... what if TZ has a Viper Drive shoved into his head and hears Rhys all the heckin time?

An observation: 

Most, upon seeing Amara (including FU): “... she’s hot....”

Bravo, upon seeing Amara: “There’s only room enough for one hero around here! I’m gonna kick her ass!” 

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻

repost,  don’t reblog !

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME.     Torqueonus PRONUNCIATION.       TORK-kay-OH-nus NICKNAME.     Torque GENDER.           Male HEIGHT.           10ft 2in AGE.             BL1: 50 ||  BL2: 55 ||  BL3: 60 ZODIAC.           Virgo SPOKEN LANGUAGES. Pandoran English (Riddles)

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR.     Reddish blond EYE COLOR.       Green SKIN TONE.         Pale with lots of freckles BODY TYPE.       Muscle mountain ACCENT.             Screaming, with a hint of Disney Villain (ok, so most threads have him fairly calm at the moment, so Disney Villain mostly) VOICE.               Scar from Lion King (listen to him when he’s mad/growling to get this Torque’s voice better) DOMINANT HAND.        Ambidextrous POSTURE.        Bad SCARS.            Riddled due to harsh lifestyle, claw marks across back dominant TATTOOS.           Curled horns across pecs, SUBMIT printed just under chest BIRTHMARKS.  If he had any, they’re not there anymore. MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). Size, mane of orange hair

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH.         ???? HOMETOWN.                 None anyone remembers FIRST WORDS.              ???? SIBLINGS.                      none known PARENTS.                      Surprisingly normal parents PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.       Long dead and irrelevant.  Any previous life before the Headstone Mine incident (suggested origin of Psychos, but the timeline there seems fuzzy to me.) and [ redacted ] has been effectively erased and/or forgotten. “Mum” is not his birth mother, by any means

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION.        Cultist under entity “Mum” CURRENT RESIDENCE.         Under TZ’s house in Frostburn Canyon CLOSE FRIENDS.        TZ, technically. RELATIONSHIP STATUS.       Had a fling with Vocatia and has a kid somewhere out there.  Is capable of relationships and finds himself lonely. FINANCIAL STATUS.        Always has spending money.  Common and Uncommon loot is not good enough for Mum, so he tends to sell them.  Then does not spend the cash. CRIMINAL RECORD.        Murder, murder, murder, more murder. Grave robbing. VICES.       Most were beaten/manipulated out of him, but Torque will be tempted by things with sedative properties (alcohol being an easy one)

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION.    Tired/Prefers guys       ROMANTIC ORIENTATION.    Single, confused PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE.       submissive |  dominant | switch PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE.       submissive  |  dominant  | switch LIBIDO.         Normal TURN ON’S.        positive attention, praise, being ordered around,  TURN OFF’S.       anything too much or overwhelming, stay away from pain and take care with physical contact LOVE LANGUAGE.  "gifts” (hope you like dead bandits at your door), self-control, protectiveness RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES.     Quick and rapid development during “good” periods, though perfectly capable of developing attraction during “bad” periods (qualifiers used to represent his opinion)

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG.      Mama - MCR (Until I can think of a better one, but it’s quite fitting) HOBBIES TO PASS TIME.    Painting, self-talk, spreading the word of Mum, crafting things to hang off his horns/body, getting tattoos MENTAL ILLNESSES.   Psycho-ness, but depression is also a big one. PHYSICAL ILLNESSES.  Surprisingly healthy for an older guy LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED.    whichever one’s supposed to be the creative one  PHOBIAS. Failure mostly. SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL.     bad, oh so bad. VULNERABILITIES.    Hesitation and overthinking results in him typically not making the first move to attack, can be pushed to attack allies/anyone with too much stimuli at once, lack of adequate sight means he has no protection towards ranged attacks and no way of attacking another at range. Incredibly vulnerable to emotional manipulation, especially if the person dealing it is a woman/presents as a woman (in the case of pre-transition afab)

tagged by @frcndeur

tagging @a-beast-of-prey, whoever wants to steal it from me, and myself for other muses at another time.

Torque’s only 5% lol

Kind of Rambley Going Nowhere Musings

More thoughts about who Torque is and where he came from.  Some universes comparisons as well.

In the Battleborn Universe, Torque was cursed to be a werebeast.  The Beast is 100% sentient, but lacks the ability to speak.  At first, Torque doesn’t retain the memories as the whole process of getting the curse and initial shifting was traumatic and he refused to accept it.  But it is Torque in every sense of the word, once the two meld the form ends up as a more lucid/less bullshit mood of his where he was more receptive to what others had to say. 

The point of that curse was always that when he was the beast, he was his “true self”, since he had about 70 years of Imperium brainwashing and propaganda that had really twisted his moral compass.  It is really difficult to get that Torque to see anything that wasn’t spoonfed to him by the Imperium, and he would revert back easily.  His redemption has a theme of “recovery and redemption is hard and you gotta accept the consequences of your actions.”

