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phoenixyfriend · 4 years ago

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A Smattering of Ideas for a Neji Time-Travel Fic

[EDIT: okay so viewing the post on dash or sidebar blog completely ruins the bullet nesting for some reason. Please open it in a new tab.]

Okay so I actually wrote the first chapter or two of this like... almost a decade ago probably, but the concept was:

Neji, upon dying, gets sent back, and he's perfectly healthy again, pretty much exactly as he was just before getting mokuton-stabbed... except the seal damage wasn't reversed, so he's blind.

I think he ended up like riiiiiight before the Hyuuga Incident, so about of age with Kakashi & co.

But yeah like imagine telling Hiashi about it.

We have a new Jounin! It's a blind Hyuuga.

His seal is gone! He's technically your nephew.

He needs to be retrained for blindness! He needs to be protected for the information he carries.

He's a time-traveler!

Have fun.

The Hyuuga clan has like a million things going on but future Neji is just finding his younger self and Hinata to cuddle them.

He can't see shit but he Needs To Hug Baby Hinata

She's so small? She needs to be protected?

"Sir, you're blind now." "If Lee can be a ninja without chakra, I can be a ninja without eyes." "Sir. Sir that's--that's not the same thing, you can't--SIR." "I'll ask Hatake for advice." "He's still got half of his--SIR!"

Neji is a genius, if there's anyone who can pivot their entire fighting style from "I can see everything" to "I don't need to see anything" it's someone like him. Especially with the "I need to protect all these smols and be strong enough to force people to take my advice seriously if necessary" motivation

BUT But But for the first few days, it's just like. Sir. I understand you want to protect this small child, but you walked into three walls in the past hour. Please st--sir.

Fun option is "Neji spills all the beans... to Hiashi, not the Hokage."

Hiashi: Okay so like. Give me a few days to come up with a cover story for your existence. Neji: That's fair. Hiashi: Do. Do you want me to send in Hizashi or...? Neji: I'll tell him the truth if you do. Hiashi: That's, uh... that's fine. Neji: Then yes. Please. Hiashi, thoroughly unnerved for a variety of reasons: Right. I'll go do that.

Relevant: "Stop trying to convince me to put the Caged Bird Seal on a man who is already blind."

Since that's the ostensible reasoning of the seal, and like. You can't make that argument about keeping the eyes safe when the eyes don't... work.

Courtesy of @firebirdeternal, along with a bunch of other stuff but especially this:

ooooh feels moment: Neji starts his retraining to become Strong Enough without his eyesight, guess who sees him working his ass off to overcome a disadvantage and thinks "Oh, there's a person I should Be Friends With!"

Part of me just went "Gai gets injured on a mission and, while waiting out his medical leave, gets assigned to Neji as a guide/sparring partner"

Or, well, not assigned. He's just doing one-armed pushups in the training yard with a cast on half his limbs after breaking out of the hospital and zeros in on Neji like "Ah yes, medically inadvisable training, a Bonding Activity!"

Neji goes from "I can see everything" to "I can't see shit but if you're within arms reach you're fucked"

A lot of it comes down to Neji building up non-Byakugan sensing abilities, I think?

It won't help him read, but it'll sure help him avoid getting punched.

I think that's really the crux of his New Style, however he works it out, instead of having this Massive Range of perfect perception he just trains his other senses until he still has that perfect perception effectively, just in like a two foot radius around his person

and then he goes full Rock Lee and trains speed and reaction time until that two feet is enough

I want Daredevil-style bitchiness at some point, in the "Okay, I'm sure the contract is lovely, but do you have it in braille, perhaps?" sense

And Toph-style stuff

Genma, in the Jounin lounge: "Hey guys I think I've got a design finished for the new tattoo I'm gonna get, what do ya'll think?" 'holds up scroll' Kakashi: "Why would you get a tattoo of an ugly couch?" Genma: "It's not an ugly couch it's the Hokage Monument!" Neji: "It looks perfect to me" Genma: "Thank you! I worked really hard on-..... why do you feel the need to do these things."

Also I want Neji to have the same approach as Matt to a cane. He can make do without it, but it sure does make his life easier when he's off-duty.

Like, yes if he focuses his entire, highly trained person, on perceiving his surroundings, he can sense his way around. But that is very tiring

Like that is a lot of work to be doing, when you are just trying to get to the coffee shop for a bagel

Neji learns Sage Mode solely because he wants to be able to tree-hop again

Neji visits Kakashi like "I can't ask the Inuzuka for this because their dogs are clan-specific, but do you know where I can find a guide dog that can double as a ninken in the field?"

Neji asking Gai to help him pick out a feminine yukata because if ANYONE is going to not judge...

Listen I'm just really invested in what Naruto SD told us about how often Neji cross-dresses

Someone asked me which summons Neji learns Sage Mode from, and

I mean, Hashirama supposedly just. Learned it? Without summons?

So maybe Neji does that and just learns from Jiraiya or something

Though it's not... particularly safe.

Birdie had the best response

learning it Without a Summon is very much in the vein of Neji's past attitudes towards Special Secret Techniques, given that he learned the Kaiten with no help even though it was a Secret Technique of the Hyuuga.

"I know it's possible to do, so the hard part is already over, the rest is just figuring it out and doing it"

Neji: I'm here, I'm queer, I'm blind as fuck.

Neji hanging out with Gai and Kakashi is, admittedly, not that different from hanging out with Lee and TenTen

Kakashi is a bit more likely to join in on the shenanigans than Tenten was, but he's still just as available for "We're judging you" sessions

Neji, sipping tea as Gai yells: this is my comfort zone.

Neji with a white cane: This is my whacking stick. Hiashi: Don't you mean walking stick? Neji: No.

Because... what ninja wouldn't ensure that any normal part of their daily life was fit for battle.

Like if Karin can hide lockpicks in a photo and a knife in her glasses, Neji can ensure his white cane is suitable for battle.

(Going off the earlier Daredevil comparisons, I’d say this is similar to Matt turning his cane into billy clubs sometimes.)

Neji, assuming the role of Chief Babysitter for SmolNeji and Hinata, senses Lee and Tenten at the park. Nudges SmolNeji: "Go, be friends with them"

SmolNeji, watching Lee faceplant into the dirt while trying to jump off the swing while Tenten chases two boys around with a weird frog she found: ".... why"

Neji: "Just trust me"

Also consider older Neji giving baby Hinata shoulder rides

Baby Hinata is delighted by this whole affair.

More time with big brother, and a new even bigger brother? Best times.

Bigger brother needs help reading sometimes and Hinata is so excited to help. Hiashi even approves because helping older Neji read things like menus and the like is helping Hinata learn how to read, so it benefits everyone.

