#vaughn from hyperion

[cakerapop]

[purpleblch]

Apologies if I missed it but if not, would you mind telling some more about your Atlas AI Rhys AU? I legit can't stop thinking about your designs because Rhys looks like such a beautiful feral bitch 👀💓

You shouldn't have asked because now I won't shut up with my bad sketches

Atlas collars are the product of Rhys' manic fear after Yvette betrayed him (he got the scar from her)

Rhys was killed by vault hunters on his own space station - Athenos

After Rhys' death, Atlas was taken over by his haters (literally)

Jack works for Hyperion, but his position is unknown

Tim and Jack wear stolen Atlas collars, this trick was supposed to fool Rhys and the Pandorian departments of Atlas

AI Rhys is visible to everyone because he's a projection from Jack's watch

Jack's goal is Atlas' information and money

Rhys' goal is to get to the station and transfer himself into a replacement body

Timothy's goal is to survive

Rhys loves to watch people's mental suffering, doesn't like guts and blood Rhys changed his last name to Atlas Rhys' tactic is to appear weak and stupid so that others will do all the work for him Jack sees Rhys's manipulative nature and doesn't give in to it Timothy is easily manipulated, which is why he was named a favorite pet Angel is also a siren in this universe and it takes a lot of money to care for her, Rhys promised Jack he'd spare no expense for him and his daughter Vaughn left Atlas after Rhys' death, he will help Jack in the future

[comma-tose]

Okay so I know they aren't the most popular characters, likely due to not much being known about them, but I genuinely think there was some real potential and mystery in both Felix and Vallory's backstories.

To start with we know that Felix was extremely smart, being able to bypass Hyperion's biometric security, hack into their systems and change his information, and made one of a kind things like Fiona's elemental derringer (or Sasha's healing pocket watch before it got retconned to be that stupid crystal). He was crafty, he was intelligent, and there was some mystery in his backstory teased in Tales.

The first time we find out that he had a past Fiona and Sasha didn't know about is in Hollowpoint, when Fiona finds a picture of a younger Felix with a woman that neither her nor Sasha recognise, but with Fiona remarking that they seem happy.

It's surrounded by multiple empty bottles, and since neither of the girls have ever seen the photo before it's fairly easy to assume it brings up painful memories. The photo has a crease down the middle which would probably indicate that it was something he carried around with him, folded up in his pocket instead of just being hidden away in a drawer somewhere.

Now there's a chance it could be a younger Vallory sure but considering how it's never elaborated on I don't think that's something that can be said for certain. Either way the pair are dressed in outfits that seem similar to each other, which would probably mean that they weren't just emotionally close with each other but probably worked together as well.

Now regardless of whether or not that woman in the picture is Vallory, we know that Felix and Vallory DID have prior history together. He clearly is afraid of what she can do, she's been well aware of both Fiona and Sasha for most of their lives despite them never hearing about her before which would likely indicate she'd been keeping tabs on Felix. On the contrary, Felix was completely unaware of what was going on in Vallory's life, that August was her son until the vault key deal was already in progress, which would mean he likely wanted absolutely nothing to do with Vallory and tried to stay far out of her life, potentially even trying to hide from her to protect both himself and Fiona and Sasha.

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

Now then, onto Vallory. Vallory is introduced as the Queenpin, she's a feared crime boss that has some connections at Hyperion and plenty of bandits at her disposal. She's tactical and cruel and is one of the main antagonists for the Tales crew.

Regarding her relationship to Felix, she clearly holds a grudge against him for some prior reason that isn't explained. Sure she's mad about the vault key deal but she goes out of her way to tear Felix out of the photo she finds of him, Fiona, and Sasha.

She also seems to focus far more on Fiona, directing her questions at her, taunting her, and referring to her as the leader of the Tales group. She's callous and cruel and can stab either Sasha or Vaughn to deliberately to fuck with Fiona and make her agree to her terms.

She has connections at Hyperion. At first it seems like it's just Vasquez she knows but then Finch is able to walk around Helios freely without having to blend in so it seems likely she has more. When this started it isn't clear, whether it was while Jack was alive or after his death. We know Hyperion had dealings with some criminals on Pandora before, like with turning people over for experimentation, so it's possible she had a hand in that or something similar.

But where I think it gets really interesting is when Fiona confronts her during episode 5. While talking about the Traveller she says "it's bigger than any I've ever seen" which would seemingly point to her being someone involved with vault hunting in the past or at the very least involved with someone else who was vault hunting. Sure she could have seen the Warrior from a distance when Jack awakened it but that's not really enough to mention the Traveller being bigger than any vault monster she's ever seen.

That's not to say I think she was a successful vault hunter or anything, but maybe that she was someone who was able to attempt it and get pretty far, or was allies with someone else that did.

Aside from that Athena seemingly knows her, and Vallory was more than willing to fight Athena before August stopped her. Vallory isn't stupid, she sends in her goons to do her dirty work when she doesn't want to get involved. For her to be willing to fight a literal assassin/vault hunter, even if it was impulsively, she must have some kind of confidence that she could actually get somewhere with that.

Hell she even has the ability to contact the Crimson Raiders and enlist the help of Mordecai and Brick to take out Athena, sure they needed to get her for Lilith but the fact that Vallory even knew that they were going after her and implies that she has some idea of why is impressive.

All in all I think that those two were really interesting characters and I wish we would've gotten more lore about them, why they knew each other, what they did before, and what exactly was going on between them.

[writeastormsblog]

Show Me My Silver Lining (TFTBL Rhys/Fiona Fanfiction) - Chapter 10

SUMMARY: A fan-written continuation of the lives of the Atlas CEO and Pandoran Vault Hunter. Canon-aligned with TFTBL, but not with game 3. What happened after the vault? How does the beloved duo continue growing together? Rhyiona ship including slow burn, fluff, and banter. Enjoy!

(art made by using Canva)

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CHAPTER TEN: Aliens Were That Creative

—The Next Day—

In an old breakroom of crashed Helios, Vaughn was rummaging through some cabinets. While he was sorting out supplies, Rhys and Fiona, back in their typical venture attire, showed up.

“Hey, guys! You made it!” Vaughn grinned.

“Hey, yourself,” Fiona greeted, touching the brim of her hat.

“It’s always great to see you, man.” Rhys bro-fisted him. “The beard’s as full as ever. It looks awesome. Heh, maybe I should let my facial hair grow out.”

“Maybe don’t.” Fiona laughed, semi-amused by the thought of Rhys in a mustache.

“What? You think I couldn’t pull it off?”

She shrugged. “You already look good, clean shaven.” She paused as she registered her own words. 

“Oh—“ Rhys was momentarily caught by surprise. Fiona’s face warmed as he gave a shy smile. “Heh, uh—“

“‘Cause y’know,” Fiona quickly said. “It’s easier to make fun of your face when it’s not covered up.” Rhys quirked a brow at her, and even she knew that was a horrible save. 

“Yeah? We don’t want to take away how much you can see my annoying face, do we?” Rhys said with a new confidence in his tone. Vaughn looked between the two, confused, but grinning. 

Fiona clenched her jaw, quickly turning back to Vaughn before she’d end up spitting on Rhys again. “Anyways, back to the plan, or whatever the plan is exactly,” Fiona nonchalantly went. “You explained there’s a huge pile of Rakk nests nearby, and from the swarms dive-bombing us on the way here, I don’t doubt it.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy big. They keep harassing the Children of Helios, and they’re why we haven’t gotten far on neighborhood construction yet. So, the plan: You, me, and Rhys head out. We’ll take a couple jeeps that were found abandoned near our base. It should all be fixed up by Janey soon enough.” Vaughn continued to pack supplies at the table, stuff like fruit and water. “The nest pile is at the bottom of a gigantic crater. I figured you guys take one jeep, get around to one side, while I take the other to be back up from my end. In case I gotta fire away and distract any Rakks coming after you guys if they catch onto what you’re up to.”

“Okay, which is what exactly?” Fiona tilted her head.

“Fiona, your job is to keep Rhys alive.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Excuse me?” Rhys crossed his arms. “I can defend myself.” Vaughn and Fiona exchanged a knowing look. Rhys pouted.

“And uh, when it comes to you, Rhys,” Vaughn turned to him, then hesitated. “I figured to let you be the one holding onto… something I wasn’t sure Fiona would be exactly okay with.” Vaughn worriedly glanced at Fiona as he went to a bottom cabinet. Upon opening, he revealed a Hyperion briefcase, identical to the old one except quite larger. Fiona froze. “It’s uh… yeah. It’s another Hyperion case with a biometric lock. A uh, bomb in it that’ll set off once you try to override my bio signature.” Vaughn shifted from one foot to the other. “This should take out the nests,” he finished quietly.

Rhys and Vaughn looked at Fiona, but she turned herself away from them.

“Fiona?” Vaughn said. “You don’t have to do this if you’re uncomfortable with it. I wasn’t sure if it would matter to you or not…”

“It’s fine,” she said, still not facing them. Her fists clenched. “Let’s do it.” Not a waver in her voice, but there was a coldness she couldn’t bite back. On the inside, a brutal wave of bitter emotions swept over her; anger, sadness, betrayal, confusion. All tied to a rotten old conman. Felix. His face when he told her that they’re family when he grabbed the case. Him running off after he failed to secure the money for himself. That utterly selfish, filthy, coward of a man—

“Fiona,” Rhys said softly behind her, as if he was worried he’d scare her off.

She stayed silent for a beat. “Let’s go,” she said. She quickly walked out without another word.

…

Back when the money blew up and Felix ran off, Fiona constantly went back and forth in her mind. She was glad he lived, but hated he left. And she helped him leave her. She helped him leave Sasha.

“I can’t believe you let him live,” Sasha spat. “Why did you warn that son of a bitch? Should’ve let that case explode right in his face!”

But Fiona couldn’t do that. She couldn’t have let this man who took care of them die like that. The closest thing they had to a father with no one else to look out for them but one another. Before they met him, they struggled snagging wallets, eating out of the trash, trying to have anything to survive. Then they met him in an attempt to pickpocket the man.

When they tried to pickpocket Felix, he didn’t even get mad. He could’ve hurt them. He could’ve killed them, and no one would have cared or even noticed. Instead, amused by their mischievous ways, he fondly took them in as his own. He taught them how to get around life the way he lived it. From that angle, then, maybe that’s all it ever was. Maybe he didn’t raise them because he cared about them for them. Maybe he raised them for him to get around life the way he lived it; to make a big cash-grab after making them do all the dirty work. He didn’t want to raise children– He wanted to raise criminals to reap something as big as ten million dollars. Their time together had to have been all a part of using Fiona and Sasha in the end. But then…

She’d remember Felix teaching her how to drive, scolding as she’d twist and turn the caravan just to make Sasha laugh as they were thrown about. Fiona would remember his many CDs of classical music, tiredly listening as he looped it over and over, and her eventually knowing how every song goes without knowing any of the names. She’d recall in her teens how she and Sasha would rock-paper-scissors for the last slice of pizza before realizing Felix snagged it, and they’d giggle while getting back at him by stealing and hiding his stuff in different places. 

And in between all of those memories, Fiona saw him as an old conman with that Hyperion briefcase in his hand. From first learning how to drive, to Felix insisting to her that they were family and that will never change. Felix’s redundant music and her and Sasha’s payback pranks, to the moment of Felix sending down the old caravan as Fiona struggled to crawl out. And then he saved Sasha. He wasn’t even there, but he did save her. Felix saved Sasha. That watch was his gift to her, so really, what did any of what they had actually mean? Fiona thought she understood him well enough once he took the money for himself, but then he left them that watch. Though Fiona was incredibly thankful beyond words, as she wouldn't hesitate to do anything and everything to save her sister's life, Sasha's second chance being from Felix was baffling to an extreme she wasn't sure how to process.

For a while, it was difficult for Fiona to do or have things she would tie back to Felix. Fiona didn’t want to give up her love of reading. She didn’t want to stop living the caravan life. She still treasured and used her roshambo that he made for her. And so for all of that, along with keeping a brave face for Sasha, she chose to repress the confusion and hurt she felt when it came to him and that briefcase. She wanted to pretend that memory of him and the case didn’t exist, didn’t want the hurt to ruin what she had left of him. What good he had done, though his intentions might’ve not been for her and Sasha’s wellbeing at all. For certain, Fiona felt she would never reach out to him. She was too scared to know. Yet at the same time, she wished she would know. She craved closure on what every moment truly meant leading up to the death rally. A part of her wanted to understand more about who he really was, for her to stop being so indecisive about it. She wanted to understand whether she should or shouldn’t hate him. Instead, she settled to pretend him with that briefcase case never happened.

