that I really didn’t want to make any icons of it. (Obvs I just stick to Animated Series, and that Ark movie for icons.) The fact that Zer0 Year Ed is wearing that darn fedora, and has that chin hair doesn’t help much either... I don’t mind facial hair on Ed, I kinda dig the sideburns, and I like it when he has the stubble like in Ark games. Buuuut... the chin hair just reminds me of all the nice guys/neckbeards. And again, the fedora doesn’t help with that. Also, I feel the design popularized him looking more like a leprechaun. (Longish red hair, along with those sideburns.) So yeah, each to their own. I just don’t care much for it.

Because of my lack of association with these two, I thought people would be less interested! xD Luckily, I have plenty of amazing partners here!