Consider also: Neji encouraging the smols to play with bby Naruto, a Hyuuga elder (or possibly Hiashi, but I want him to be a confused accomplice) complains exactly once and Neji exudes such a powerful "Do not test me" energy that he just kind of. Drops it.

Neji's attitude towards baby Naruto is somewhere between "They're good dogs Brent" and "I died for him once already, do you think I'd hesitate to kill?" and it depends entirely on how seriously he thinks you're talking shit about him

Neji plays with the smols, including smol Naruto, by just being the Perfect Straight Man. Just taking every nonsense thing Naruto says Completely Seriously and using deadpan reactions to chaos to make them giggle. This drifts into Feels for Naruto when he's the first adult who takes his "I'm gonna be the Hokage" completely seriously

"Of course, chibi-Hokage-sama"

Hiashi: "What.... are you.... doing?" Neji: "Ah, Hiashi-sama. Please exercise caution, the floor has mysteriously transformed into molten rock. I suspect enemy action, but have no further intelligence at this time" SmolNeji, Hinata, and Naruto: 'wild giggling as they dangle from rafters/stand balanced precariously on chairs'

Hiashi takes one step into the room and all the kids start screaming so loud he steps back out in shock

Neji out in Konoha just Causing Shit with plausible deniability

Listen. Neji is PETTY.

Someone describes Naruto as "the annoying blonde child with the whiskers, you know, the skin brat" and Neji says "I'm a sensor and have encountered no demonic chakra"

"okay just avoid the blonde kid with the whiskers"

"I don't know how to tell you this..."

"Sir, I know you're new in town, but that kid isn't really good news--" "A child can't be news unless they're recently born." "No, I mean, didn't anyone tell you to avoid the blonde kid with the whiskers?" "Naruto's blonde?"

Possibly "Hinata's blonde?"

He just, aggressively misunderstands that any insinuation about Naruto is about the Hyuuga heir instead

Birdie said they like the idea that he uses the aggressive deliberate misunderstanding to force people to either be embarrassed by how they're acting by having to spell it out or give up in quieter shame

Sometimes Neji gets tired of being obtuse and just lets Gai do it for him

Gai babysits on occasion, SmolNeji is aghast, Hinata mostly just confused, Naruto is delighted

Naruto is just Stars In Eyes about Gai

Kakashi: this is not the excuse I expected to have for visiting Naruto but I'm taking it

#Hyuuga Neji #Hyuuga Hiashi #Hyuuga Hinata #Uzumaki Naruto #Maito Gai #Hatake Kakashi #Naruto #mini fic #time travel #Hyuuga Clan #Blind Neji #Phoenix Babbles #Phoenix Posts

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lamiralami · 5 years ago

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TMA Retro 4: Page Turner

I was touched to see some tag commentary on yesterday’s post! Honestly, it gave me an emotion - I am traditionally very anxious about engaging online, it speaks to my immense love of TMA that it brought me to Make A Post At Last. It’s very affirming and reassuring to get some response to my lunatic treatises. Y’all are all right. 💜

Anyway, grab some lighter fluid and a sturdy wastepaper basket, time to torch your haunted novel in MAG 4: Page Turner

It’s ironic that this statement is about the Vast when it is one dense motherfucker. so many dangling plot threads are introduced here, each ready to hook you and start reeling. we’ve been into the meta plot since episode one but this episode is the first time the audience is made aware of such.

seriously: Jurgen Leitner and his library, Gerard Keay and Mary Keay, Michael Crew. the figures introduced in this one thirty-minute installment loom large over the rest of the entire run

you could, your first time through, even file this away as a one-off scary story if not for the fact that Jon knows what’s going on (enjoy it while it lasts, my son). He’s heard of Jurgen Leitner. He alludes to an incident with his library in 1994. Deeper than that, he immediately takes the statement at face value and treats the claims within it as authentic, which is a complete 180° on the first three episodes

and this is such a smart story choice? Jon shapes our perspective into this universe and up until now he’s been utterly dismissive of the validity of the stories he’s telling. To go from practically rolling his eyes to scheduling a meeting with his boss about tracking down more haunted books - that tells us that Jon takes this seriously as a threat. And that makes us take it seriously too, makes us take note that strange books are dangerous things in this world. Any offhand mention of books in future statements will be enough to make us sweat

And! It starts winding the narrative tension on a character level. Why and what does Jon know about Jurgen Leitner and his library? Why does he say his name with such venom? And if he’s so sure about the supernatural nature of these books, why is he so loath to believe the other statements?

(and then it takes 80 + episodes to fully answer these initial questions. Jonny enjoys a slow roasted torment)

love that the statement giver presents, as proof of his iron-clad sanity, the fact that he works as a theatre technician. speaking as someone with an unfinished theatre degree: theatre people are feral my good buddy, try again. I mean, we refuse to say the name of one of the most famous plays in the English language because we think a ghost will trip us for the indiscretion. this is not the trump card you think it is.

a quick sidebar for the Red String Brigade: The Trojan Women is an ancient Greek tragedy that involves a baby being thrown off a city wall. The Seagull’s first published English translation was done by Marian Fell, and also a seagull is a bird and birds can fly. Much Ado About Nothing is very good and you should all watch the version from 2011 with David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

it’s interesting that these early episodes seem to take a cue from urban legends in some respects. Nathan Watts gets extremely drunk at a party and then is almost skinned by a monster while having a smoke. Joshua Gillespie is approached while engaging in a whirlwind of debauchery and has to take care of a cursed coffin after accepting money for what he thinks is a drug trafficking gig. Amy Patel regularly spies on her neighbour for her own entertainment and then has to watch him be replaced by a malevolent entity only she can perceive. and now Dominic Swain pushes past his guilty conscience to score a valuable book off an unknowing charity shop and...gets a bit dizzy and haunted by a phantom stink for a few days then gets ‎£5,000, well anyway, the point is he got spooked! spooked after doing something kind of iffy! that is pure urban legend procedure; modern day fairy tales imparting dire consequences onto societal transgressions. in a horror story this structure offers a false sense of safety - if you’re a good person, the monster won’t come for you. I can’t recall which upcoming statement yanks the rug out from under us with the first completely random victim.

cannot comprehend how this guy didn’t start plugging the book into google translate the second he got home. that probably saved him from being taken by the book but I am still judging him for not even trying it. yeah you’d be sucked into some sort of sky hell but at least you’d know what’s in the book!! could never be me

(yes I am aware in this universe I would have been eaten years ago. I’ve made my peace with that)

grbookworm1818 slays me. I don’t know which is better, the idea of Gertude carefully curating the most sixty-five-year-old-on-goodreads username she could as a cover for her cursed purchase history, or her actual sixty-five-year-old brain just expressing itself naturally because Gertrude is a very busy woman who doesn’t have time to immerse herself in the ins and outs of internet culture, she just wants to buy the demonic tomes she’s selected for destruction and get on with her day thanks.

did Gertrude know what a meme was? which Archivist could convincingly pose as a millennial best, Gertrude Robinson or Jonathan Sims?