…

Rhys drove while Fiona rode shotgun. They followed Vaughn’s jeep as the familiar sunbaked desert scenery rolled by. Fiona stayed silent, eying the purple rubix cube in her hand. She pocketed it to study on the way to Vaughn’s base camp. She meant to conjure up the possibilities of what it could do or sell for as entertaining thought tangents. Now she just wanted to distract herself from any thoughts of Felix and that case bubbling to the surface again.

“Another alien thing?” Rhys noticed, frowning.

“Yeah,” Fiona said. “Not sure what it does. I might just toss it at the nest to get rid of it. I dunno.” She shrugged. “I found it yesterday. I don’t really want to hold onto it long enough to find out if it eventually induces nightmares.”

“Yeah,” Rhys nodded. “Heh, looks like a rubix cube.” 

“Kinda is, yeah.”

“No portals appear when you turn the pieces?”

“Haven’t messed with it much, but from what little I did, nope.”

“Interesting.” Rhys was quiet for a moment, then opened his mouth, then shut it. His eyes glanced between her and the road ahead.

“I’m fine, Rhys.” Fiona huffed.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“I could tell you wanted to.”

“I… yeah. Okay,” Rhys shook his head. “I just… wanted you to know you’re welcome to talk to me about anything. Good or bad, I’m here for all of it. I’m here for you, Fiona.”

A warmth bloomed in her chest, again. Her eyes softened. Why did he have to say something like that? Why couldn’t he leave her alone to repress her ongoing inner turmoil instead of melting her insides with that sincerity in his face and voice—

“Fiona,” Rhys said quietly, so quiet she could barely hear him over the engine and crumbling ground beneath the wheels. He stared straight ahead as he barely spoke, building up the courage to finally admit a simple, but vulnerable, truth. “I um…” His ears were red. “I care about you a lot.”

Fiona’s face felt warm. She mustered a small smile. “I know you care,” she mumbled. I just wish I could understand if Felix really did.

“We’re a team, remember?” He smiled softly. “So, let’s do this together,” Rhys said as they arrived at the crater, but Fiona understood he wasn’t solely referring to the Rakks’ nests. “Woah…”

Fiona looked over the edge as they passed Vaughn and drove around to the opposite side. Her eyes widened. “That’s… that’s big. That’s really, really big.”

At the base of the crater, scattered about were enormous chunks of meteorite. At the crater’s center was the biggest of them all, towering with crooks and crevices, and that’s what housed layers upon layers of swarming Rakks’ nests. The nests were so condensely put together and so incredibly populated that Rakks constantly flew out and replaced one another as they fought over where to perch.

“Well. Please keep me from dying,” Rhys said as they parked behind a massive caving boulder, hiding them and the jeep from sight. 

“That’s my job,” Fiona said warily. She sighed, stepping out and grabbing the combat rifle Vaughn provided.

Vaughn peeked his head out behind the caving boulder he staked out at, waving his arm from the distance. 

Rhys waved his arm back, the Hyperion case in the other. That stupid, ugly case. As Vaughn returned to cover, Rhys turned to Fiona, sucking in a breath. “Ready?”

Fiona nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Alright,” Rhys took a shaky breath in. “In three.” He began to punch in the code. “Two… One.” Beep beep beep beep—

Rhys flung it as far as he could, and the two hastily ducked into the caving boulder, covering their ears.

Beep beep beep beep beeeeep—

The explosion roared and rumbled the terrain. The ground quaked beneath them, cracking out from the crater. The screeching of Rakk swarms cried out. Rakk carcasses rained from the sky, thudding all around the crater. However, many shadows seem to move on the ground, all casted from above. 

Fiona’s brows furrowed. “How are some of them still alive from that? They shouldn’t be flying still.” She chanced a peek around the boulder, horrified at the result. Many swarms of surviving Rakk continued flying upward from the remaining half of the huge meteorite, screeching with utmost pure wrath. “Damn it, Rhys!” She ducked back behind quickly, hissing, “You only took out half of it!”

“What–!” Rhys glared back. “How is this my fault? The bomb clearly wasn’t big enough!” Rhys yelled.

“You threw too late! Or not far enough— shit!”

“Then you take the case next time, since it’s so easy!” Rhys spat. Recognizing his wording, his face dropped. “Shi— Fiona, I-I didn’t mean—“

“Just shut up, Rhys!” Fiona looked daggers at him as swarms continued screeching overhead. He shrank back. Fiona rubbed her face as Rhys stared at the ground, not exchanging another word between them. After ten minutes of crouching, they opted to sit. It could take maybe hours for the Rakks to calm down and settle again. Who knew when. No doubt if the two tried driving off now, it would catch their attention and set them aggroed.

Fiona looked down and away from Rhys, clutching the rifle against her chest. She heard him flick open the holographic screen from his palm and the sound of texting. 

“Vaughn’s okay,” Rhys said quietly. “And I let him know we’re still alive on our end.” Rhys was met with more silence. “Fiona… I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay, Rhys,” Fiona finally said. She sighed, still not meeting his eyes. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. That yell wasn’t really meant for you. You’re not the one I’m actually frustrated at.”

“I know. I figured…” Rhys ran a hand through his hair. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” She shook her head, clenching her jaw. “You were there when it happened.”

“I’m not asking you to talk about what happened. I’m asking if you want to talk about how you feel from what happened.”

“Wh— How do you think I feel?!” She snapped, then froze. Rhys didn’t flinch, though. When Fiona guiltily met his gaze, all she saw was worry in his eyes.

“I know you’re hurting,” he said. “It’s alright.”

“No,” Fiona sighed, sadly eying him. “It’s not. It’s not right for me to take it out on you. You’re my friend, not my punching bag, Rhys.”

“I don’t know. You kinda punch me a lot, literally.” He smirked. “Also, did you just admit we’re friends twice now?”

Fiona gave a tired smile. “You never stop, do you?”

“I haven’t heard you admit that since that time in Scooter’s garage. I was starting to think it was all a dream.”

She chuckled. “You’d dream about me, huh?”

Rhys’s face reddened, and Fiona blinked, not intending that. She eyed him for a moment. Briefly, she entertained an idea: Could I… be the ‘someone else’? Strange, but wouldn’t it make sense if she was the one he meant? Why else did he keep getting flustered or at least seemingly flustered around her if it wasn’t the case? No, Fiona. It could be all in your head. It’s better to not get your hopes up. Besides, you’re still figuring out what he really means to you for sure.

“So,” Fiona continued. She sighed, setting her gun aside. She pulled her knees up to her chest. “Felix tried to reach out to me. Sort of.”

Rhys frowned. “He did?”

“I kept getting calls from an unknown contact not too long ago. Eventually he left a voicemail, but,” Fiona shook her head. “I couldn’t deal with it. The moment I played his voicemail and heard him say hello to me, I hit delete.” She dragged a hand down her face. “I can’t stand his voice, even though maybe some part of me misses it,” she then admitted. She glanced at Rhys. He looked thoughtful.

“Do you ever want to talk to him again?” Rhys asked.

“No.” Fiona frowned. “Yes? I don’t know.”

“Well, what makes you say no, and then yes?”

“Uh… ‘No’ because I’m worried I won’t like answers to questions I have, and ‘yes’ because I’m tired of not knowing the answers.” She leaned her head back against the wall. “I keep replaying moments Sasha and I had with him, growing up. Look, we never got around to actually calling him, ‘dad,’ but y’know. I don’t know– I’d hate to think that he kinda was that for us because then that means Sasha and I would’ve lost our dad twice.” Fiona knew Rhys’s questioning look, so she quickly answered, “Our mom and dad died from a bandit shootout. We were so young, I don’t grieve about it so much. Really, it’s Felix who stuck around longer, so… When it comes to him, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I should try to talk to him again.”

Rhys nodded. “Well,” he exhaled. “That’s a tough decision to make. To reach back out or not. But if you did, I think that closure might help you,” he gently suggested. “You sound like you’ve been wrestling with questions about him, even if it’s more subconsciously. Maybe a talk will have him put those questions to rest, but that’s your choice. And if you choose not to, you’ll be alright, too. You’ve been doing great, carrying on with your life like you have. So, it’s okay if you don’t bring yourself to, y’know?”

Fiona’s brows furrowed. “You don’t think it’s selfish of me not to? He raised Sasha and I. Even if it might’ve been for his own gain in the end, he still dedicated years to care for us.”

“I mean, you kinda saved his life. After he robbed you and Sasha, then bailed. I’d say the score’s even if there is a tally on owing things. If you didn’t warn him, he wouldn’t even have the chance to talk to you.”

“Yeah…” She tilted her head. “That’s true.”

“If you reach out to him, make sure it’s for you and not for him,” Rhys said firmly. “It’s not selfish, or self-centered. After what he did, you should be trying to take care of yourself. And you’re doing that. Keep doing that. I know you care about him, and you can still choose to have that care with you, but don’t let your care for him cost you any less care towards yourself. You can still care about him without having to cost the care you gotta have for you.”

Fiona smiled, raising a brow. “What kind of weed have you been smoking?”

“Uhm, I can think like this on my own, thank you very much.” Rhys playfully pouted, knowing it would get another chuckle out of Fiona, and there it was again. The warmth. By the end of the conversation, with all his attentive listening and thoughtful words, that warm, good feeling was in her chest, again.

“I’ll talk about it with Sasha sometime when she gets back. I think it’ll be something we decide to do together,” Fiona glanced away, grinning. “But I gotta say, as much as talking to you sometimes drives me insane, sometimes talking to you does the opposite. So, thank you for this.”

“You’re… welcome?” Rhys quirked a brow, wearing a half grin. “I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not.”

“Kinda both.” Fiona smiled. She stretched her arms up. “Anyways, I feel a lot better.”

“Heh, good. I’m glad. That’s what really counts.” Rhys leaned forward, massaging his legs. “But it’d be nice if my legs didn’t fall asleep. They’re incredibly numb right now.”

“I think we should be good to get up. Thought it’d take longer, but it sounds like the noise has really died down. Alright, let me help you up.” She stood before him, offering her hands. He smiled as she pulled him to his feet.

“Aghh—! Wow, I can feel pins and needles all over my legs. Feels weird. Stepping sends a shock through them.”

“It’ll pass. Keep stretching and you’ll get that blood circulation back.”

Fiona leaned against the boulder where she could quickly peak around. “I’m gonna give it a minute before checking if the coast is clear. Or doable, at least, to speed the jeep out of here if some are still close enough to want to chase us.” She pulled out the purple rubix cube again, mindlessly fidgeting with it, but not turning the pieces all the way.

“Vaughn just texted and said he spotted most of them back at their nests, but he’s still uncertain to move right now.” Rhys eyed the cube. “Can I see that?”

Fiona shrugged, plopping it into his hand. “Sure, I guess. Just remember we don’t know how it works, so.”

“Hmm…” Rhys scanned it with his ECHO eye. “I still can’t decipher what it means, but the eye is picking up some of the same alien symbols from the vault pendant. Maybe it’s supposed to twist and turn until it spells out something.” Rhys began to toy with it, randomly turning and clicking it about.

“Be careful. We don’t know what it’ll do.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll be cautious. Experimenting is how you learn stuff.”

“Um,” Fiona squinted. “The last thing gave me nightmares, remember? For all we know, you could be messing with it and trigger it to explode.”

“Please. Alien rubix cube turns out to be a bomb? I don’t know if they were that creative.” Rhys rotated the sides, clicking again and again, until the cube suddenly lit up bright purple with a ticking noise.

“Uh, Rhys?” Fiona looked at it as it got louder. 

“Uhh— wh-what’s it doing?”

The ticking got louder, more frequent. It began to hurt their ears. The light pulsed to the increasingly fast rhythm, which heavily resembled the sound of a ticking time bom—

“Shit!” Frantic as she realized, Fiona snatched it out of his hands, went ‘round the boulder and threw it down into the crater. 

“Get down!” Fiona ducked back behind, tugging Rhys down with her.

Both covered their ears. Then, silence. Other than the sound of disturbed Rakks. A moment passed as Rhys and Fiona looked at one another, and Rhys shook his head. 

“Well, that didn’t do anything—“

A thundering roar echoed throughout the desert. The alien rubix cube exploded.