It’s why he never really made up with Vo, he redeemed himself by accepting that she didn’t want him around and by sending their son to live with her.  He never really redeemed himself with Rictus. They came to a mutual understanding that had lead to forgiveness because Torque was stuck as the beast and Rictus got to air out all of his grievances.  

In this universe, while I could give him a were-beast curse (there were were-skags if I remember correctly), it doesn’t quite fit the universe/his characterization.

---

In this universe, I’d safely say that Torque doesn’t require redemption as he hasn’t really done anything to warrant needing it.  I’m workshopping his past (who is Mum? Is she real or imaginary? If she’s real, is she alive or dead? Where did he come from? Why is he so big?  Etc.).  I have some solid ideas, but plan on keeping the info close to my chest until it comes up in plot relevant places/possibly direct asks (though, given through his voice).

But he still has the situation where his ability to speak clearly is affected and his ability to listen isn’t.  Torque is quite sentient, just very twitchy, impulsive, suspicious, etc. And also highly focused on his work as a cultist, slaughtering certain bandits and constructing shrines for Mum from them.  (I’m gonna doodle what they look like, but they do act as loot caches: pretty much anyone who likes guns would wanna loot them.) Naturally: he has some wrong ideas about how things work, a lot of his morality/decision making is based on Mum and her words/teachings.  (I’m leaning towards her at least having been alive/real/a large influence with a specific persona).

So, I guess in short, in a way he’s always in Beast!mode in this verse, which means he is his truest self.  I don’t really want the Psycho-ness to be a “curse,” it’s just who he is. (Psycho-ness used to differentiate from psychosis, as stated on his file he is not intended to reflect an actual psychosis. The condition is literally described and fashioned after the in-game portrayal of the bandit-type.  Which includes poetically garbled dialogue.)  It isn’t a flaw, though he does struggle with it and he will have cycles where his symptoms get better and worse (so his sentences will get less obfuscated and he’ll be less likely to get overwhelmed and react violently) (Don’t hug him, btw).  

But by being his truest self, Torque is actually a lot less violent than the thrall version.  He doesn’t have the massive chip on his shoulder nor anything to prove; he’s the soft hearted pup that befriended bats all grown up (though, naturally went through hell at one point to become the psycho.  I don’t think they’ve been around long enough for him to have been born one)

Now, he wants forgiveness from Vocatia but that’s not really something he’ll ever get.  

Also today, most clones give Queen Mike gifts.

None of them have a mom, but many are copies of her.

VC thing Torque Ed.

((A second valid vc for Torque is Steak from Food Fantasy))

((There’s a few in there where he gets growly/mad that’s semi close to Torque’s yelling, but Torque talking to himself or to TZ will sound more like the calmer one.))

((Scar from Lion King is the main one))

((I just realized, that due to the fact that he has pet birds and is just generally charmed by them in the first place, Rictus would 100% notice birds in his environment before just about anything else (danger to his person is first).  

But like, if he walks into a room and a bird’s just chillin’ someplace, he’ll sense it and wanna interact.

So what I’m trying to say is: 

If Rictus meets Mordecai, I’m so sorry that he’ll beeline right to Talon and not even see or acknowledge Mordy at all until he speaks up.))

Torgue of the Torgue corporation should never ever under any circumstances meet TZ.

Though I could see him sponsering the stuntman as long as there are always explosions... which is usually the case already

Swimming Headcanons

Swim wear:

TZ: has a few pairs of well-worn swim trunks, many a little singed in places from stunts. Has no qualms swimming naked.

FU: You know those old fashioned, striped swim jumpers? She has a set of those, but if you manage to get her into it, she's still visibly uncomfortable. Finds wetsuits too tight to bother with.

Bravo: Tends to go skinny dipping, but definitely has a sensible one piece in her little camp. It makes her feel pretty and has few qualms with how revealing it is.

Swimming

TZ: is not a strong swimmer and gets winded fairly quick. Sinks like a stone. Still tries to keep up though. Though, he has no extra problems swimming in frigid waters

FU: She's already swam two laps while you were trying to get used to the water. C'mon, keep up.

Bravo: Wishes she were flying, but this is also cool. Is more into it for play than exercise, so you might legit see her happy for a minute.

As a note: All clones find themselves at home in the water, even TZ. Something about it just brightens their mood. A few clone scientists suspect that the original might have been a swimmer or originated someplace with more water than Three Horns

- Sir Torque upon being set off by a pack of Stalkers

Tentacley Headcanons

Rictus thoughts and solidifying some things

Though I could see the comparison being made ic, ooc I want it to be clear that he’s not a siren.  He has glowy tentacles and a sprinkling of othersight, but he doesn’t get any kind of boost from eridium and he’s not really directly connected with the vaults.  Rictus acts as a radio antennae picking up messages, whispers and such from the guardians and watchers.  For the most part, he just considers the messages hallucinations and a headache.