The Key of Solomon and its former keeper, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, are both real historical figures. the book is basically Renaissance-era magical au fanfic of the Bible, and the man was a 19th century British occultist (and likely drinking buddy of Jonah Magnus) who founded a Very Serious Secret Society. this is a picture of him whiiiiiich rather dispels any sense of menace he’s meant to invoke. what kind of cosplaying nonsense

Mary Keay is such a striking figure. “She was very old and painfully thin, but her head was completely clean shaven, and every square inch of skin I could see was tattooed over with closely-written words in a script I didn’t recognise.” a Look, a vision!

I’m guessing that Our Gerard was blasting heavy metal at 2 am to try to drown out his undead mother while waiting for her manifestation to dissipate. I like to imagine him frequenting Reddit advice posts about dealing with toxic family members, poor lad

oh my gosh Mary refers to Gerard as “her Gerard” is that where Jon got “our Gerard” from?? I feel betrayed??

whatever, I’m reclaiming it. Our Gerard is meant with affection now babey!

the eye portrait is a bit puzzling. the inscription - ‘“Grant us the sight that we may not know. Grant us the scent that we may not catch. Grant us the sound that we may not call.”’ - could almost be read as an invocation against the Eye? But in general Gerry is fairly Eye-aligned, so...shrug emoji

(honestly my main takeaway from the eye portrait is that it’s finely detailed and near photorealistic so we can add “tortured artist” to our list of Gerard Keay traits and is it any wonder that he’s so Fandom Beloved?)

Mary is Not Good at negotiating sales. her main technique involves terrible tea, bringing up repressed childhood trauma, and getting her magic book to drop animal bones onto customer’s shoes. I’m guessing Pinhole Books was in bad shape even before the police investigation and murder charges.

hahaha, the Vast pushes Dominic down the stairs. classic. you gotta grab what opportunities are available

so did Gerard have to follow Dominic back to his flat and wait awkwardly on the doorstep at like 3 in the morning, hoping none of his neighbours would notice and call the cops

the revelation that Mary’s been dead the whole time! this episode may be more intent on world building and plot set-up but damn if it isn’t still a good little ghost story.

kind of rude of Gerry to just burn a book in this guy’s flat without asking and then steal his wastepaper basket.

Jon may not call the statement giver a liar for once, but never fear, he’s still our petty bastard man. accuses Gertrude of filing statements without reading them, has Sasha double-check Martin’s research, grumps about his general misfortune . he’s stressed from the Archives’ disorder and having flashbacks to a certain picture book but by Jove, that won’t stop him making snide comments on what’s supposed to be an official audio transcription!

#tma retro #the magnus archives #tma spoilers #tma meta #I love love love all the little dominos being set into place in this episode #but I am looking forward to an episode about the Vast that really dives in deep #(pun absofuckinglutely intended)

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phalloplastyaustralia · 5 years ago

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8.5 weeks post op

Check up today with Gooseman at 8.5 weeks post-op RFF phalloplasty. He was super impressed with how my arm is healing. Everything else is healing well for the most part, besides a few little things. The scar on the underside of my penis has been pretty tight, particularly towards the base. I’ve been aware of this for weeks and have been massaging it with vitamin e and using silicone gel on it, which he wants me to continue doing. He said that the scar around the actual base of my penis is tight as well, which I truly hadn’t given much thought to and assumed it was normal, but that’s because I only have my only experience to base it off, where as he has everyone elses to compare to. He said that the tightness is causing it all to ‘sit a bit high’, which I assume was in reference to my junk that still sits below my penis, including my existing penis. This means that when he pulls my penis up and towards my abdomen, it pulls a lot on my existing penis. This is uncomfortable, BUT it works in my favour when it comes to wanking - I can basically tug gently on my penis and it’s enough to achieve orgasm. At present I will usually alternate between this and stimulating my existing dick, but I do believe I could achieve orgasm by tugging only on my dick, but I’ve still been a bit too anxious to do this, purely due to not wanting to compromise any of the healing process/long-term aesthetic outcome.

My primary concern has been about narrowing at the base, which has consumed a lot of my time the last few weeks. It’s certainly not overly noticeable or significant, but when you’ve forked out as much as I have on a penis, you’ll nitpick the tiniest things. Goossen thinks that the tightening of the incision could be contributing to this, but did acknowledge that I am “less full” and “a bit flatter” at the base, but he’s not concerned about it. Classic. He said that once everything is sitting properly (with implants), as well as when erect, it won’t be an issue. He also mentioned something about the tightness at the base contributing to this? But I don’t remember the specifics.

He appeared very impressed with where my sensation is at. I had convinced myself that I read somewhere that left donor would result in more sensitivity on the right side, and vice versa. Then I was told that the hook up is done on the left and that I would likely experience more sensation on the left. I asked him about this today (whether the hook up was down on the left) and he didn’t confirm/deny this and explained how they try to hook as many nerves up, etc. and basically that there’s no rule of thumb for where you will or won’t experience certain sensations. He said that typically people will experience one side with more erotic than the other and more tactile on another side.

At present, I have extremely strong sensation on the right hand side, slightly less strong sensation down the left, about 1.5-2inches along the incision on the underside up from the base at a lesser intensity, and then fairly dull (by dull, I mean I need to apply significantly more pressure to feel the sensation and it’s not as intense) along the top of my penis until about half an inch of so from the tip, where I feel nothing. Along the right side, all I have to do is run my finger very lightly down the shaft to feel this. Along the left snd on the underside I have to apply slightly more pressure. On the top, I’ve experienced the sensation for a few weeks if I flick it, but within the last week I am starting to feel it more if I rub my finger rapidly on it with a little nit of pressure. This is all displaced sensation, which I feel in my existing penis. At present it’s not a pleasant, good, sexy time feeling, but will be once it settles. Currently it feels like someone is stabbing a pin into the head of my existing penis (which iis great if that’s your thing, but I find it unpleasant. However I always do it, as it’s nice being able to make that connection between my penis and my brain and feeling it as something that exists as a part of my body). At present, I have no tactile sensation. However due to the intensity of the sensation I do have, I am very aware if something hits my penis.

At this stage, I’m booked for February 6th 2020 for stage 2. I had the option of November 21st, but with how close it is to Christmas and the closure period for Goossen and his staff, I chose to push it back. If I were to experience and issues with the hookup, I would go home with an SPC over Christmas until he returns. And as ridiculous as it might sound to some, I really wanna be able to swim over the summer. This also gives me some additional time to recover from stage 1 and for any issues with the scar tightness to settle as much as possible. As well as get back in shape after my stage 1 sedentary life and subsequent weight gain, and save a bit of extra money. As much as I want stage 2 as soon as possible, I think that this is the most sensible thing to do for numerous reasons. I figure that I’ve waited this long, I’m sure I can wait an extra 2 months.