…

“Well.” Rhys scratched the back of his head as Fiona glared at him from across the table. They were in the old Hyperion cafeteria. “Yeah. So uh, who knew aliens could be so creative, eh?”

“Alright,” Vaughn said, bringing a bowl of fresh fruit. “We did it! With all the nests officially gone, now we feast, my friends! Cheers!”

Fiona crossed her arms, still glaring at Rhys. He sheepishly grinned.

“Oh come on,” Rhys said. “We succeeded!”

“And survived,” Fiona said, unamused. “Barely.”

“Yep, you kept me alive, so uh. You did your part.” Rhys coyly smiled. 

Fiona sighed. “I guess we could’ve been dead a lot of times before today. Like a lot, since we’ve met.” 

Vaughn happily held out a fruit to her. She tiredly nodded, taking it. 

“I need to go home and read. And sleep.” Fiona sunk her teeth into the treat. “And take more of this for the road,” she muttered while chewing.

[rin-bellatrix]

Work It Out

"Jump with them all, and move it. Jump back and forth, and feel like you were there yourself, work it out." -- Gorillaz

While trying to track down a stolen case full of money, the Hyperion stooge and the Pandoran con artist find themselves trapped beneath Bossanova's arena. While not necessarily enemies, they aren't exactly friends, and they need to set aside their pride and work together to reunite with Sasha and Vaughn, and secure that case. If only they could stop bickering to make it in time.

This was created with the mindset of "what if it was Rhys and Fiona under Bossanova's arena instead of Rhys and Sasha?" The opportunity they could've had to bond and banter even more~ 💯‼️✨️

As always, anything I write can't pass inspection without my beloved ship sister @admiralsweko who betas 99.9% of my works and catches all my flaws and makes them better 😆💕✨️ THANK YOU SWE~!! 💖

Super awesome special shout-out to beloved Rhyiona Core members, @comma-tose @plague-cure and @writeastormsblog who I'm posting this especially for, since she requested fluff. (Even tho this really isn't fluffy per se~ But it's definitely rhyiona themed, and building on the potential for future romance~ 😏😉😆)

Fiona, Rhys and Jack AI gif from this post. Blue cyber themed dividers from this post. Blue cyber themed LOADING gif from this post.

Enjoy! 💜

"Attempting to reboot lift operation systems, please input the authorization code for calibration." The voice informed them as it floated out of the barely functional Atlas speakers.

The Hyperion company man furrowed his brow as his ECHO eye glowed, his look of concentration illuminated by the bank of moniters before him. His real and cybernetic hands danced over the brightly lit keyboard with such speed, that it was hard for even the seasoned con woman to keep up with everything he was entering into the old database. She glanced up at him, his side profile stark against the artificial light before him and the dark room at his back.

"We need to hurry, who knows what Bossanova's goons are gonna do with that case of money." Fiona tried to urge him along, crossing her arms as she grew antsy when another minute dragged by and nothing seemed to be happening.

She didn't wanna mention that she was also worried for Sasha, having been separated from her when the manhole cover slammed down over her head, forcing her to partner with the taller of the two Hyperion men. The shorter one seemed to be a little more put together than his lanky friend, but he was very obviously an off-worlder, and Pandora wasn't kind to its own inhabitants; a foreigner was just ripe for the picking (or peeling, in some psycho's cases). Hopefully Sasha could keep them both safe...

When the only response she got to her statement was the sound of more clicking and tapping on keys, she approached the lanky man's side to peer down at whatever the hell was taking him so long. She reached his shoulder and he spared her a glance, and from this close she could see even more details about him. His robotic eye implant was radiating a bright blue light, almost bright enough to hurt her own eyes. Around his azure iris swirled repeated patterns of zeroes and ones, circling around his pupil which seemed to operate much like an aperture for a camera. He blinked, and turned back to his insistent tapping, and the after image of his luminescent gaze floated before her. She blinked rapidly to dismiss the lingering affect.

"What's taking so long, Hyperion?" she outright questioned, frowning at the lines of unreadable code flashing across the screen. None of it made sense to her, and it usually never did; she was comfortable with leaving electronics and the like to Felix's capable care.

"Hey, hacking into an old, unused Atlas database is not exactly as easy as I'm making it look, lady. You've got to be subtle and finesse your way through - though I suppose that you, a lying, cheating, Pandoran con artist wouldn't know about subtlety." He offered her a tight smile full of false joy, before dismissing her and returning to his work. He was still obviously sore over the fake vault key and maybe also the attempt to push him out of a moving vehicle into the desert.

But oh, he wanted to play it like that, did he? Well it takes two to tango and Fiona had nothing to do right now but dance.

She leaned back against the jutting curve of the desk, lifting a delicate hand and making a show of examining her nail polish. "I sure was subtle enough when I planted that EMP receptor on the case of the vault key."

His almost rhythmic tapping ceased, and out of the corner of her eye she saw him turn towards her.

"So that was your fault?! You were there the whole time?? Ya know, my systems are still whacked because of your little 'EMP receptor'!" He huffed and threw his arms in the air, and though he easily towered over her, she didn't consider him a threat in the slightest; just another Hyperion lackey blowing a lot of hot air.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you while I was being extremely subtle over here."

"Oh my GOD - has anyone ever told you how infuriating you are??"

The Pandoran native leveled him with a flat, unimpressed stare as she plucked at her ruffled cuff to fluff it out more. "Cry me a river, corporate boy."

Rhys grumbled in clear discontent, his eyes narrowed and his mouth souring into a petulant pout. Something about it brought joy to Fiona's jagged heart; perhaps it was the fact that she could easily rile him up with so little effort. It was actually kind of fun.

He straightened his vest, glowering down at her from his height as he added, "By the way, that vault key was the worst one I had ever seen, it was so obvious that it was fake."

"Dealt with many vault keys, have you?" she asked, lifting a scarred brow in accusation. "You must be really important up there if they're leaving you in charge of all the real vault keys. Tell me, how many have you handled that have actually opened up a vault, huh?"

The company man glanced off to the side, the apples of his cheeks pinkening ever so slightly as he swallowed. "Look, I'm uh, I'm trying to work on this okay?" He gestured towards the ancient Atlas computers by his side. "So I'd appreciate a little more patience and also, some peace and quiet would be nice, if it's not asking too much."

The grifter sighed, rolling her eyes as she folded her arms across her chest. "There will be all the 'peace and quiet' you want from me as soon as we get that money and go our separate ways."

Rhys shook his head, more so to himself than anything, and settled his fast fingertips over the illuminated keyboard again. "Ya know, I never wanted this."

"What, to be a mindless cog in the massive warmongering machine of Hyperion? Seems a bit late to be thinking like that." Time was ticking and the more time they stood here squabbling, the farther away that money and their chance at a new life got.

The man before her sighed, and it was deep and frustrated, and something about it made her regret her words, for just a moment. But she wasn't going to get soft around a complete stranger, doubly so for a Hyperion stooge who was after the cash just as much as she was.

"No, I mean..."

"Authorization complete. Initiating system maintenence check, please wait."

Images flashed across the grime covered monitors, but all Fiona could make out was the occasional glimpse of the Atlas logo. A soft whirring sound emitted from the computers, before a series of loud metal clanking noises reverberated from the area around the lift.

"I meant..." Rhys spoke up again, and Fiona had forgotten that he had been trying to tell her something while lost in the tentative excitement that the lift was actually going to work for them. "I've always wanted to be this. To just, be good at my job. I wanted to make it, and bring my friends with me. I never thought that I'd be doing something like this... I can admit that I regret a lot of the stuff I've done, things that were 'necessary' to help me get a step ahead. But it's all meaningless, everything I've done up until this point, if we don't secure that briefcase."

He turned towards her and met her eyes, his heterochromatic stare arresting. "I don't wanna argue with you any more, and I'd like it if we could come to some sort of truce. I mean, we're partners in this, whether we like it or not, so why can't we try to make the best of it...?" He offered his metal hand, waiting tentatively for her acceptance or refusal.

She eyed him skeptically, but he seemed sincere enough about it. Though in her time as a con artist, she knew that actions spoke louder than words. So she'd take him for face value, but keep him at arm's length because at the end of the day, the only people she could trust were Sasha and Felix.

Confident with her decision, she reached out and took his mechanical hand, offering a firm shake as she said, "I can agree to a compromise."

Relief softened his features, a smile breaking out across his face. "Great! That's actually, pretty great, I uh, didn't think it'd be so easy, honestly..."

"Just because I'm born and raised on Pandora, doesn't automatically make me a psycho, you know. I do have some decorum." Here she stepped closer to him, his cybernetic hand still heavy in her grip. "That being said, I do have the shiniest meat bicycle. Never forget that, slick."

At his look of surprise and confusion, she smirked and winked playfully at him, loosening her hold around his hand and taking a step back. Or she would have, had he not renewed his grip and tugged her forward, leaning into her space and keeping her trapped between his body and the edge of the desk behind her.

Before she could decide whether or not to jam her knee into his groin, he said, "Just because I work for Hyperion, it doesn't automatically make me a bad guy." He mirrored her statement, locking eyes with her as the lift lights flashed in the background. "And my name isn't 'slick,' it's Rhys."

Being cornered like this would usually cause Fiona's fight or flight response to kick in, but despite the fact that he was encroaching on her space, she didn't feel threatened. She parted her lips, about to ask him if he was finished making his point, when the action caused his gaze to flick down to her mouth. He glanced back up into her eyes, and whatever sass she was about to say fizzled away as her heart skipped a beat.

She felt the tension between them shift ever so slightly, felt as though if she were to let this moment linger, she would come to regret it. He was objectively attractive, but she had never let a pretty face distract her from achieving her mark, and she wouldn't start now. Even if curiosity tempted her to taste his mouth...

He blinked, seeming to disperse his thoughts before releasing her hand and taking a step off to the side. "Uh... So, it says here that there's less than a minute left of the... The maintenance check. Yeah."

"That's... Great! The sooner we get outta here, the better. Right."

Rhys ran his robotic hand over his gelled hair and down his neck as Fiona brushed her bangs away from her face, both of them purposefully avoiding the other's gaze. The con woman berated herself, vowing to stay on top of whatever little game he was playing. Willing away the mild attraction she felt, she adjusted her stance and tugged on her jacket, straightening it out.

"Lift system maintenance check complete. Anomaly one detected: C-grade gears need replacement. Anomaly two detected: hydraulic wiring in need of repair, potential fire hazard. Anomaly three-"

"Shit, what does this mean?" The Pandoran groused, stepping close to Rhys' side again to glare down at the lift's long list of damages that needed immediate repairs.

The young manager grunted in frustration, before leaning down and spamming the keys again. "The Atlas maintenence system is trying to prevent us from getting on that lift, it's claiming that it's a huge safety violation. The bandits here have rigged the basic system somehow, but my method must've woken up the actual safety protocols. But, that's okay because if the guys who were here before us could make it to the top, so can we. Don't worry, I've got this, this is gonna be way easier than the initial breach." He flashed her a confident smirk over his broad shoulder before focusing on bypassing Atlas' firewalls.

His little smirk was winsome, and as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she rejected it completely, throwing out the possibility that this nerd could cause such a reaction in her. Refusing to entertain those kind of thoughts about him any more, she turned away to survey the room. There had to be something she could do while Rhys fiddled with the computers for another ten minutes-

"Aaand done!"

"What?"

"We're outta here, c'mon!"

He grabbed her hand in his human one and ran over to the elevator, almost dragging her along in his excitement. She held on to her hat as she did her best to keep up with his ridiculously long legs, opening her mouth to scold him as they stopped in the center of the lift.

"Hey, you-" she started, shaking off his slightly sweaty grip and wiping her hand down her pant leg.

"I'm not gonna lie, this is actually kind of cool!"

"What?"

He turned toward her and smiled shyly. "When I was a kid, I used to make and hand out my own business cards. I always wanted to be at the top of the corporate ladder. I never had time to explore or go out and see the universe if it wasn't related to acquiring another asset for my boss. So this... It's scary as shit, don't get me wrong - but... It's pretty neat."

Fiona could see how a life full of 'thrills' would appeal to someone who lives in a cubicle and survives on paperwork and speadsheets, but this was the real world; her life wasn't some adventure that she could just drop whenever she wanted. Life up in Helios must be hell, but she'd take it in a heartbeat over another day scrounging for scraps on Pandora.

