Zerhys hell

@pinetreeparadoxx Sure!

Once I assumed "Zer0 wouldn't translate well to plush form" but I find this goofy little thing extremely charming and I wish they had come out with more stuff like it

Edit: For anyone wondering these are sold as like "Borderlands 3 Plush Collector clips", they were like a blind bag thing, if you search on Ebay you can usually find listings that let you pick which character you want for like ~$8 USD

rhys sighing wistfully, chin in his hands, thinking about their beautiful smile

you know I miss them soooo much and my wrist has been messed up for a super long time and IDK when it's getting fixed so like. What if I post some unfinished fanart from 2021? The first one is referenced off of Frederic William Burton's Meeting on the Turret Stairs except it's an Eridian ruin I guess? And also flipped because I thought it would make more sense for Zer0 to be "kissing" the flesh arm which in retrospect is silly as they are still just bonking their helmet against his arm.

the second one is a screen redraw from The Princess Bride that started as a joke??? I think?? I honestly don't remember why I did this. Rhys's silly poofy outfit leads me to believe it was meant as a joke. But then i kept painting because I was having fun

Hey guys! I'm still writing even when I take a long time. :) I think awhile back I said I'd upload two chapters together but you know what, just to get one out there quicker here it is. It's a Maya chapter. Dumb bonus notes under the cut (for like, after you read the chapter)

i miss the pre-bl3 days when most of the fandom on tumblr was on the same page about they/them Zer0 and most of the people who insisted otherwise just were always actively transphobic shitheads I could block. Like nowadays people using he/him are reasonably just going with what the game says, completely unaware that Anthony Burch ever suggested he was going to do otherwise

Immediately after posting that i took my puppy out to pee and as he was sniffing something I went “Rhys, come!”

My puppy’s name is Frodo I do not know a single real Rhys in my life this level of brain functioning is why the new chapters of P0is0ned take so long

Okay I haven’t posted here for awhile BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I have a few Zerhys AUs that I’ve written stuff for in my google docs and idk if I’ll ever actually post anything because most of my fanfic writing time is for P0is0ned and this is just stuff I messily type up on my phone sometimes BUT:

1. BL2 AU: Rhys ends up on the train that Jack blows up at the beginning (like Vasquez set him up with a fake job down on Pandora or something IDK???) and thus ends up stuck with the Vault hunters, who naturally are initially distrustful of him but can’t justify just killing him. Jack realizes “oh shit one of my employees is down there with the Vault hunters, I have an extra card at my disposal besides just Angel” and contacts Rhys like “hey if you work with me here and spy on them and stuff I’ll get you back to Helios and get you a huge promotion” and Rhys is like “Sure I don’t see why not, these people are dicks” (headcanon that early in BL2 Zer0 is like, just the biggest “I don’t need friends” asshole).  Except then he does end up seeing why not as he starts warming up to these people (especially Zer0, because, yeah) but by then he’s already been selling him out and sabotaging them. (Bonus Rhys+Angel bonding at some point because they are in a very similar boat? And look I cannot just make this about Zerhys I love Borderlands 2 so so much) 

2. AU where immediately post-BL2 Rhys, Vaughn, and Yvette are among the Hyperions stranded on Pandora, and much like the Crimson Lance soldiers before them they turn to banditry. Rhys has Handsome Jack AI in his head at this point, and with Jack’s help he’s able to take charge as a very unlikely bandit leader. He carefully avoids doing anything that will call too much attention to his clan, trying to focus on survival more than anything.  This becomes a problem when some of his dumbass underlings manage to subdue and capture Zer0. Jack warns him against freeing Zer0, claiming they’ll likely kill him and bring Sanctuary’s wrath down on the clan. However, keeping Zer0 hostage or killing them seem equally risky options. Zer0 gets to sit in a cell and watch Rhys argue with himself, occasionally trying to work things out with him. 

3. Medieval fantasy bullshit. Hi I love medieval fantasy bullshit what if Rhys was a lord and Zer0 was some weirdo possibly-demonic hedge knight and medieval forbidden romance happens. Scandal occurs because of Zer0 being a weirdo possibly-demonic hedge knight. What if Lancelot and Guinevere shit except it ends good and no one joins any churches? Just the parts with the daring heroics and stuff. I don’t have good specific details for this. Just...Knights... 

4. A less well-socialized "only lives to be an assassin” Zer0 is hired to kill Rhys but then some bandits almost kill steal them as they’re following him. It is a matter of honor that they do not just allow this to happen and just take credit for someone else’s kill, so they save him- but by that point he’s been beaten up enough that he’s a little too pathetic to kill. Zer0 thinks “I’ll kill him later” and gets him to safety but by then he has already begun to endear himself to them. Later they’re waiting for the right moment to strike and Rhys will like see them lurking ominously in the shadows and go “Hey Zer0! How’s it going?” and then later he’s straight up asking for them to help him out with his “bandits want me dead” problem. Of course Rhys eventually finds out “oh you were planning to kill me” because conflict must happen. :) 

5. Something something Rhys is actually forced into being a janitor and Hyperion has Zer0 in R&D doing tests on them. As far as Rhys knows they’re a fucked up monster because they keep killing people. Then he actually encounters them and wow I know this sounds Shape of Water but this actually came out of thinking about befriending Jurassic World hybrids lmao. Because Zer0 is the indoraptor. To me. 

Okay P0is0ned update: Normally I don’t do any major edits to chapters of P0is0ned that I already posted (sometimes I go back and fix grammar and descriptions) but like, part of what’s been taking me so long with recent chapters has definitely been this scene that I originally planned to put in Chapter 14 and then didn’t (and I don’t know why I decided against it TBH? Like it’s kinda important I think?) 

As I was writing 15&16 I was like “this is so hard without that scene what the hell is wrong with me?” So uh I edited a new scene into chapter 14 if you do not want to reread the chapter it starts with “Vaughn stepped out into the hall."  A/N of sorts under the cut