I’m back up to see him again at the end of September to check on everything again, and I presume I’ll head back up again early 2020 to check everything before we go ahead with stage 2.

I am also allowed to run now, provided that everything is “packed firmly” and “well supported”.

I have a little ‘bobble’ sorta thing at the end of one of the incisions on my butt, which has been rather tender and painful. Goossen said it could be a stitch or scar tissue, and if it doesn’t resolve itself by the time I have stage 2, he will revise it. Butt is still tender when seated for long periods and/or bad seating. Still some tightness in the backs of my legs, but nothing that is too bothersome.

My arm is hopefully on the homestretch. I’m still dressing it with MepitelOne, and will continue to do so until I’m fully healed and can switch to silicone sheets. The few little problem areas look like they have improved since Thursday when the dressings were last changed. Fingers crossed that when I go back to the hand therapist next week, I’ll either be healed enough to go dressing free, or very close to it. I try to touch it quite regularly over the top of the dressings (rubbing, patting, scratching, etc. to adjust to the sensation).

As a bit of a related sidebar, I kinda wanted to touch on the arm and the scarring, etc. The significance of the arm graft was something that I had a really hard time swallowing when I first looked at RFF a good decade or so ago. Despite being a weird body part to like, my forearms are probably the only part of my body I do like, and the thought of altering one of them so drastically always terrified me. Because most of the information about RFF has typically been out of the states, I had no idea that the donor site would be replaced with a full thickness from the butt until my consult (why the states haven’t caught up yet is beyond me, truly). Despite already having made the decision to have RFF, this was a game changer for me. And honestly, if I didn’t have tattoos that were compromised when the flap was lifted that make it very obvious that my arm has undergone a major surgical procedure, I don’t think the end result would bother me much at all. It sits SO FLUSH that once my wrist swelling goes down, it will be totally seamless. I know that the conspicuous scarring is a huge deterrent for a lot of people, and I very much understand that, but I think it’s important that people understand that what you see online from guys in the states is NOT what your arm will look like if you have surgery with Goossen. I’m not here to shame or make comments about peoples choices to pursue ALT, abdominal, meta or any other alternative procedure, but I think it’s important that people aren’t scared off by misinformation. This is not to say that guys who have had RFF in the states have lesser or subpar results as due to the use of the split thickness.

TLDR; healing well, few super minor relatively non-issue things that will hopefully sort themselves out, arm looks great, sensation is great, Dr Goossen is the love of my life, shoutout to the under appreciated but equally amazing and skilled Dr Ingram, life with a (bigger) penis is wild and worth every cent, stage 2 booked for Feb 6th 2020, don’t take everything you see on the internet as bible. Gravy.

#australia #phalloplasty #brisbane #dr goossen #ftm #lower surgery #forearm phalloplasty #dr hans goossen #bottom surgery #trans #phallo

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caranfindel · 6 years ago

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Recap/review 14.12: Prophet and Loss”

THEN: Donatello. \o/ Nick. /o\ Michael. The box.

NOW: The bottom of the ocean. Dean in the box. Banging on it with bloody fingers. Water dripping. Creaks. Panic. Calling out for Sam. Phone dying. Darkness!

Title card!

Oh, it was just a dream. Were you fooled?

I mean this frantic battery death is a dead giveaway.

Speaking of dreams, a door opens and we see Sam clad in sweatpants, a t-shirt, and socks. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if I get nothing else from this episode - and there's a good chance I won't (you know why) - at least I got THIS.

(Tumblr mobile is being an asshole and won’t let me insert any of my own screencaps, and the gif search isn’t giving me many for this ep. But I need to break all this text up with some images. So pretend this is Sam in a t-shirt and sweats trying to comfort Dean after his nightmare.)

Close enough, right?

He apologizes for waking Dean, who (strangely enough) admits he was having a nightmare. And whose real-life fingers are also bloody, from scratching the wall in his sleep. Sam asks if he wants to talk about it and Dean tells him to go to sleep. Sam switches to I know you're scared, and I know we're always maybe gonna die but this is even worse because Michael's gonna keep you buried alive forever and I kinda love the way Sam isn't bothering to sugarcoat the situation at ALL. He's convinced they have to find another way. Dean's convinced there isn't one.

(Sidebar: The guys are in a pretty nice (for them) hotel room. I wonder if this was deliberate. I wonder if Dean said I want a decent hotel room for once, just like he wanted to finally celebrate Christmas, or if Sam picked it.)

Elsewhere, a guy dumps salt into a tank of water and drowns a woman in it, carving her arm up while he's at it. When he's done, he gazes skyward and listens to the voices inside his head.

Cut to Nick in the hospital. Do you care? I don't either. Let's cut to the chase and say he ends up escaping. On to better things.

The Impala pulls up at a rest area. She's pulling a trailer? Oh no, I don't think that's a good idea. Dean asks Sam if he's still with him on the plan, and again, Sam isn't sugarcoating ANYTHING, telling Dean that he gave him his word but he hates the plan and Mom hates the plan and Dean needs to tell Cas and Jack about the plan. Dean's stalling on that because he's afraid they'd "shake" him, and Sam says that being shook "wouldn't be the worst thing" and SAM, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD, I LOVE THAT YOU ARE SO NOT DOWN WITH THIS PLAN AND NOT HIDING THAT AT ALL.

I love that Sam's attitude is yeah, I told you I'd help, so I'm helping, but it's really a stupid, stupid plan and you shouldn't do it. Dean tells him to "put the end of this trip out of your head," so I guess they are actually on their way to the coast right now, towing Dean's coffin. I wonder how they convinced Mary not to come along? (Ha ha not really, I think Mary would have said bye, love you and gone back to shooting pumpkins.)

(Sidebar: Every time I say I wonder why a certain character isn't around, several of you kindly point out that the show can't afford to have these guest stars appear in every episode, and I love you for trying, but I know the Doylist reasons; I'm looking for the Watsonian ones. And usually there are none.)

Suitable for any occasion.

Dean gets out and heads for the bathroom, and Sam (whose hair is adorably fluffy today) immediately goes for his phone and calls Cas and we learn that he already told Cas about the awful, awful plan (BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DID). Cas has been looking for a way to eject and destroy Michael but hasn't found anything. He reports that Rowena went through the Book of the Damned to try to find a solution, "and I told her to do it again and see if she missed something, and the woman has a remarkable command of profanity." (BECAUSE OF COURSE SHE DOES. AND IN A SCOTTISH ACCENT. I WANT TO WITNESS THAT.) Cas suggests that he could speak to Dean, as if he has more influence than Sam (NO) and Sam says it won't matter, he's never seen Dean this set on something.