"You must have it easy up there. When I was young, I had just mastered a new pick-pocketing technique called 'feather fingers,' and I couldn't wait to teach it to my baby sister. Don't ever be mistaken, Rhys - Pandora is just a stepping stone for you but this little rock is my home, and I know more than anyone how things can turn sour real quick."

His hopeful smile had dimmed completely as she spoke, and now he looked down in thought. He lifted his gaze and met her jade eyes again, his features solemn in the dim light. "Have you ever thought about...leaving?"

The grifter couldn't help but scoff, incredulous at his question. "Of course I have, every sane person on this damn planet has. You think if we had a way to leave Hollow Point and everything behind, we wouldn't take it? That money in that briefcase was our way out, our only chance to get away from here. So let's get our asses up there and do whatever it takes to get that money back."

Rhys could see that she was dead serious, the fire in her eyes was blazing with determination. He felt the same, seeing how determined and how dedicated she was, was like looking in a mirror. If he didn't return back home to Helios with at least half of that money, everything from the moment of his handmade business cards up til his conversation with Vasquez, was all down the drain. That cash was really the answer to all their problems.

He lifted his cybernetic hand and opened the menu for the lift. Or at least he assumed it was the menu for the lift. His interface was still a bit wonky due to the strong pulse of the EMP device from earlier. The menu he could see was very distorted, buttons and commands glitching across the holographic screen. He tsked in irritation and clicked on the button he thought would start the lift.

Across the spacious room, a crane lowered a row of large crates to the floor. The crates seemed to be making... Noise.

"What are you doing? Get the lift started!"

"I'm trying! I just- I pressed the wrong thing alright? Okay, it's gotta be this one-"

The next button the young manager clicked on opened the crates, which turned out to be cages, which turned out to be holding ill-tempered skags. The pack of four-legged beasts prowled out of their metal carriers, scenting the air and eventually turning towards the only two people in the room.

"Rhys...??" Fiona questioned, flicking her wrist to make her pistol settle into her hand.

"Uh- shit- At least you have a gun-"

"This only fires one bullet!"

"One- one bullet?? Why?? What's the purpose of that?!"

"It's not my own choice! It was given to me!"

"By who, someone who wants you dead??"

"Shut up and get this lift moving!"

What a buncha dumb asses, just my luck.

"Hey, I'm trying my best here!" he groused in response, only realizing a second later that the voice didn't sound like the Pandoran. "Wait, who-"

"Well, 'your best' isn't cutting it!"

Before the Hyperion employee could answer her, the skags drew closer, hesitant at first but growing bolder as their hunger overtook the need to be cautious. Rumbling growls filled the room and Fiona aimed her pistol to the closest skag. Rhys pressed the only available button left on the glitchy menu...

And nothing happened.

Cursing under his breath, he spammed the command in the hopes that something would work in their favor.

The con woman tried to entertain the thought that she could fend off the small pack of wild, ravenous animals with a single bullet and the small knife she kept hidden in her boot. There was a slim chance she could do it, but in every scenario, the injuries would be grievous.

Suddenly the lift beneath their feet shuddered, and slowly began to rise. The immediate elation they both felt simultaneously plummeted as the largest skag began running towards them, intending on making a leap onto the platform. The grifter readied her gun, aiming at the hungry creature to shoot it off in case it made the jump.

The animal pounced off the ground and sailed through the air, its momentum more than enough to carry it to the elevated platform. Fiona's finger tightened on the trigger, waiting for the precise moment when it would be close enough that perhaps the shot could push it off the ledge.

Before the skag landed, it seemed to bounce off of an invisible wall and fall down onto its spiny back, scrabbling to right itself and stand on all fours again. It roared in frustration, but the lift was now much too high up to see it any more.

The 'invisible wall' shimmered and reformed into a tall figure that stepped closer to the two flabbergasted people with a graceful ease that Fiona envied.

"I have a question. Have you seen a Gortys piece? I really need it."

The Pandoran con woman recognized the lithe being in front of her, vaguely recalling that this was one of the vault hunter's that was known galaxy-wide. Unsure of what to say in the presence of someone who was very powerful and who obviously just saved their lives, she shook her head mutely.

Rhys, unlike her, didn't seem to be at a loss for words because his giddy voice sounded from behind her, "Hi, I just wanted to say, that I think you're really cool."

She glanced back at him and was perplexed to find him damn near twirling his hair. Fiona fought the urge to roll her eyes as she turned to face Zer0 again, surprised to see a <3 flash across his reflective visor.

Before she could find her footing in this new predicament, the muffled sound of a roaring crowd and the booming bass of loud music rumbled above their heads. Just as the three of them looked up, the doors over the ceiling unlocked and parted, the lift pushing them up into the middle of Bossanova's arena.

©rin-bellatrix 2025

☆ borderlands masterlist ⋆ main masterlist ☆

[shinakazami1]

TFTBL GAMEPLAY NOTES: EP 1 (Zer0 Sum)

my good pal @astralflumph let me watch them play my fav game and since I was curious on which side Rhys smiled more, I decided to take notes in general. Hope someone will enjoy this!

RHYS:

Side smiles: right-tilted 21 ; left 13

General - Drolls when he sleeps - He gets sad when Sasha says she doesn't trust his face :( - He can be the one trying to warm Sasha up to him - pinky promise and "we're best friends" after lending her your stun baton. - In his imagination with August, he tears the guy's heart with his normal hand. The same happens earlier when he punches a bandit with his normal hand before using the stun baton. Either his arm is expensive he never thought of using it for harder tasks, or it might be a fresh thing. - Jack comments on Rhys being a code monkey the moment he is plugged in. He might have gotten already merged with Rhys a bit.

Vaughn: - He seems open to Vaughn's therapy idea if only they have the money. Hope CEO Rhys has it,, - Rhys' first instinct while talking to Vasquez is to protect his friends. It's the second dialogue option that lets you consider betraying Vaughn. Rhys also gets the promotion to make THEIR life better. Friendship is essential to him, though the player can choose how important it is. - Vaughn is good with motorbikes. Prob drove a bit before going to Helios.

Work on Hyperion: - Hyperion is the only job he has. As he is prob 27 like Vaughn - and we know he went to college, he might have also been in university. - He got a new haircut to fit in. Wish we had some art to compare,, - Rhys worked for Henderson for 3 years. Seems not to like him, as his only comment about the guy is losing the nice suit - Rhys got to meet Nakayama - thinks of him as an asshole - The last log in this episode from Handsome Jack is about the Atlas Logo: edited by HJ69 342 days ago. Jack died less than a year ago. - Besides stealing the money, Rhys also broke the user agreement while modifying the Loader Bot. Ugh Oh! - He and Vaughn had some project related to an eridian mine. - When Vaughn suggests getting wine for their celebratory lunch, Rhys seems confused. Man of some taste for sure. This made me realise we see Felix and August and some NPCs drink beer, but no one else throughout the games. Tho tell me if I'm wrong. - "I'll name my firstborn loader bot. Prob not" Sure, robot dad.

Planets: - Rhys has some property on one of Eden's (tried to give the offer to the stranger). In this episode, Eden 6 ( August: Marcus said it's nice) and 7 (Vaughn says it's a nice vacation spot) are mentioned. - In the Van, there is a Dionysus poster that Fiona and the gang want to go to. It's Lilith's home planet. Dionysus is also God of Tragedy. Ouch.

==

FIONA

General: - The con is their biggest yet. - Only Fiona has the posters. Either she keeps on covering for Sasha, or she is the one who keeps doing the harder work and being exposed. However, the Echo Eye scan suggests she still is packing a lot of crime stories. - Maliwan might be their fav company: Sasha uses 2 of their guns, and 22% of Fiona's jacket are of Maliwan material. - Sasha has a bandaid on her splashscreen. Seeing the different layers of clothing, she might have some wounds hidden behind them. - Sasha recognises immediately Rhys' Echo Eye. Either there are more people with them, and she saw them on Pandora, or her being a gun freak means she read about them. Either is interesting. - Sasha is said to be a horrid shot. And based on the amount of shots it took her to finally hit all the skags (at least 20 shots), I would say y e a h. Same with the alpha skag.

August: - He met with Vasquez a few times. - He has a good memory and knows his way around the business (pretending to be stupid), gets rapid in romance (doesn't listen to Sasha at first, only later considering something is wrong; when it turns out to be a con, he mostly screams words, saying her name). Lack of emotional intelligence ig - Has some connections with Marcus (talk about Eden-6) - WHY DID HE BRUSH BLOOD OFF FIONA'S CHEEK THO EWWWW

Felix: - Immediately, as he hears gunshots, he runs to the Purple Skag bar to check if Fiona is okay. He cares, in his weird ways - He might be pushing even more responsibility on Fiona, as she's the older sister. Maybe that's why she's the one who got the poster.

Bossanova uses voice modulator.

[the-cpu-system]

Got mad at Atlas CEO being named Atlas in the borderlands movie so here's my semi-cohesive naming guide/analysis to Borderlands :3

No character should be named after Greek mythology as that's reserved for planets and companies and structures (Athena is an outlier here, and I think it's just because her deep corporate ties kinda allow a Greek goddess name to make sense with her)

Female characters are often named something you're not gonna find on a baby name list, and tend to come from spiritual roots and/or biblical names (the sirens from 1 to 2 have biblical names, Angels being a species in the bible and not a specific person). They have a distinctly "steampunk" sounding trend (Tannis, Felicity, Tyreen, Gaige, Fiona). The names seem to definitely not be baby name list material, and a little more unqiue. As the games have gone on, they're losing their name vibes, "Ava" doesn't really work as a borderlands name, but whatever. A lot of the names have latin origin.

Male names vary because lot of male characters seem to go by their last names, so I can't really give much on that. The male names are kinda basic. A few characters seem to follow with name meanings, like Jack/John, his name's meanings directly correlate with his character. A lot of the male names are more "badass" than the women's are and fall more on that side than the steampunk side. I think male names more just fit the vibe of the character than go off specific? It's hard to tell. Some names are puns and the others are just like that. But they're all more of a badass apocalyptic theme it seems.

Robots are mainly, if not always, spelled with letters in their names. Exceptions are LB and Gortys idk why

Generally I've seen though, Hyperion affiliated people seem to have a lot more "fancy/smooth/richer" names if that makes sense? Hugo Vasquez, Rhys, Yvette, Vaughn, Gladstone, Tassiter.. all very like. Higher class sounding names if that makes sense. They aren't as "dirty" as names like Torgue, Moxxi, Ellie, Scooter, etc etc

Also Presequel liked getting really kind of. Unique and futuristic with names, too, thats a thing I found. Like Zarpedon

Ofc I'm not telling anyone what to name their oc! You do you! This is just me rambling about name consistencies I've seen throughout the franchise and being a huge nerd. :3!

[disneytva]

Disney Branded Television Celebrates The New Year With Robogobo As It Sets January 17th Premiere On Disney Junior.

They are the pets that rescue pets! Dax, Allie, Booster, Hopper, Shelly and Wingo will have to learn to work together as a team. Disney is celebrating the new year with the series premiere of Disney Television Animation's 99th series "Robogobo" premieres Friday January 17 on Disney Junior and streaming soon on Disney+.

”RoboGobo” highlights five adorable pets without a home — until kid inventor Jax adopts them and gives them super-powered robo-suits. Now Hopper, Boomer, Allie, Shelly and Winger are a team of superheroes saving other pets in trouble and learning how to become a family in the process.

Creator Chris Gilligan also serves as director and executive producer. The series is produced by Brown Bag Films in association with Disney Television Animation., is developed for television by Matt Hoverman, with Hoverman, Andy Guerda, and Brandon Violette as story editors.

The roster of young voice actors, including Ja’Siah Young (“Raising Dion”), Brayden Morgan (“Slumberkins”), Azuri Hardy Jones (Warner Bros Animation “My Adventures with Superman”), Gracen Newton (“Puppy Dog Pals”), newcomer Leili Ahmadyar and veteran voice actor Dee Bradley Baker (“Phineas and Ferb”), recurring guest stars include Cynthia Erivo (Universal Pictures "Wicked", "Wicked: For Good") as Slink, Valerie Bertinelli ("Valerie's Home Cooking") as Chef Polly, Susan Kelechi Watson ("This Is Us") as Professor Millie, Dax’s mom, Dulé Hill (20th Television "The Wonder Years") as Dr. Vaughn, Dax’s dad, Alan Cumming ("Rhona Who Lives by the River") as Dame Luxley and Alison Pill (Netflix Anime "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off") as Farmer.

