Afterword

With the positive reception this short bit received, I felt it was appropriate to divert at least a little bit about this and my stance on several things.
I'll try and keep it contextually relevant, though.

The idea really started with a simple video on Youtube about the possibility of Krieg being Tina's father, after I had started suspecting the same thing. I toyed with the idea, keeping the 'sane' voice in mind through it all, wondering where he fits in all this...

In a way, a bit like this could only have worked as a Fanfiction for Borderlands. The Universe is so perfectly laid out to allow those moments of 'feelings'. In fact, Borderlands seems like the reversal of a comic relief. Keeping you amused throughout, but sometimes bringing you back down to earth to show you these are supposed to be people, and these tragedies are... well, tragedies. Not to mention that there's always this hidden sublayer of story that you can only uncover when you look for it, while not bothering the gamer who just wants the Gameplay.

For example, every week Gearbox gets someone of their Borderlands dev team to write a bit about how they felt about making the game. There was one post that I took special note of. The dev described a specific spot of brilliance in the story. Did you know that there was, up to a point, no sure way to tell who really was the villain? Sure, Jack is hunting a vault to get ultimate power, but in response you resort to performing a bandit holocaust and crippling the entire Hyperion company. Even Tannis confirmed that many bandits simply were ex-Dahl employees, resorting to banditry to feed their families. Eventually they felt it was appropriate to include a point where Jack really pulls an evil move, which reassures you that you're still the 'good guy'.

But that entire process is interesting to observe in a replay. Almost the entire story is a case of action and response. You cripple Jack's progress, Jack does something in return. So in a Universe where anti-Heroes fight a Villain, it's easy to understand that the line becomes blurry. And it's this kind of sublayer of emotion and 'seriousness' that made me feel entitled, or at least allowed, to write this fanfiction.

At the same time, all of this serves as an inconspicuous way to weed out those who play Borderlands for the story from those who just want the Gameplay. The common notion seems to be that, if someone dislikes Tiny Tina, they either do because of her quirkiness or because they fail/refuse to see the subtext behind her behaviour. As implied in the story, I deem it a defence mechanism. Actually, many cases of people 'losing it' are people simply trying to cope with the reality they're starting to find themselves in. Often an unfortunate one.

The title Krieg's Tina was actually a working title, and the entire story wasn't even meant to be released to begin with. But when I got around to publishing this on Fanfiction anyway, I had grown used to the name so much, I kind of left it in. It early on reveals the direction the short will take, but doesn't confront you with it. Naming it Krieg is Tina's Dad sounds lame as a washcloth and wouldn't entice anyone. Not even myself.

My plans? Do more, but in the way I feel like it. I personally feel that first person narratives can be considered the easier method of storytelling, so I only use them in stories that would be troublesome to be told differently.

For example "It's not easy being Nyx" would have bluntly sounded like a written script for a screenplay if I just described what happened. There's not as much potential 'poetry' in Nyx as there is in the tortured and scarred Valkur. But I still wanted to delve a little deeper into the personal aspect, which required me to give Nyx a personality. And Warframe players know that, at least from the outside, Warframes seem very emotionless.

I don't like taking liberties like that, but sometimes it's that or dropping a concept I have in my mind. And to me, holding yourself back because of some silly standards and limitations is an easy way to stop enjoying what you do. If I write something I wanted to write but when I deem it bad in my post-review of it (I always re-read my work) I'll simply not publish it or rework it.

I might make more of Borderlands, but I really am careful about the liberties I'm taking. I don't, for example, want to portray Lillith as sexually promiscuous simply because I would happen to have a story in mind that goes that direction (I actually don't). While I dislike limiting myself, I do want to keep a sense of respect for the characters. I don't want to portray a different personality if there's already been one established. But if I happen to portray Lillith as a woman who's insecure in any current/potential relationships, you can count that as legit... Just check the TV screens in her base.

So, I hope you enjoyed the short story. And I hope I'll get to please you again.