Cut to Drowny Guy picking out his next victim, muttering about striking down the first born in the land of Egypt, and carving up his next victim. More voices. "I am the Lord," he says. Huh.

The Impala drives through the night. Dean is either feeling or remembering feeling Michael banging on that walk-in door in his head, so he decides it's conversation time. He starts out by apologizing for not always being the greatest brother, and I want Sam to say no, you were a great brother, you were just a crappy mother, but that's not your fault because you were four years older than me and shouldn't have been forced into a parental role. Instead Sam tells him he was always there for him. Dean continues in this vein, apologizing for taking John's side and admitting that sometimes he was gone because John actually sent him away. Sam says he left all of that behind, and then shuts Dean down by saying he needs to keep his mind off the end of this trip, just like Dean said. "So if we could not have conversations that sound like deathbed apologies, I would really appreciate it."

Shhhh. Just pretend.

DAMN. I know some of you are thinking Sam should be more supportive and let Dean talk, especially since he's the one who's always trying to get Dean to talk about his feelings in the first place. But I love the way he's not making this easy on Dean. And I also love that he's insisting on what HE needs, but I suspect that he's focused just as much on not letting Dean play out the Deathbed Apology Tour in his head.

Not only is he doing that, but he's actually looking for a case. And he found one. Dean's all, a case? On my Deathbed Apology Tour? And it does seem like a really odd thing for Sam to do. Unless, of course, you accept that he's stalling his little heart out. Dean decides it would be nice to work one last case together, which is a sentiment Sam does NOT appreciate. Anyway, it's our two victims, who both had "graffiti" carved into them. Enochian graffiti.

(Sidebar: Remember that time someone carved Enochian graffiti on the Impala and neither Sam nor Dean recognized it? Ha ha ha ha continuity.)

The next scene is in broad daylight and the guys are in suits. Or at least Dean is in a suit. We can't see Sam because the person whose door they're knocking on won't open it all the way. So, Dean took his suit on his Deathbed Apology Tour? And when Sam decided to run after him, he grabbed his suit as well? (Eh, it gives me Winchesters in suits and overcoats, so I'm willing to handwave it.)

The guy who finally opens the door is the twin brother of the second victim. There's a heavy-handed little scene here where the surviving brother (the younger brother, it turns out, because he's four minutes younger than his dead twin, and if that reminds you that Sam is four years younger than Dean you're not alone) talks about how close they were and how "losing him was like losing a part of myself" and Sam looks sad and Dean looks guilty. It turns out the dead brother had a super-religious friend named Tony, and a convenient picture reveals Tony had an Enochian tattoo which translates to "the word." Duh duh duuuuh! So, who else knows Enochian? Time to call Cas!

Ah, here we go. A real one.

Cas immediately reveals that Sam told him about the Deathbed Apology Tour because, like Sam, he has zero chill about Dean's plan. He also reveals that Tony is the next prophet in line, after Donatello. Sam doesn't make any excuses or apologize for spilling the beans, and if you haven't figured it out yet, I LOVE THAT. The guys wonder if the apparent emergence of a new prophet means Donatello is dead (spoiler alert: we see him on life support so probably not) and Dean calls his doctor, pretending to be his nephew. Using his real name. I have a feeling Sam would have done a better job, because Dean just asks "How is Donatello? He's still alive, right?" which I find funnier than I probably should. So, if he's still alive, how was Tony activated? Let's go ask him.

Apparently the guys took a long time changing out of their suits, because it's dark when they break into Tony's house. They find his bedroom covered in writing, much like Gabriel's redecorating in the bunker except some of it is English. And some of it is about the killing of first-born sons, and I think that's going to mean something for Dean, but spoiler alert: it doesn't. They also find pictures of his two victims, and a clue as to where the killings happened and what the next one will be.

The next one is actually happening right now, with a guy getting doused with gasoline. Luckily the Winchesters break in and save him right before Tony sets him on fire. Sam gets maybe a little too rough with Tony, and Dean calls him off. Tony claims he's doing God's work according to His orders and Sam's all, yeah, no, whatever you heard wasn't God. Tony immediately believes them, apparently. If I thought God was talking to me, I'd think these guys were heretics or the devil or something. But Tony believes them and gets Dean's gun and kills himself. So, I guess that one took care of itself!

But it's not over, because the next prophet could come online and do the same thing, since Donatello being between "between life and death" might be causing prophets who are "wired wrong." Sam asks how they can stop the next prophet from going loco, and, well, there's one way to get rid of someone who's between life and death, isn't there?

(Meanwhile, Nick breaks into his old house and doesn't recognize his dead wife's ghost, but I can't blame him because she's changed A LOT since she died. He hopes she's Lucifer, and somehow he sacrifices her ability to move on because he'd rather have Lucifer and that's all the time I'm spending on that.)

At the Happy Daze (ugh, really?) Nursing Home, Donatello's doctor tells his loving nephews that they're making the right choice to let him go. And luckily, Dr. Novak is here to help! Hee! The doctor tells them Uncle Donatello is occasionally babbling, just as a reflex, and I don't think actual words are a reflex but okay. Cas and Dean have a sidebar about how much Cas regrets what happened to Donatello, but he had no choice, and Dean's all, I know exactly how you feel, and Cas is all, no you don't, because MY plan was the only choice, but YOUR plan is stupid.

Sam interrupts this with a video the doctor took of Donatello's "reflexive babbling." It's actually him speaking Enochian, saying he'll strike down the first-born of Egypt. Apparently Tony got wrapped up in Donatello trying to rewrite the Bible or whatever (Buckleming!) but somehow this means Cas can fix him, because "if there's a spark of hope, then I have to try; you taught me that." Boom. Take that, Mr. Deathbed Apology Tour. (Although I think Sam would have had something to do with that lesson, but whatever.) They rudely kick the doctor out of Donatello's room, and while Cas does his work, Sam and Dean have a quiet talk.

"If Cas isn't right about Donatello," Sam says, "then where does that leave him? Trapped. Trapped in his own body, somewhere between life and death. It's just tough to think about somebody going through that." Oh my God, Sam, you are the least subtle person on earth and I can't get enough of it. Dean doesn't rise to the bait, but just tells Sam the plan is still on. Then they go check on Cas and watch him work. His eyes go glowy and Donatello wakes up, confused but alive.

The real doctor comes in and says wow, that's weird that you came here to take him off life support and he miraculously came out of his coma. No, he doesn't, but I would. Then Donatello eats Jello and Dean leaves Cas to tell him what he's missed.