A line of toys, clothing and merchandise based on the series are set to drop on ShopDisney and the Disney Parks in 2025 with a series of books by Disney Hyperion and Disney Publishing Worldwide also set for 2025.

A Robogobo album featuring songs from the series by Walt Disney Records is set to drop on January 17.

[deconstructivesurgery]

i would love to hear your Five Points of Vaughn Contention actually

HELL YEAH HERE WE GO

Vaughn was my second favourite character in TFTBL and I am Pissed on his behalf for what happened to him in 3 for several reasons. Precisely 5. Which I have decided to present in order of importance to me personally. Putting this under a read-more for everyone's sake.

Number one: The like, naked man thing. Hygeine. You name it.

Listen. I have no problem with the idea that after living on Pandora for an extended period of time would make him visibly more disheveled/rugged- I mean, even over the span of TFTBL we clearly see him progress from clean-cut accountant to like. Pandoran enthusiast. I also don't have a problem with the idea of his appearance getting a bit wilder post-the deaths of the Children of Helios. Obviously that could have caused him to lose a lot of stability and organization in his life, and wandering Pandora alone could lead to him getting overall sandier and less composed than before- but are we actually taking the funny "oh he took his shirt off in the desert before" scene and deciding that he's decided to spend his time hanging around in nothing but dirty underwear? Because... it's funny? It's just another part of the "Vaughn is a belligerent idiot who can't take care of himself" schtick that 3 forced onto him in the name of ignoring genuine character development for snark, and I hate it.

Which leads me into my second point: The whole "I love Pandora now and I'm soaking up the thrills" thing never should have led into Vaughn idolizing bandits. It doesn't fit his motivations for getting attached to Pandoran life in the first place or his previous actions.

Vaughn in TFTBL liked the adrenaline of doing something risky and wild for once in his life, and encountering a new and thrilling environment- but that doesn't translate to "heehoo bandit appealing". He liked the thrill of fighting for his life, not the thrill of... banditry? He was pumped up by the chaos of Pandora, but he still *cared* about other people and wasn't thrilled about violence or happy to be brawling with other people- hell, he organized a pacifistic group of survivors. Why the hell would he idolize bandits? You know, the people who are KNOWN for dying horribly out in the desert and killing people for shits and giggles?

Sure, he's excited about working with Fiona and Sasha, who he refers to as "grifters" at one point- but working with "grifters" isn't that different from working with... you know, his literal friends from Hyperion who are also grifters, just of the corporate variety? There's an element of moral bankruptcy slightly present in him- in ALL of the Hyperion employee characters we see in-game- but his brand of dubious isn't violent bandit, it's more "you could talk me into a bank heist for the thrills". I don't buy the translation of "overall well-meaning guy with a kick for adventure and risk and a little bit of chaos" to "kicking around in the dust with whatever scumbags I can find who act like frat boys".

Again. I understand that watching the Children of Helios' pacifism plan fail, leading to their deaths, could have led to him becoming more militant. My problem lies in the way that this was written. Why did they go the course of "oh yeah the people he essentially led and tried to take care of post-Helios fall all died, surely he'd immediately begin fawning over the type of people responsible for their deaths like an asshole" and not "sure yes he'd probably be forced to give up his pacifism but we're going to take this seriously and maybe explore the idea of a character who tried and failed to make a good, fun, risky-but-not-cruel life for himself on Pandora and failed". I would've preferred it if they played the angle of his risk-taking behaviour and Pandoran survivalism taking on a new aspect: maybe something akin to vigilante behaviour or... literally anything else. Joining the Crimson Raiders because if he's going to be in a constant brawl, it might as well be on the side of someone he vaguely knows to not be brutal and evil, instead of crawling to them after getting kicked out by bandits. In general, I hate the way that they barely had him react to the Children of Helios' deaths without so much more than a "oh yeah haha they had laser pointers- shitty idea, they died but I'm fine now". He... went to the trouble of trying to help and lead those people even though they were strange and prone to idolizing Rhys. You want to tell me he was heartless enough to barely care beyond a "whoopsie" joke about them? When he's clearly a character that cares enough about his friends- notably even one who possibly lied about/was in cahoots with Handsome Jack- to the point of arranging a risky ass scheme to rescue them?

Anyways. This is already long as hell but points number three and four: Vaughn was never incompetent, just prone to risk-taking behaviour- and goofiness doesn't have to equal stupidity or a lack of any actual substance. Two things 3's writers clearly didn't understand.

Yeah, Vaughn was the butt of the joke a lot in TFTBL, but being the comedic relief didn't also prevent him from having like- an actual productive character arc culminating in him becoming a confident man capable of leadership and not stumbling over his feet as much in a strange new world. His funny "bro" behaviour and newfound love for chaos weren't his primary character flaws, or the things dragging him down/making him incompetent and irritating, they were some of the catalysts for his development into someone capable of enduring Pandora for long periods of time. There was a balance between him getting dunked on for giggles, and acknowledged as a character who was actually important to both the other characters in the game and to the overarching story.

And yeah, alright- he did things like "try to have a pacifistic society on Pandora, ye planet of war" and "try to rescue a friend with the use of laser pointers"- but those worked. Risky choices, yeah, but not belligerently stupid ones. Vaughn was smart enough as an accountant to divert funds and fuck with him and Rhys' access to things, he has lines in TFTBL where despite his nervousness and mounting excitement he acknowledges risks like desert dehydration, demonstrating at least some variety of survival competence- he just wasn't stupid! He really wasn't! They made him stupid because they thought it was funny, and all they accomplished was making him annoying.

And finally, point five: Irony poisoning and everything else aside. Why did they decide to split Vaughn and Rhys up in such an anti-climactic way? I mean, this feeds into a way larger issue I have with BL3's segment featuring TFTBL characters (If we can have an entire segment about what Rhys is up to, can we PLEASE interact with Fiona in some way, or at least get an explanation/exploration of where her and Sasha went post-TFTBL???) I could understand the TFTBL gang splitting up post-game. Sasha wants to travel and explore, Fiona has expressed a clear interest in becoming a VH herself- a pursuit that takes a lot of travel and which would put her under the radar to her friends, and Vaughn prefers to stay on Pandora whereas Rhys obviously fucks off to Promethea to rebuild Atlas. But you're telling me none of them even try to stay in contact? You're telling me Rhys and Vaughn had a falling out? Over WHAT? If you're going to write it in at least make it believable, because the way things were left in TFTBL I would've been shocked to see them not still being the closest members of the original group post-game. They both made new lives for themselves, yeah, but if anyone was going to keep in touch regularly- it would be them? Why aren't they working together to some degree? Vaughn was very technologically literate in the past, are we acting like him adapting to Pandora suddenly means he's never going to use the ECHOnet or other tech to establish long-distance connections or accomplish things again? He seemed to like being tech-savvy, please. Why did we split everyone up in the shittiest way possible with minimal coherent explanation? WAUGH.

[plaguescribe]

Half of My Soul

Rhys had looked at Pandora from Helios station everyday for years now, the brown planet’s continental long gash spewing eridium captivated his attention during the excruciating hours of work. Years ago he had asked Vaughn what he thought about Pandora, “A filthy planet that could honestly be called a mass grave.” Rhys had believed that to be dramatic at the time, but after his impromptu visit he wasn't so sure Vaughn was too far off. Rhys laid his head back against the thick glass of the transport ship, Hyperion splurged on getting the two of them back to space, sending an ANG3L class ship, Rhys’s grip of the edge of the seat helped ground him from the crescendoing anxiety in his chest, the thick leather cold in his grasp

His thoughts briefly slipped to the girls, he thought about the utter betrayal that echoed across Fiona’s face when he clambered into the Hyperion ship with no hesitation. A few days before she had asked if he and Vaughn planned to stay on Pandora, his immediate answer was no, he wanted nothing more to do with this planet. He didn’t even want to come here in the first place; but when he received the call from some higher-up that Jack swore were safe, saying they could take them back to the space station they called home, they said yes without an ounce of regret. Now as he sat hundreds of miles above the god forsaken planet, the regret seeped into his stomach little by little. Thankfully his anxiety and exhaustion mostly masked the feeling, he tried to forget the fact she left before the ship even took off from the ground. He hated the way that Sasha didn’t even come to see them off, opting to stay home. He hated that he wished they came with them. 

Vaughn sat across the aisle from him, his eyes locked onto the ground, the cracks in his glasses filled with thin lines of dirt. Vaughn’s shirt was torn in 3 different places and dried blood stained everywhere, he could see a tremble in his friend’s hands. Rhys knew that since they had found the vault and brought the Jack AI back to Helios that he and his friend likely wouldn’t see too much trouble for stealing, and subsequently losing, a fuck ton of money. However they worked for Hyperion, you could be shoved into the airlock for taking the last of the coffee in the break room. 

Four Hyperion soldiers sat armed around the two of them, Rhys was scared to breathe too loudly around them for fear of his life; he sat as still and quietly as a freshly traumatized man could. He knew that they were there to ‘protect’ the two of them, but the stoicism did not offer much comfort in face of everything. He felt a tickle behind his eyes and before he could try and stop the inevitable, a familiar blue hand appeared on his thigh. Rhys kept staring at the slowly shrinking planet behind them, hoping that maybe Jack would leave, he would realize that now wasn’t a good time and dissipate. 

“Man, Pandora still looks like a shit hole, should’ve blown it up when I had the chance.” There is no response from Rhys, Jack continues to fill the silence with vaguely threatening statements. 

“Maybe I’ll make you do it, there’s always time to do that kind of thing.” 

“No, you will not.” Rhys sneers to Jack.

“Gah, I dunno kiddo, maybe one day I’ll convince you to go through with one of my brilliant plans.” Jack ‘sits’ down next to Vaughn looking over him intently before gazing around the transport ship. 

“I’m truly surprised they sent somethin’ this nice for you two,” Jack runs his hands over the plush leather. “I only had two of these made, one for me and another one for me in case the first one blew up.” Rhys nods absentmindedly to the comments. Jack looked back to Vaughn, getting in his face, waving his hands in front of his eyes and ‘patting’ his face. 

“Is he still alive? I mean I really thought he was a goner there after the whole paralysis thing.” Jack ‘pokes’ Vaughn’s face and giggles to himself. The intercom cuts the silence and  announces they’re approaching Helios Station and to prepare for turbulence; Rhys watches Vaughn’s knuckles turn white from gripping the arm rests so hard. 

“He’s fine, would you leave him alone?”

“Oh right, cause he can definitely feel all of this,” Jack winds his arm back and ‘slaps’ Vaughn again. “Do you think he believes I’m real, or does he still think you’re crazy?”

“Obviously he believes me, Vaughn is a very good friend.” Rhys sees Vaughn smile, just enough for only him to notice. Jack hums in acknowledgement, though not in belief. 

The landing rattles the whole ship, the soldiers seem nonchalant about the whole thing, Jack doesn’t even seem to notice, the two boys looked as if the whole ship shaking continued any longer they would have matching heart attacks. 

As soon as the wheels touched ground, the two of them stood up on unstable legs and sped to the door, it opened to a large hangar with a handful of higher-ups and scientists standing at the ship exit. Vaughn leaned over to Rhys and whispered “they’re for you,” before walking down the steps and slipping off to the side. Rhys watched his feet as he walked down the steps, holding tightly to the hand rail; multiple people rushed to Rhys as soon as his feet touched the ground, each asking him too many questions at once. 

From the moment Rhys stepped foot back on Helios station, he had felt for the first time in his life what it was like to be popular. Much to his dismay he had never felt worse in his life, the feeling of everyone's eyes on him, the dirt clinging to every inch of him, and the incessant pounding in his head all combined to a torto return home. His heart was a moment away from beating itself to death, he tried to focus on watching Jack peering over people’s shoulders, he would occasionally yell to Rhys when he saw something interesting, but his voice was drowned out with questions of “Is Jack still in your brain?” “What's he like?” “When can you come to the neuro-lab soonest?” 

The thought of even more people poking around in his brain made his skin crawl; he knew that eventually they would have to get the Jack code out, but he hoped they wouldn’t need to do this as soon as he got off the ship. The room seemed to get louder and louder with every passing second, he tried to look for Vaughn to no avail. Rhys’s eyes bounced between person to person making him dizzy, and the lack of a full meal or water in far too long made his body weaker than he remembered it. He saw Jack appear beside him, arms crossed and tapping his foot. 