While he does definitely suffer from protagonist syndrome (stands out and keeps getting calls to adventure), he himself really doesn’t care about the bigger picture and actively resists using his powers to become a vault hunter or even really do anything to help anyone other than Vo.

The glow of Rictus’ eyes blinded him, but he has accepted his lot in life.  It helps that he can do flashes of “othersight” where he’s able to take in a snapshot of the area directly surrounding him within reach of his tentacles if they were stretched out.  It’s a quick flash of a still image, but it’s enough for him to figure out what’s going on.  He can’t do them too too often because they give him a headache.

Also, if there is something that he misses but is within reach, his tentacles will know where they are.  They have a mind of their own, but are constrained to only do what Rictus would choose to do anyways (So like, they’d catch a ball aimed for his face on reflex because he wouldn’t want to be hit by it, but they wouldn’t randomly feel someone up because he wouldn’t do that without explicit permission).  This lends to why people don’t agree that he’s blind.  He finds the controversy humorous so he purposefully leads them on in one way or the other. Othersight does not enable him to read, printed words do not show up on the page or screen and he doesn’t bother to learn braille (or the Pandoran equivalent).

While Rictus is fairly apathetic and lazy, he does have a heart.  Rictus isn’t the type to be needlessly cruel for cruelness’s sake. He does have a mischievous streak that can get mean (or at least very dry), but he’s not out to hurt anyone for no reason.  (However, he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty if he has a reason).

He lacks the claws of his thrall version.  However, he carries a pair of daggers on him at all times, but they are not the real danger.  Rictus’ tentacles + an open wound means that he can hijack someone’s body to puppet them to do what he wants (will be discussed/head’s upped/option given to block in rp threads btw.  I never write that the attack lands, just that it’s attempted so the other person determines how it lands.)  

History Lesson

Torque & Vocatia: 

Approximately 20 years ago, Torque and Vocatia had a fling that resulted in pregnancy. It was meant to be a one-time thing, but they were quite close platonically.  It had been one of the high points of Torque’s life with Vocatia finding ways to help him manage symptoms, or at least handle them in better ways. (Not cured, it’s hard to explain in a blurb but she played an active role as a friend to help keep him grounded.  It’s not a case of “love cures mental illness” by any means).

Once the baby was born, Torque stuck around to help but found it difficult to do much of anything.  His duties to “Mum” tended to pull him away and stirred up trouble with the many bandit clans and companies of the Borderlands. It did not help that Vocatia’s personal vendettas also created problems with companies and just about anyone who got in her way. 

Eventually a pack of Rats had the idea to get revenge on the Bandit mother.  Some handled Torque, forcing him to abandon the residence to chase after them; others handled Vocatia, forcing her focus on fighting them off.  This allowed one to steal the baby and run off.

Neither parent is sure what happened to the child, despite their desperate search.

At this point, Vocatia broke it off with Torque and moved on and Torque devoted more of himself to his duties to “Mum.”

Years later, he had found a new bar of hers and started frequenting it again.  The two seemed to get along great at first until Vocatia disappeared.

She reappeared a few weeks later, a scarf around her neck, fury in her soul, and Jacques at her side.  From that point on, Torque had been barred from her presence by any means necessary.  Guilt wracked the Psycho and he grew obsessed with making it right with Vocatia, so he repeatedly and constantly kept returning to the bar and her home to try and get her to listen.

Between Torque’s frustration turning violent and Vo consistently responding to him and his riddles with violence (he has multiple stab wound scars across his chest), the two’s interactions turned into a bitter and hateful rivalry.

It only ended because of Gnoll, who quite literally knocked some sense into the Psycho and it made him realize that he had lost Vocatia for good.  Now he accepts that they won’t ever be on good terms again, though he cannot help but feel attached to the good feelings associated with their friendship.

It had been bothering me since I wrote the first fic, but omg.

I just realized that I accidentally characterized Torque as the bird from this video clip

((Clip starts at 3.17 because Tumblr messes with the links that start the video at the right time for some reason?))

Some Torque Thoughts:

Torque isn’t a fan of other cults/cultists/religions/etc. (since his is obviously the right one).

So naturally he’s not a fan of the Calypso twins.

But he also hates Marcus, Lilith (once he realizes/connects that she’s the Firehawk), Scorch, etc. as well. Quite a few of Marcus’s vending machines have been thrown and/or crushed as a result of this hatred.

He is highly suspicious of Sirens.  Torque just doesn’t know what to make of them so he’ll keep his distance if possible.

Moxxi could probably wrap Torque around her fingers if she wanted.  Not because she’s sexy, he doesn’t care less about that.  She just doesn’t resort to violence/fear first and handling him with a gentle touch would go a long way with getting him to do what she’d want.