Dean goes out to where Sam is leaning on the Impala, drinking beer. And Sam is SO angry. (Sidebar: What was Dean remembering when he said Sam was always a "happy drunk," because it's nothing we've seen.)

Don’t open that shaken-up beer, Dean.

Let's just enjoy this conversation, shall we?

Where's the party?

It's right here. I mean, we're celebrating, right?

Okay...

Yeah, but not too much! Tomorrow morning we're back on track. No rest for the self-destructive.

Well, I will call this a win. Kinda nice. I'm going out on a high.

"Going out" being the operative phrase.

I'm sorry.

You're sorry. {laughs} How sorry are you? Sorry that you planned to keep Donatello alive, but when it comes to you, you just throw in the towel? Are you sorry that after all these years, our entire lives, after I looked up to you, I learned from you, I copied you, I followed you to Hell and back? Are you sorry that all of that means nothing now?

Who's saying that?

You. When you tell me I have to kill you. When you're telling me I have to throw away everything we stand for. Throw away faith. Throw away family. We're the guys who saved the world. We don't just check out of it.

Sam, I have tried everything. Everything! I got one card left to play, and I have to play it.

You have one card today. But we'll find another tomorrow. But if you quit on us today, there will be no tomorrow! You tell me you don't know what else to do. I don't either, Dean. Not yet. But what you're doing now, it's wrong! It's quitting! I mean, look what just happened. Donatello never quit fighting, so we could help him because he never gave up. I believe in us, Dean. {Sam rears back and HITS DEAN!} I believe in us! {Sam HITS HIM AGAIN AND THEN PULLS HIM INTO AN ANGRY, TEARFUL HUG!} Why don't you believe in us too?

I'M DEAD. I CANNOT HANDLE THIS.

YES, this is the real thing.

Dean can’t handle it either. He's only human. "Okay, Sam," he says. "Let's go home." Sam says "what?" in disbelief. HE IS STILL CLUTCHING HIS BROTHER IN HIS ARMS, BY THE WAY. Sam finally pulls away and Dean says "Let's go home. Maybe Billie's wrong. Maybe. But I do believe in us. I believe in all of us." (Because yeah, this is when Cas shows up.) "And I'll keep believing until I can't. Until there's absolutely no other way. But when that day comes, if that day comes, Sam, you have to take it for what it is. The end. And you have to promise me that you'll do then what you can't do now, and that's let me go. And put me in that box."

Sam says "all right," just like he did at the end of the previous episode but DAMN this one is different. Dean PATS SAM'S FACE and says "Don't hit me again, okay?" EXCUSE ME CAN SOMEONE SCOOP UP THAT PUDDLE OF GOO ON THE FLOOR, BECAUSE IT'S ME. And I don't know how Cas got to the Happy Daze Nursing Home, but whatever he drove, he's leaving it here. He gets in the car with the Winchesters and we fade to white.

WELL.

I don't know about you guys, but I had pretty low expectations for this episode. And some of it met those low expectations (lookin' at you, Nick) but some of it BLEW ME THE FUCK AWAY. And by "some" I mean SAM AND SAM AND DEAN AND SAM. Because Sam loves his brother SO MUCH and is SO ANGRY and HURT and BETRAYED and Dean is SO HELPLESS in the face of that anger and hurt and betrayal and he's thinking I thought it was safe to tell you I loved you, since I was about to die, but you are using that against me and it's hardly fair and then he's doing what he can't always do when his little brother wants something, which is GIVE IT TO HIM.

I'm trying to think of other times when Sam hit Dean out of anger. Not in a mutual fight, not when he was trying to stop him from doing something stupid then and there, not when he was under someone else's control, just Sam lashing out in hurt and anger and hitting his brother. The only one I can think of is the hotel room fight in When The Levee Breaks, but I'm sure y'all will remind me of others, as you do.

Dammit. This is one of those episodes where a few minutes of wonderful makes up for a whole lot of nonsense. What did you guys think? And as always, help me stay unspoiled, please!

#spn #14.12 #spoilers #recap #tv recaps

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onceuponamirror · 7 years ago

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2.13 episode thoughts:

overall, a pretty good episode!

things that worked:

i think most of the directorial decisions really worked in playing up the stress of the episode, most so betty’s flashbacks and a tight/sped up camera on the cleaning process. plus a faint heartbeat in the background, à la the namesake

honestly, i rejoice because finally, here is an episode that actually focuses on consequences and emotional ramifications.

what’s been most frustrating about this season is not necessarily just the campy shock value stuff---though it is part of it---but the way it never stuck to the wall. it was all too al dente

betty’s “dance macabre” with the black hood was only in one episode. jughead had zero reaction to cutting off the tattoo on a woman, had a half second of a camera on him regretting toni’s kiss. archie’s trauma from the shooting. etc. over and done with? what?

so what i appreciated about this episode was finally, finally, an actual reaction to these extreme situation---and one that stretched through a whole episode at that. betty’s exhaustion, her throwing up in the bathroom, retracing her steps, jumping into detective mode, etc.

if they want to keep these reactionary dramas they need to keep doing more effectual episodes like this.

bughead!!!!!!!bughead!!!!!!!!!!bughead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jughead calling to say goodnight and that he loves his girlfriend on the night he lost his virginity is so...ah! v cute, even if it was inopportune for betty, who is busier with disposing of a dead body

the talk the next morning was great though--- 👏 communicative 👏 bughead 👏 is 👏 back 👏 and 👏 better 👏 be 👏 here 👏 to 👏 stay

and then betty turning to him for help, the way he fell on his sword about the car (confirming my theory jughead does half of what he does out of a sense of protection---probably stemming from his baby sister), the way they hotwired it and the scene of them watching it slowly sink and worrying it wouldn’t was amazing.

and all the cuddling! touches! please and thank you!

archie is so loyal, it’s so sweet. i mean, dumb, but so sweet

i honestly really enjoy veronica’s descent into her parent’s world---i think it’s compelling and a bit tragic and obviously worrying if your favorite thing about veronica was her turned leaf, but they’ve been building back to this point for a while

and the plot line about the southside and the lodges---it’s been there since the very beginning of the show, and all i can think about is (once again) how much better s2 would be if they’d focused on the real world grittiness like gentrification and drugs

(like, what happened to the blossom drug ring? we’re just supposed to forget about that or are they coming back to it? weren’t the lodges connected in on that?)

anyway, i like veronica’s willingness to play the game, but keep her own rules. i do think she’s being much more manipulated than she thinks, but it probably goes both ways. looking forward to seeing where this goes.

agent adams was a fake!!!!! i can now sleep at night knowing the show isn’t that slack on legality

things that didn’t:

it’s like betty said---those waterworks aren’t fooling anyone re: chic. while i can understand alice going full tiger mom, especially because she feels awful about polly, chic remains completely unsold to me, to the point where it’s missing too many things.