“Don’t pass out on me, I swear to god I’ll kill you myself.” Rhys wrung his hands together, they shook just enough for him to notice, for Jack to notice. 

“I need to leave, I need to get out of here.” Rhys whispered to Jack, praying that he would have mercy on him for once. 

Jack’s eyebrows relaxed and he dropped his arms, “Always needing me to save the day huh?” he huffed a laugh and started walking towards the door at the back of the hangar. Rhys was surprised and thankful they decided not to station some sort of soldier at the exit. 

“I’m going to hack this door,” Jack yells across the room, though for Rhys it sounds like he's speaking right next to him. “When I do, I want you to pretend there’s another rakk hive trying to devour you whole and run through the door, after which I’ll lock it? Got all that princess?” Rhys nods which elicits multiple strange looks from the doctors surrounding him. He watches Jack turn towards the door and start typing away, his foot tapping along to what Rhys can only assume is a song stuck in his head. 

“You ready?” Jack yells over his shoulder. Rhys steadies his legs and watches the sliding doors like his life depends on it, and right now it very well might. Jack yelled across the room for him to run and Rhys pleaded to himself that his legs wouldn’t give out, not now. He pushed through the crowd of people in front of him towards where Jack stood, arms crossed with a sickly cocky smile etched into his fake plastic face. Rhys flew past him and into the door which was promptly locked behind him, he heard people yelling behind the thick metal doors but the notion that they couldn’t see him anymore settled his heart. 

Rhys doubled over with his hands on his knees, eyes closed gently as he tried to catch his breath. Jack raised a hand to rub his back for comfort, frowning to himself when his hand phased right through the younger man. When Rhys’s breaths slowed down he turned to look at Jack, a small smile turning his lips ever so slightly upwards. 

“You alright now?” 

“I’m good.” Jack nodded and started walking down the maintenance hallway, a hand beckoning Rhys to follow. The two walk in a comfortable silence for a while, Rhys still playing with his own hands for comfort, he was happy they felt less clammy now. He watched Jack walk, he had spent a lot of time watching him walk since they had met. He envied the way that Jack carried himself, it was past an ‘air’ of confidence, Jack was confidence incarnate. Sometimes he wondered how much of it was fake, another mask Jack would put on in the morning. He decided it best not to think too hard about it. 

“So, where exactly does this lead? I’ve never even seen these before.” Rhys broke the silence to ask, he almost regretted it. Almost. Jack slowed down to walk next to him, there seemed to be a sense of peace written into his face. 

“Originally they were here for those freaks in maintenance to get around without anyone seeing them; you remember how god awful they were to look at?” Rhys nodded, it was a lie though, he had never met anyone from maintenance. 

“However after a while they all died, not my fault surprisingly, and were replaced with the bots. So I started using them to get around here without anyone knowing where I was.” Jack said with a subtle lilt in his voice. Rhys nodded and hummed in reply, he would’ve loved to use these when he first started and had no friends. 

“You never did say where we’re going.” 

“My office, if everything is as I left it, nobody should have been able to get in while I was ‘dead’.” Jack does finger quotes around as he finishes his statement. 

The two of them continued to walk in silence, only broken up briefly by Jack telling Rhys which way to walk; Rhys had never been to Jack’s office, and the thought alone sent a shiver down his spine. He knew it couldn’t be far now, the two of them had been walking for what felt like the entirety of Helios. Jack must have sensed his curiosity of their location and mumbled something about “…two more left turns and a right.” Which after taking those, turned out to be true. 

Jack walked to the dead end that they slowly approached and started tapping on the code box on the wall, the door slowly opening. The sudden bright light of Jack’s office felt like a flash bang straight to his corneas, but the change from cool air to warm made Rhys close his eyes in bliss. Jack walked over to his desk and beckoned Rhys, instructing him to press a series of buttons which abruptly opened a door hidden behind a frankly awful painting. Inside was a small bed, neatly made with a pair of dress pants strewn across the foot of the bed. 

Jack walked over and traced his fingers over the stitching, trepidation in his hand as if touching it too much would disintegrate them. Rhys looked at Jack with a puzzled expression etched into his features. 

“I was supposed to wear these to show off the warrior, had a whole party planned and everything.” His voice was soft, a sadness emanating from his words. 

“I’m so sorry.” Jack nodded and stared at the pants for a while longer before asking Rhys to move them. 

“You can sleep here for a while, nobody but,” he goes silent, then shakes his head and continues. “Nobody knows about this. You’ll be safe to sleep here. I’ll keep an eye on security while you do.” Rhys nodded and sunk into the bed, shoes still tied tight to his feet. 

“Not even going to change before sleeping in my bed?” Rhys’s cheeks warmed at the statement before toeing off his shoes and crawling under the blankets.

“Better.” Rhys watched out of the corner of his eye as Jack walked to his desk and booted it up, not daring to look back at Rhys. He let his body sink into the bed, before he could even process anything his body shut off. Jack looked behind him and allowed himself to stare at the sleeping man, his brown hair a mess from sprinting. Jack blinked over and tried to push it out of his face, his fingers phasing right through it, Jack sighed in defeat, trudging back to his desk, an annoyance in his chest more prevalent than anything else. 

[kitsumidori]

You know I never thought that Debt or Alive would handle Fiona and Sasha poorly liked what 3/New Tales would handle Rhys and Vaughn but......I was wrong.........

Rhys Strongfork

He's a lot more like how he ended in TFTBL (specifically the good/anti-hyperion playthrough)

He's basically "that" type of boss, the one that gets overly enthusiastic about pizza day

He along with Sasha would take time off work to travel to Pandora whether to see Fiona and Vaughn or to do something adventurous

Ended up splitting his wish with Vaughn

Rhys's wish: To improve Pandora, there are genuinely good people and he believes they deserve better than being trapped in what's basically a literal hell on earth

Fiona Dillon

While rebuilding the raider, Vaughn recommended a few people he knew with one of them being Fiona and let’s just say that she and Lilith became more than just allies.

Semi-retired, is still heavily involved with the Raiders

Since Rhys married her sister, Fiona owns a small percentage of Atlus..... much to Rhys's annoyance (Rhys: "That's not how it works!")

Ended up splitting her wish with Sasha

Fiona's wish: Vast knowledge about Eridians and the Vault (and maybe a girlfriend)

......she ended up with two wives

(I forgot her rings just pretend she has them)

Sasha Strongfork

Debt or Alive did her so badly..........

Co-C.E.O of Atlus and Chief Scientist

Gained psychic powers after being inside the Traveler

Sasha's wish: Her very own vaultlander figure of herself and it now considered the most rarest

And yes she still has it

Vaughn Sunwalker

Like Rhys, he's a lot more like how he is at the end of TFTBL

Was able to rebuild the Sun Smasher's after the opening of the great value with the majority of new members being ex C.O.V members

Maya’s right hand man (with Krieg as her left hand)

Was “persuaded” by Krieg to wear pants more often

Gained some side effects from the Paradise Gas

Vaughn's wish: A comfy bandit leader throne

[helpfandom]

I NEED yandere content of my lil dumbass Rhysie boy.

I got this idea of the reader kind of being dragged along by Rhys kind of like a babysitter because some random hyperion guy (or maybe Vasquez) just doesn't believe you could survive on Pandora, and surprise surprise Rhys and his accountant buddy Vaughn are also heading to Pandora! (Definitely not to get a vault key that isn't even real-)

(bonus points if the reader is a teen or just turned 18 or smth lol) <3

@yanderefangirl and @plague-cure

Roughly based off of Rhys and Vaughn's personality in TFTB.

I quite like that Idea, especially since it can be used for many differing personalities.

So Ass-Quez doesn't like you, and sends you down to Pandora, but good thing you heard Rhys, Vaughn, and Yvette talking about their plan to get the vault key.

It's quite easy to sneak into their car that they stole from Vasquez, seeing as Vaughn and Rhys were arguing about who should carry the money. [Rhys was the only person out of the two who could drive moderately well, and well, it was at least ten minutes between the two arguing that you were sitting there in the backseat, laying on the floor.]

But only after they take off on Pandora, do you reveal yourself. Rhys and Vaughn screaming and looking at you, leading Rhys to run over the very animal he originally ran over.

Okay, a little bit of skipping because I don't want to recite the entirety of the game with minute differences, so I'll say the major plots that change.

Ep 1:

The bandits don't mess with you, [they have learned their lesson from a differing explosive teen], and instead refuse to try to hit you [except for the occasional bandit].

Shade is very nice and quite likes you, so he's actually going to help you first and then the others,

Sasha and August are way less willing to help out Rhys in the beginning of their meeting, seeing as they brought a child [or rather, a teen but I digress] TO PANDORA, the scary bad no good place.

Fiona has a way worse opinion of Rhys.

Skipping all the way to Ep: 4.

Now, all this time, Jack has been bugging Rhys, and I mean, we all Jack is mentally insane, and so having that type of personality nag you about a child, well, it leads to Rhys being more protective by nature, not trusting Jack.

However, the deal Jack give him: Upload me, and protect that child you adore so much, or don't.

But as you help Sasha and Fiona get that key-card, there's a new announcement on the Holo-screens.

Jack announcing that Rhys wants you in the office.

Now.

[writeastormsblog]

Stay Hydrated, Rhys ~another snippet from my ongoing rhyiona fanfic~

Vaughn frowned. “Okay, I think that’s enough coffee… And chess. You do know you’ve been moving the same piece back and forth for the past twenty minutes, right?” Vaughn crossed his arms, leaning back in a Hyperion office chair. It was dark outside the old office room, and Rhys kept visiting the keurig since the late evening’s light was out. 

“Ugh…” Rhys slouched as he stood. “No, no, it’s fine.” He went to pour more packets of sugar into his mug while he boiled another round of coffee.

Vaughn leaned back in his chair to the outlet behind him and unplugged the machine.

“Hey!” Rhys pouted.

“Seriously, bro.” Vaughn shook his head. “You put like twenty sugars in each cup.”

“No, only eight.”

“Yeah– so either way, that sugar crash isn’t helping you.” Vaughn gestured to the water cooler. “Do you remember what water tastes like? Go drink some.”

“Ughhh nooo, water’s bland–”

“Rhys, I will call Fiona. And tell her how you make every conversation about her.”

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

See the full chapter here:

https://www.tumblr.com/writeastormsblog/782939104947175424/show-me-my-silver-lining-tftbl-rhysfiona?source=share

Or if you'd want to read the other chapters first:

https://www.tumblr.com/writeastormsblog/781206333259169792/show-me-my-silver-lining-a-rhyiona-fanfic?source=share

[rlyc00l]

Rhys is going to put his skills to work and make these people trust the crap out of him if it kills him (Actually, he doesn't want it to kill him, he's actually going to try to avoid dying). Zer0's ego goes through some stuff. Everyone could benefit from like, team building exercises or something.

Also under the cut

The first thing Rhys did, after giving up on lying sleeplessly and considering his new position, was draft a message for Vaughn and Yvette. “Hey, I’m alive, on Pandora. Vasquez tried to have me killed. Sorry for doubting you. I don’t know what he’s gonna do now, be careful. I’ll be back soon.” He paused and deleted the “soon”, replacing it with “Sorry to be vague. I’ll explain everything next time I see you.” before sending. It wouldn’t satisfy them. When he got back to Helios, he’d launch the two of them up the corporate ladder (just slightly below himself) to make it up to them. And then he’d brag about this forever. 

But first, he had to secure his victory.

Step one: Gaining trust. He’d been a pro at that up on Helios. Building trust with your coworkers was one of those pillars of success in business (it went hand-in-hand with “strategic betrayal”). There was even an acronym: DARGH. Dependability, Approachability, Respect, Gratitude, and Honesty. Three out of five were easy, he could do those without trying. He’d have to do away with honesty, which left dependability. Dependability required competency, and he was far from competent in this setting. He still hadn’t even figured out how to reload. Luckily, he had the ECHOnet. He activated his ECHOeye and pulled up everything the Hyperion database could teach him about guns and shooting, and found diagrams of the two guns in his possession.

By sunrise he was outside, dry firing the pistol while aiming at distant bullymong holes, trying to get used to the gun’s auto-stabilizers. 

“What are you doing?” 

Rhys flinched, fumbling with the gun. It was Zer0, of course. The others were still asleep. His immediate impulse was to snap at them–why the hell were they always there? He restrained himself for the sake of DARGH and instead summoned all his Hyperion brand faux-affability. 

“Oh, hey Zer0.” Fake smile. Cheery voice. “I-I’m practicing. Getting ready for today, you know? You’re welcome to join.” Goddamn, that sounded phony. He was better than this. The whole double agent thing was throwing him off his game. 

Zer0 looked at him, then his gun. “There’s a camp, not far. / Living targets are better. / With a loaded gun.” 

“That…I-I’m good, thanks. I’d rather conserve ammo, y’know? For those uh, those Fleshripper guys?” 

“There’s a vendor, there.” They thumbed over their shoulder. An Ammo Dump vending machine leaned haphazardly against a nearby building.

“I don’t have–” 

“Oh, right. Your wallet’s empty. / Save your bullets, then.” A smiley face.

“W-wait, you saw who stole my money?”

They ignored that. “Still, practice, needless. / Today, I’ll kill the bad guys. / Just stand back again.” The word “coward” didn’t fit at the end of their haiku, but it was implied. Their “>:P” made that clear.

Later, as they ventured through Fleshripper territory, he did his best not to deserve the label. At least, his best within reason. He stood back, sure, but only because he didn’t have a shield and the others did. A thrown buzzaxe bounced right off of Axton’s head when it would have split his skull open otherwise. Salvador walked right into oncoming gunfire to kill the shooter. A grenade landed at Gaige’s feet and only gave her a few scratches. A shield was undeniably a necessity, here. 

Rhys checked bodies for one when he got the chance, but there was little intact for him to take. A few dollars here, some bullets there. The bandit’s actual killers got first dibs on everything. So he was forced to shoot from afar, careful to avoid his “allies”. Most of his shots missed, but sometimes they hit, and sometimes the bandits died. Those kills didn’t feel like that first time, but at least he wasn’t almost dying. Small victories.

A further small victory came for his “DARGH initiative”. With Zer0, of all people. 

Bringing up the rear occasionally put him near them, when they’d switch from up-close fighting to sniping. Their sudden appearances had startled him the first few times. They seemed to teleport, but it was a clever combination of hologram and cloaking technology. Rhys found that if he paid attention, he could sometimes see when their footprints in the snow parted from the hologram. Even then, he missed it more often than not.  

Zer0 may have been a total asshole, but it was pretty cool to watch. They’d appear with their sword buried in one man’s back. When the next bandit fired on them, the hologram would feign an attack from the front while they climbed a nearby roof, blowing his brains out without him ever knowing he’d been tricked. Rhys wondered if Jack knew about their method, or if he should report it. If Zer0 meant to fight Hyperion, the soldiers should be forearmed with that knowledge, the way these Fleshrippers weren’t. 

As he was considering recording them for Jack, a gunshot rang off from his left and two bandits dropped dead at the same time. Zer0 appeared with their sniper rifle on a low roof next to him. “Holy crap. Did…Did you just do that?” 

“Yes.” They projected a “:D”. 

“That was actually pretty badass.” 

They didn’t respond, only moved to a higher position, taking out another pair of bandits the same way, then a third with a headshot.

If he didn’t know better, he would have thought they were showing off. But there was no way they cared what he thought, right? It was worth testing. Rhys was well-practiced in the art of sycophancy. “You, uh, you think you could hit that guy way down there before Krieg gets to him? The one taking cover behind the crates.” 

The bandit in question was on the other side of camp, firing at Krieg as he charged. Only a small portion of his head was visible. 

A second after he said it, they’d shot, and the bandit’s head vanished in a spray of red. Krieg slowed to a stop, with a bellow of “Disappointed!” 

“Nice!” The enthusiasm in his voice wasn’t hard to fake. He never expected Zer0 might actually be easy to win over. 

“As I said before. / You need not participate. / I’ve got this handled.” 

“Right, clearly.” It was the same on Helios, flattery didn’t get you respect in return. Still, if he’d swallowed his pride and sucked up to Vasquez, the man wouldn’t have tried to blow him up. Zer0 was more the “literal backstabber” type, but still, the point stood. 

———

Captain Flynt, leader of the Fleshripper bandits, was the last thing standing between the Vault hunters and the mainland. He’d made his throne on a wrecked freighter sitting precariously atop an icy clifftop. Rhys lost count of how many the group had killed on the trek through the surrounding camps and the climb up to the ship’s deck. At that point, a reasonable person would surrender. Captain Flynt wasn’t a reasonable person. 

Claptrap had raced in ahead of the rest of them, waiting at the top of the ramp that led to the ship’s deck. “Yoohoo! Minions, this way!” He waved them on impatiently. 

Maya stopped there. “We should go in with a plan. One would have to be pretty hard to kill to lead a bandit clan of this size for more than a week, and Hammerlock claims he’s tough.” 

Zer0 barely glanced at her as they moved on after Claptrap. 

“I was thinking we shoot him full of bullets. Until he dies.” Salvador said, passing her.

“Yeah, that was more or less what I was gonna say?.” Axton stopped for only a moment, hesitating before jogging after Zer0. “Sorry, not about to let them get all the glory!” he called over his shoulder.

“I need to get keelhauled!” Krieg followed the other three. 

“Hey, wait up!” Gaige had the decency to look guilty as she passed. “Sorry, Maya, but I mean, we have more guns?” 

Rhys could only offer a shrug. “For what it’s worth, I was onboard with the ‘having a plan’ plan.” 

The battle was underway by the time he and Maya caught up. Flynt wasn’t alone, at least twenty more bandits fought alongside him. He was unmistakable among his cohorts. The man dwarfed even Krieg–but part of that might have been the thick, padded suit and the tall horns atop his helmet. He wielded both a flamethrower and an entire anchor with ease. Also, he was on fire, which didn’t seem to bother him.  

Yesterday, Rhys might have stayed on the ledge overlooking the deck, never directly joining battle. Today, he had a promotion and a turbomansion to look forward to, and DARGH to think of. Amazing what getting contacted personally by Handsome Jack could do to a guy. At least, it was enough to make Rhys hop down onto deck–only to slip on a patch of ice and fall on his face. Thankfully, this went unnoticed. The bandits were too occupied with those who got there before him. Each Vault hunter seemed to be fighting their own battle. Huge plumes of fire intermittently shot up from the vents in the deck, leaving thick clouds of smoke in its wake. Maya was already further up, he saw a flash of purple lift Flynt into the air. A buzzaxe-wielding bandit took notice of him as he was getting to his feet. Rhys shot him as he charged, and he stumbled to the ground and didn’t rise again. Then a second bandit was shooting at him. Bullets whizzed past his face, barely missing. Finding flimsy cover behind a wooden crate, he returned fire. Either one of Rhys’s bullets hit the mark, or someone else’s did. Regardless, that bandit fell too. 

He got another glimpse of Flynt near the broken edge of the ship. Zer0 was behind him, sword bearing down at his back. Flynt turned, delivering a blow with his anchor that knocked them off their feet. He lifted the anchor, ready to bring it down on them. Flames went up. Rhys fired a few shots where he’d seen Flynt. The fire faded. Flynt was running at Salvador, whose pair of shotguns seemed to do little to slow him. No sign of Zer0. 

“Krieg, come on! You’re in the way!” He heard Axton before he saw him. He was shooting over a pile of crates. His turret was perched on a crate firing at Flynt, only, Krieg was in front of its target. 

Fire again. A flaming bandit came rushing out of a nearby vent, screaming in agony. Rhys backed up, pulled the trigger. Out of ammo. The bandit fell anyway. He ducked behind cover. His shotgun held only two shots in it, and he’d never actually used it before. It would be better to stay here and wait for the fighting to stop. He heard more screaming–a voice that had to be Gaige’s. 

Could be a hero. That’d be worth points. 

He moved along the intact edge–towards the screams, trying to keep track of Flynt. The jet of fire from his flamethrower gave him away on the far side of the ship. 

When he found Gaige she was crouched behind a junk pile, reloading her submachine gun. Her robot was fighting off a bandit on the other side. Another three bandits lay dead nearby. 

“You okay?” he needed to raise his voice to be heard over the battle. She was soaked in sweat and covered in ash but otherwise, she looked okay. 

She gave him a strange look, then turned to finish that last bandit. 

He ducked down next to her. “I–someone was screaming. Was that Maya?” It hadn’t sounded like Maya.

“Oh! Yeah, that was me! Look at this shit.” She stuck out her leg. Her nylon tights had partially burned away, revealing her calf red and blistered beneath it. “Hurt like a bitch!” She’d sounded like she was being murdered. “Right. So you’re not in any immediate trouble?” 

“Nope. You’re bleeding, by the way. Like a lot.” She turned back to the battle. It was quieter now.

“Haha, what?” He looked down, not seeing any blood on him. “No, I’m not.” “Your face.” 

He was so soaked in sweat, it took a moment to find the blood on the right of his face, longer to find the gash starting at his temple and ending just past his ear. He hadn’t felt it until now, but suddenly his body seemed to remember that this was supposed to hurt. “Oh jeez… How…How bad is it?” “I think you just got grazed, dude. You’re fine.” 

“Owwww…” It burned.  

Gaige, put away her gun, getting to her feet. “Anyway, I think we’re done?” 

Clutching his head, he followed her lead. There were dead bandits everywhere. On the far side was Flynt, lying in a heap on the deck. Flames had stopped coming up from the vents. “Huh, wonder if he was like, remotely controlling the fire somehow…”   

“Dunno.” Rhys couldn’t find it in himself to be that curious right now. He couldn’t remember the last time so much blood was coming out of him.  “First time being shot?” Axton joined him and Gaige as they crossed the deck to meet with the others. 

“Kinda hope it’s my last.” Axton laughed. “Good luck with that.” He looked him up and down. “Hell, did you ever get a shield?” 

“Couldn’t find one.” “Why didn’t you say something?” Axton stopped, opening his storage deck holoscreen. He was using his left hand, his right hung at his side, covered in blood. 

“Kind of got the sense that uh, begging would be a bad look?” 

Axton shrugged. “This isn’t Hyperion. And I mean, a little more to the left and you’d be dead.” He’d produced a Tediore shield, handing it to Rhys. 

“Thanks.” He clipped it to his belt.

They passed Salvador, looting a corpse. “Y’all see what happened to Zer0?” he asked. “Cuz if they’re dead, I already called dibs on that gun. The acid one.” 

Rhys glanced at where he’d last seen them, half expecting their mangled corpse. They weren’t there, but between the sheer number of corpses and trash on deck, they could still be dead and he’d just missed them. He didn’t feel like looking so hard, his head hurt. 

Maya and Krieg waited outside the deckhouse, beneath Flynt’s throne. Krieg sat on a still-panic-moded Claptrap. A buzzaxe was half buried in his shoulder, and Maya was trying to calm him enough to pull it out. She scowled when she saw them. “Couldn’t have spent a few minutes trying to coordinate an attack?” 

“Hey, the guy’s dead, right? And we’re alive.” Axton radiated self-satisfaction. 

“Hell yeah, you are!” Claptrap popped out of his panic-mode, almost knocking Krieg over as he rolled out to gloat over Flynt’s corpse. “Take that, Flynt! My minions are certified badasses!” 

Maya ignored Claptrap, grabbing the buzzaxe’s hand with both hands. “Your turret drained Krieg’s shield.” She gritted her teeth as she yanked the blade out. 

“No! I needed that there!” Krieg protested. The wound already began to knit together before Maya jabbed a hypo in the flesh near it. “Augh! How will I find anything now?!” 

She ignored that too. “Not to mention, if I hadn’t made it in time, Salvador would have gotten crushed by that anchor. And, I have no idea where Zer0 went.” 

“Another one into the pit!” That one took her a moment. “Wait, they went over the side?”

Krieg tensed, grabbed his head, and then managed an exaggerated nod. “Anchors aweigh!” Crap.” She looked around at the others. “There’s more hypos inside, get yourselves fixed up. I’m going back for Zer0.” 

Inside the deckhouse was what once was a lounge for the crew, when this was still a functioning corporate cargo ship. Now, maybe it was still a lounge, but hanging from the ceiling were bouquets of human skulls, and staked to the dart board was a man’s corpse, dead at least a few weeks. After the bandit camps, this kind of decor seemed pretty standard. Rhys took a seat on one of the lopsided, threadbare couches opposite the corpse. At least it was cold enough it didn’t smell, much. 

Gaige, Salvador, and Axton were going through the chests and crates that lined that wall, arguing over loot. “I did get the kill, so y’know, I think I should get the shotgun.” “You only got the kill because my turret softened him up!”  