and i know *male critic voice* that’s the point---but that doesn’t mean the murkiness is being sold to me either. i’m not sure if it’s hart’s acting or the writing, but i feel like i know what they’re going for and it’s strange. he’s too child-like---which again, yes, i know, the point is this kind of arrested development is due to a life of abandonment---but it’s just...too much.

idk. come back to me on this

on the other hand, i don’t think he’s the black hood anymore

on the other hand, why the hell did i have to watch a mother and daughter obsessively clean up the mess he made, including moving the body. i would’ve really liked to see chic help out, that was frustrating jfc

sometimes the direction was too screech-thumping-heart-cut-cut-cut. idk, we get it, we get it

hal cooper and penelope blossom?? really????? hal can’t just suck on his own without this stupid plot with the woman whose family he despises?

i mean listen, hal does suck on his own, but it’s been literally.... 4 minutes since they met up at the fair

the sideplot was distracting and stupid but i guess there to facilitate cheryl’s redemption (these writers have no idea how to treat cheryl tbh) and/or falice, which.......don’t get me wrong, i like, but don’t want to happen at all lmao

anyway, hard pass on that

literally one scene for josie and kevin, one of which wasn’t even speaking. come on. it wouldn’t feel so jarring if this didn’t keep happening. what’s the point of having them as series regulars when they get 3 seconds on the screen?

do better!!!!!!!!

sidebar: where’s reggie mantle

#riverdale spoilers #riverdale #bughead #varchie #veronica lodge #betty cooper #episode analysis #kind of idk i'm not doing a heavy meta on the whole ep today #2.13

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ladyluscinia · 2 years ago

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I was typing my response to this and then tumblr briefly froze and deleted it 😭😭😭. But I will try again because I love additions. Hijack away!

Binding magical tattoos are a concept that fucks so hard, so yeah Edward's snake / tentacle tattoo definitely spilled across his skin the first time he touched Izzy to agree to the deal. Magically screams "This random human is not for fucking with" (not than anyone around can understand it). He didn't really have much ink before that, so his initial reasons for getting more tattoos was to try and make it stand out less. Then he got into it for its own sake.

Izzy's tattoo is because he thought Edward's were really weird but interesting once he started accumulating them - very:

"But it doesn't mean anything. Or pretend to mean anything. And you have to injure yourself to apply each one? Why bother?"

"I dunno man... Tattoos are cool?"

Anyway one day Edward realizes holy shit Izzy has skin and he tries to be cool about making the offer, and Izzy is just like well it's not *my* skin so why not and Edward tattoos him. On the face because Izzy doesn't have a preference. It's super horny (as it is in every universe) and Izzy gets way more into it than he thought he would.

(Sidebar: while I love possessiveness, I'm leaning toward the Stede stabbing thing being such a big deal for Izzy because he had to learn how fragile the humans are and how important it is not to injure them and then Edward is just willingly getting injured! What the fuck?!? Sure, Izzy has stabbed him before for horny swordfight reasons but that was different. Izzy can fix any damage he does. No risk, see? Stede meanwhile is reckless endangerment and must be stopped.)

I doubt there's anything telling Edward he has to fuck his bonded eldritch god, but there's no rules against either! And what kind of coward do you think he is? Izzy has no normal person hangups around sex and a whole slew of completely freak ones, so it's consistently interesting.

And as for Izzy's body... My interest always leans toward eldritch beings that can't really manifest on a physical plane, so Edward has only ever seen Izzy possessing a corpse (which originally looked very corpse-like until he fixed it, for the horror 😘). Does not preclude catching glimpses in dreams though (fun idea), and of course gives Izzy a fantastically inhuman relationship to his body. Yeah he'd love something like the toe thing, because it's not actually hurting him. Just a really creative and dedicated gesture that he can apply all kinds of meaning to.

I gotta write more about the possessed corpse meeting. I'm so into that.

Ok, Dark Sea God Izzy thoughts...

Edward can't forget what Izzy is - being trapped in the middle of a burning ship and knowing death is coming only to have a god offer to save you... well that leaves an impression - but he tries not to think about it too much. Both for the aforementioned horror and because (he'll die before admitting this to another soul) everything happened so fast and chaotic that he doesn't fully remember what he agreed to. He just wanted to live.

Izzy, meanwhile, didn't actually intend to stay by Edward's side for decades. He grabbed a perfectly serviceable corpse, fixed it up, and then only meant to watch his new devotee / partner / master for a bit. But he hadn't actually been in a form much like a human in so long, he kinda forgot what it was like and everything was so novel. It was fun. He got distracted, and then by the time he remembered he'd planned to go back to the water he was fully enamored.

I like the fear thing. Maybe Izzy can only more directly do Sea God type things when part of or at minimum in the sea, so a lot of his day to day powers are more subtle and (initially) underwhelming then you'd expect from an eldritch being. Things like Fear. I also like the idea he can inflict people with Thirst (the saltwater kind).

He can talk to Button's seagulls but he refuses to unless they pay respects. Which they won't, because he's doing a stellar job of pretending not to be a god and also seagulls are stingy.

I think he should have eaten someone at least once. Sacrificial offering and all that. Or maybe he just makes a habit of licking spilled blood off his fingers and looking way too thrilled about it.

Back to the whole devotee / partner / master thing, literally neither of them knows who is actually in charge in this magic arrangement, assuming anyone is. Izzy is doing the thing where he's got an entirely different frame of reference, so "serving" Edward is not something he has to do or sees as work. He just wants to. But of course Edward occasionally remembers Izzy could change his mind and then that tricky little blood oath he owes him could come up again.

#our flag means death #unclear if the 'possessed by an immaterial eldritch being' thing is because i'm terminally spn poisoned #or if it came first and is the reason i think angels in spn are so fascinating 🤣🤣🤣#izzy hands ofmd #blackbeard ofmd #sea god izzy #ladyluscinia #blackhands

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borderlandscast · 7 years ago

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guide to borderlandscast

i probably should have done this waaaayyy sooner but i finally completed a detailed guide as to what borderlandscast is, for those of you who are confused about what the borderlands games are, how this au operates and have no idea where to start reading.

quick links (some basic stuff):

glossary of common terms

detailed lore thread on telltale forums

keeping time on pandora

what is borderlands?

the borderlands series consists of four games (listed in chronological order below):

borderlands 1

the pre-sequel

borderlands 2

tales from the borderlands

borderlands is mostly a shooter (or at least, the first three games). no way getting around that. it’s not just any ordinary shooter. it’s a shooter backed by a solid story, characters (featuring a diverse and dynamic cast and an irredeemable asshole of a villain) and most importantly of all: lots of guns.