“Oh come on, you guys killed one guy, me and Deathtrap killed like, a gazillion of them while you were fighting him.” 

“Those little guys? I was saving them for after.”

“Yeah, they weren’t exactly our primary objective.”

“So next time I should just let them shoot at you? Cuz I totally will.” 

Rhys tuned them out, absently studying the crude map next to the dartboard corpse as he tried to distract himself from the pain. The map must have been made by one of the bandits, it was an indecipherable mess, there was no way it was to scale. Was that supposed to be the ocean? Then that there would probably be Sanctuary… But what was that thing in the center? It didn’t match up with the maps he studied in his ECHOeye, but maps of border planets tended to be lacking… 

“Oh, right, Rhys!” Axton crossed the room to him, holding out a hypo. There was a bullet hole in his forearm, rapidly closing up as he offered it. “Hate to see a face like that go to necrosis.”

He took it with a “Right, thanks so much,” and a forced smile. It was only once his face started to heal that he realized Axton had probably been flirting with him. He didn’t know what to do with that fact, did it still count as a win for DARGH? Did that mean he was doing a good job winning these people over, or should he just take it as a testament to his looks? 

It was then that Zer0 finally limped into the cabin, just ahead of Maya. They crossed the room without looking at any of the others. “The path is open. / We board Claptrap’s freakin’ boat. / And get out of here.” They sounded pissed. 

“Couldn’t have said it better myself!” Claptrap said as he followed them. “Let's board me mighty vessel and kiss the shelf goodbye!” 

“Woah, wait, Zer0, You alright, dude?” Axton asked. 

“Yes,” they said. 

“Cause I have like, one more insta-health here.” He held up another hypo, smirking. 

“Give me it.” “I dunno. If you’re okay, I might save it for later. Does our untouchable assassin really need some healing?”

Zer0’s hand closed around the hilt of their sword. “You have eyes.” 

“Axton, just give them the damn instahealth.” Maya stepped in. 

Axton sighed, and Zer0 snatched it up. “This feels like enabling their crap, y’know?” 

———

Considering that the boat they were to take belonged to Claptrap, Rhys expected the prize to be some sad little dinghy. He wasn’t well-versed on boats, but it had actually probably been some sort of fishing trawler. He wasn’t sure how a Claptrap would end up with something like that, but it had SS Claptrap spray painted on it. It was a good-sized boat, even with eight passengers there was space to spare. Sturdy, too, though that didn’t make Rhys feel much better as they lowered it into the water from a pair of cranes attached to Flynt’s wreck. He clung to the side as it was slowly lowered into the water, wondering if the shield would save him from falling to his death. Every bump felt like it might be the end, but somehow the ship touched down without incident.  

“So, how long is it to the mainland?” Gaige asked when they finally got moving. 

“Fifteen hours! But don’t worry chums, I’m sure it’ll pass in a flash! I know some great boat trip games!”  

“Ugh. If anyone needs me I’m gonna go over there and tune up Deathtrap.” 

“Yeah, uh, shouldn’t you be steering? Keep us from hitting any icebergs, or something?” Rhys tried.  

“You’re absolutely right! I guess you guys can have fun, I’ll provide the background music. Just gotta load up some sea shanties, and it’ll be a party in no time!” 

Rhys just hoped that Pandora wasn’t home to any horrific sea monsters. Before anything else, he found a tiny little bathroom in the boat’s cabin, a mirror on the door. There was a sink, but no water ran through it. Instead, he was stuck wiping what blood and sweat he could get off with his sleeve–Maybe Sanctuary would have actual laundry machines. 

It was then that Vaughn called him back, the notification lit up in his ECHOeye. He ignored it, no telling what the Vault hunters would do if they caught him communicating with someone on Helios. A moment later he got the voicemail and played it directly into his implants. 

“Holy shit, Rhys. I just saw your message. I’m so glad you’re okay. Or, I hope you’re okay. I’m gonna choose to believe you’re not answering because you are busy actively surviving that hellhole. What happened? Where are you? Can we do anything to help? Yvette can send down supplies? You, uh, you don’t have to worry about us. Get this, Vasquez disappeared, his nameplate’s gone, office cleaned out, no one knows what’s going on. But supposedly, he got called in for a meeting with Jack, and you know… Try to get back up here soon. And don’t drink the water down there! Or eat anything weird. Call me back. If you’re still alive, I mean.” 

Rhys texted a reply, practicing with the ECHOeye functionality he’d used to message Jack: “Still alive. Can’t call you, I’m surrounded by bandits. We’ve reached an understanding though, they trust me. I’m not going to be in mortal danger anytime soon unless I start openly talking to someone on Helios.” 

The text response from Vaughn came a minute later: “Holy shit, dude. Are you sure they’re not planning to eat you? I heard Pandora is chock full of cannibals.” 

“I’m sure.” 

“Okay, still, you should really find a Hyperion base or something.” “I’ll keep an eye out.” A lie, but he wasn’t about to give too much away. 

“I gotta get back to work, Don’t want anyone else up here getting called into Jack’s office. I’ll message later. But seriously, you need anything, let me or Yvette know.” “Yep. See you later.” He had to smile–Vaughn had nothing to worry about up there, Jack had already done him a favor and gotten Vasquez out of the way. He played this right and he could get his friends comfy, safe positions before this was over. 

He passed Axton on his way out of the cabin, already napping on one of the little cots. 

Outside, the rest of them were keeping their distance from each other. Krieg was at the prow of the ship, yelling incoherently at the sea ahead. Maya sat on a crate nearby, somehow ignoring him enough to be reading a book. Gaige worked on her robot, disassembled parts laid out across the deck in front of her. Salvador was cleaning his shotgun. Zer0 was just leaning against the side of the boat, arms crossed, things like “B0R3D”, “...”, and “UGH” occasionally flashing over their helm. 

Claptrap, at least, was too occupied with steering to bother anyone with more than singing.

Everyone still seemed too tense to approach, but he still had a lot of material on the Hyperion database that may or may not come in handy to study. He sat down leaning against the cabin’s outer wall, and pulled up an entry of their destination, Three Horns. 

“Three Horns is a small region named for its three stone crags. Ringed by mountains to the east and precipitous cliffs to the west, the area is…” 

“That should be removed.” Zer0’s voice interrupted his reading. They were kneeling in front of him. “Before we reach the city. / It may get you killed.”

“Wha..?” He closed out of the ECHOeye entry. “What?” 

They poked his chest.  “Oh. Yeah.” It barely peered out under the bandit’s jacket, only the “Hy” visible, but it was undeniably Hyperion’s logo on his vest

“In Sanctuary / I hear they find clever ways / Of killing your kind.” They projected a “;)”. 

“Right…” It was a nice vest. Expensive, hardy. He couldn’t just throw the whole thing out. But he could probably cut through the stitching. “You’ve got a knife or something?” 

“Yes,” they said. 

He waited. They made no move to offer him anything. 

“Can I use it?” 

They cocked their head, seeming to consider for a moment. “No.” They stood and returned to their prior spot. 

After half an hour of fighting with the label, he’d managed to pull it a third of the way off. Hyperion stitching was good. He was considering resorting to using his teeth when a folded pocket knife landed in front of him. He looked up to see Zer0, and took the knife with a “Thanks? Wish you’d given this to me before?” 

The knife was marked “DAHL”. 

“Er…Did…Did you steal this from Axton?” 

“He is still sleeping. / If I were you, I’d work fast. / He will wake angry.” They projected a “:3”. 

[klaussicarus]

Tales From The Total Drama Borderlands!

Part 1/2/3

Cody as Vaughn, the nerdy (but secretly ripped? when did that happen, it's almost too disturbing to look away) accountant that is happy to help Noah on his adventures, and Owen as Yvette, the friendly if a bit cowardly lunch thief helping the two out back at Hyperion!

And Courtney as Athena, the competent warrior with a bone to pick, and her fiance, soon-to-be wife, Gwen in the role as Janey! Sorry but there's no love triangle here (thank god) just two happy lesbians planning their wedding.

[voesneroeiz]

so a couple people (2) asked me to elaborate on this post so i guess i may as well make a fool out of myself (/joking) and share my thoughts. this is my yiik crackship essay (not really). keep in mind that most of it is based around tales from the borderlands as that’s what the au these stem from is based on (alongside yiik) but there is one i don’t think people will see coming. peep it under the cut

alex/rhys (tales from the borderlands)

You’ve probably seen @333near ‘s really delightful art of this pairing in the YIIK tag if you go there regularly. If not, go look at it now. It’s cutes. My biggest reason for this pairing is the fact that I think they are very similar. They’re both all swagger, no substance. (Taking this straight from TFTBL but it very much applies to Alex too.) They're both very privileged people who don't really realize that at first and they both are very selfish dickheads that can get better as time goes on. I think they enable each other in this selfishness sometimes (kinda like that meme where it's like “me calling the worst person i know to tell me that what i just did wasn’t horrible”) but I also think seeing that kind of behavior in each other brings them to a realization and helps them start knocking it off.

I think they do clash sometimes because Rhys loves being a little worker bee and Alex likes doing fuckall but I think it’d be REALLY really funny if it evolved into like a businessman/housewife situation. Ideal situation for them both I think. Kind of on a different note I also think kind of in the same way Vella, Sammy, and Essentia 2K share a soul, Rhys is also part of that, which brings him and Alex closer together. My justification for the whole soul thing is that Essentia is very largely tied to mechanical stuff and so is Rhys (prosthetic arm/eye/the whole Hyperion thing) which would make him a very likely candidate to be an alternate self. (I know factually the soul thing isn’t true but shh. Let me reach.)

claudio/vaughn (tales from the borderlands)

So this one is a little less solid and more headcanon-y but I think these guys would looooove nerding out together. Claudio also has a specific way with people (as stated in-game by Chondra) that I think Vaughn would be drawn to, especially since he can be pretty awkward. I don’t think Vaughn really had time for any nerdy stuff like anime (if they even have it) back on Helios so when Claudio starts talking about anime he gets VERY interested and I bet you he’d think that shit is the coolest ever. Vaughn is probably one of the first people Claudio’s met in real life (this is the 90’s after all) that shares the same level of his passion for anime and I think he’d really appreciate that. Vaughn, as an accountant, would think it’s soooo hot that Claudio runs a franchise. Don’t ask me how I know, I just know it.

I don’t think Vaughn would really know what to say in regards to Aaron (if he didn’t think Claudio’s obsession was kinda creepy) but I DO 100% think he’d help him try to take his mind off of it, or at the very least hear him out, especially on days when it gets bad. I don’t think Claudio would let something like that go unnoticed. I also think they have, like, gay little ocs (Vaughn’s is a bandit and Claudio’s is a ronin) that they larp as. It gets kind of (very) homoerotic.

rory/herb cookie (cookie run) (this one is insane but hear me out)

“Ned, are you shipping this blond boy with a baked good?” Yes. I think the idea is really funny and I like it a lot. Don’t know how it would work while keeping it canon-compliant to both series. But, in the AU that Max and I have crafted, Herb Cookie is a human named Harvey that’s known Rory (and Carrie) for a long time and is probably the only other person outside of Rory’s immediate family that cares that she’s gone. I won’t go too far into it though because that’s not the point here.

As a general rule, though, I think Herb’s sort of calm cheerfulness provides a really cute, interesting contrast to Rory’s depressive, irritable nature. They’re both pacifists (as we can infer from Herb’s general nature and his status as a healer, not a fighter in Kingdom) and they would both definitely share the same concerns about the Earth. (Again, inferring this based off of Herb’s personality and his whole thing going on. It’s arguable how much Rory genuinely cares/knows about stuff like that based off of some of his Protest lines but for the sake of argument I’m assuming it’s a “he’s a little confused but he’s got the spirit” kind of situation.) Herb is definitely the kind of guy to be like “okay buddy let’s go out and touch some grass :)” which is definitely something I think Rory needs. Definitely a lot of giving on Herb’s end but I think after so long, Rory would start giving back as well– After all, he’s not a dick to the people he really cares about, if how much he loved Carrie is any indication at all. I really think having a positive force in his life would do him good and Herb fits the bill pretty perfectly.

yar those are basically my thoughts. hopefully the justification is enough to tide people over but i don’t mind answering questions if people have them. so much of this has also been thought out with @333near (my beautiful wife) so shout-outs to him also. i have other pairings in mind (namely ones with chondra and vella) but i have to flesh them out a little more before i feel good about posting them. if you made it this far god bless you