basic lore (pandora,vaults, vault hunters, eridians, sirens, oh my)

pandora is a backwater, lawless and surprisingly, not arid planet that the canon borderlands game and this au takes place on (figure 1 and 2). as with any planet housing alien technology and exploitable resources in super secret, difficult to reach and impenetrable locations, there will be people who are willing to hunt down said locations and there are people who are willing to pay said people to go track down these alien caches.

figure 1: pandora is the planet (far right) with the giant purple scar that is likely a result of the first known vault opening. the giant h-shaped space station (far left) is helios, hyperion’s floating base orbiting pandora’s moon. the moon is called elpis. this cap was taken on elpis’ surface.

figure 2: a shot taken on pandora’s surface to show the actual size of helios in relation to elpis. helios is always visible no matter where one goes on pandora.

these legendary caches are called vaults. vaults can hold weaponry, sweet loot, some sort of alien technology or portals to another dimension. the methods for opening a vault varies. some will open for anybody, some run on a timer while others have very specific requirements (like a key). the people who hunt these caches (whether for personal gain, fame, fortune or are simply in it for the challenge; the reasons vary widely from one individual to another) are called vault hunters. vault hunters don’t necessarily need to work for a corporation to seek the vaults.

the vaults have been around ever since an alien race (called eridians) upped and left or died out (long before humans became aware of their existence), leaving the vaults behind. we don’t know what eridians look like but their appearances can be extrapolated from the statues and carvings scattered around ruins (figure 3).

figure 3: an image of a vault site on pandora with statues that are presumably eridians.

additionally, eridians also left their mark throughout the universe in the form of human women with god-like powers. these women are called sirens. it’s not exactly known for certain if sirens can randomly develop these powers sometime in their life, are born with them or can have the powers deliberately passed to them from another siren.

sirens are clearly marked by the blue tattoos that only manifest on the left side of their bodies. the blueness isn’t always present since the tattoos can glow a different color when sirens use their powers. nanosounds, for instance, has purple siren tattoos due to the nature of her powers. to date, only thirteen documented accounts of sirens exist as per the bl1 guide (with more accounts possibly existing but lost to time). in bl2, handsome jack states that only six sirens can ever exist at any given time in the known universe.

the eridians also didn’t just leave behind the vaults and siren powers, they also left behind a mysterious metal, called eridium. eridium can be processed for a different number of applications and effects, not all of them good (e.g. slag). some sirens have a connection with eridium and can catalyse it to boost their powers at the cost of becoming addicted to the point of being unable to live without it. not a pleasant way to go. the effect on sirens varies amongst individual siren.

to get a one-up on other people hunting the vaults, some people like to hire or make use of sirens (or attempt to kill them). given their common tie to eridians, sirens also have a connection to the vaults. i mentioned before that some vaults can’t be opened by just anybody. sometimes, a siren is what’s needed.

the corporations

corporations form a major part of the borderlands universe. all the known corporations are vying to become the number one dominating force in the universe. corporations produce and control a number of goods but are known primarily for the manufacturer of guns, combat accessories and weaponry. no corporation will make a product that is completely identical to another corporation’s but they will license parts from one another. i’ve already listed the known corporations in the glossary over here under ‘manufacturers’.

in any case, the list consists of:

Hyperion

Atlas (dead)

Dahl

Maliwan

Tediore

Pangolin

Vladof

Jakobs

Anshin

for the history behind the first three corporation’s involvement with pandoran history and how they directly and indirectly contributed towards making pandora what it is today, head on over to here for a history lesson.

the bandits

the corporation dahl left behind a workforce that consists primarily of former convicts, otherwise known as bandits. bandits form a significant portion of the pandoran population and next to wildlife and the corporations, are the things likely to kill people on pandora. everybody generally hates bandits. bandits consist primarily of scattered clans that, at any given moment, can either be in an alliance, are neutral or are simply fighting one another if they’re not fighting amongst themselves.

99% of bandits will happily murder whole towns, civilians, vault hunters, corporate representatives (both innocent and not so innocent), corporation property (e.g. loaders) or wildlife. they’re not exactly picky in terms of targets and tend to shoot indiscriminately. unless they’re bribed with huge amounts of money or tricked into doing so.

borderlandscast

now that you have a basic understanding of borderlands, what is even borderlandscast.

this au consists of myself (@terminally) and @siins fitting the yogscast members into the borderlands universe. it’s an alternate universe where the characters haven’t just magically been teleported into the universe; they’ve grown up in said universe! this has some interesting effects on their backgrounds, motivations, character arcs and personalities.

there’s no knowledge of minecraft, no yogslabs, no blackrock, no flux buddies held by any of the characters. it’s pure borderlands. i do make the occasional reference to some of the storylines though. good luck spotting those!

the cast page consists of people who’ve made at least one appearance; the cast page is mostly done for now, save for echo icons. all the echo icons will eventually be completed.

aside from that, borderlandscast primarily consists of writing done by me (adam), with drawings by the mighty overlord siins. the writing consists of a main storyline (called ‘the last vault hunter’) and a series of related, standalone fic (categorised as ‘beyond the borderlands’). i’ve explained the differences between the two over here.

the last vault hunter (main storyline)

‘the last vault hunter’ chronicles rythian’s adventures on pandora. the fic starts when lalna crashes into rythian’s life. rythian decides (against his better judgement) to help lalna. rythian is a vault hunter, freelancer and a veteran of living on pandora in comparison to lalna, who is completely new to pandora’s way of life.

nanosounds (a bona fide siren) and will strife (fashionable businessman with a turret and a surprising aptitude for killing things) eventually join forces with rythian and lalna. together, the four form the main group of vault hunters that we follow around for the duration of the main storyline.

there is plot! it heavily references the borderlands canons (e.g. vaults, corporations, guns). having a decent knowledge of the borderlands canon is extremely helpful but not required. i explain most of the stuff anyway, on top of providing my own take on things.

you can read ‘the last vault hunter’ on ao3 over here.

i also provide a brief summary of events happening in each chapter over here. it is mostly spoiler free. mostly.

all the art (done by @siins) can be viewed under the tag for each chapter. they’re also linked at the end of each chapter! the entire tag is here.

beyond the borderlands (side fic)

fic that fall under this category are character arcs that move to focus on other characters, covering alternate events, previous history or provide backstory;it’s pretty much optional but you get a bigger picture if you do choose to read this set of fic.

it’s not a series, contrary to what it is listed as on ao3 (which you can read over here). each complete fic has its own tag on the borderlandscast blog. you can navigate to them using this page.

links

most of these links are in the sidebar!

cast page (everybody who has made an appearance so far is listed or will be listed once they show up. ECHO icons are still very much a wip by the lovely @siins, but blank squares still link to profiles so just hover over them with your mouse cursor and click.)

timeline