ratherastory: (Big Bang 2011)
ratherastory ([personal profile] ratherastory) wrote2011-07-11 02:20 pm

Pandora's Box (Master Post)

Title: Pandora's Box
Summary: Written for [livejournal.com profile] spn_j2_bigbang. RPS based on the movie Avatar. Marine Jensen Ackles thinks his life is over when he becomes paralyzed in the course of duty, but when his twin brother is killed in a robbery everything changes. Struggling to make sense of his loss, Jensen decides to take his brother's place in a mission on the distant moon of Pandora, where a private corporation has a large mining concern. New cutting-edge technology allows Jensen to form a psychic link with an avatar — an artificially-grown body composed of the DNA of both humans and the Na'vi, the aliens native to Pandora— and thus interact directly with the otherwise hostile, if beautiful planet.
In exchange for the spinal surgery that will allow him to regain the use of his legs, Jensen agrees to infiltrate the Na'vi. Once he's there, though, he becomes close with the tribe, particularly the chief's son, Jared, his guide and mentor. Under Jared's tutelage, a whole new world opens up for Jensen, along with the first blossom of love. But when tensions between the Navi and the military branch of the human operations run too high, Jensen is faced with having to make a choice between the world he comes from and the world where he has found love and where, for the first time in his life, he truly feels at home.
Link to Art: Art by folkin_up_again.
Characters: Jared/Jensen, OCs (brief but explicit Jensen/OFC)
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: 96,645
Disclaimer: Obviously, I have no claim to any of these people. In the context of this story they are, for all intents and purposes, not real. I am merely borrowing their likenesses for purposes of entertainment only. No profit made, etc.
Warnings: Swearing, violence, explicit sex (slash & one het scene), bonded sex (the happy blue alien bond type), a few instances of homophobic comments, character death (not Jensen or Jared).
Neurotic Author's Note: Detailed notes will be in the last section of this Big Bang, but I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my beta, [livejournal.com profile] peppervl, who wrestled this beast into submission. Many thanks go out to [livejournal.com profile] wendy and [livejournal.com profile] thehighwaywoman for putting together this wonderful madness! And many thanks to everyone on my flist (and Twitter!) who put up with my months and months of whining about this story. You are all awesome. :)

Special Note for my Artist: The lovely [livejournal.com profile] folkin_up_again has made several pieces of art for this story! Clicky on the link below to take a look at everything she worked so hard to produce!




Anyone wanting a .pdf of the story can go to this version on AO3 and download it there. :)


[Prologue]
[Part Ia|
[Part Ib]
[Part Ic]
[Part IIa]
[Part IIb]
[Part IIc]
[Part IIIa]
[Part IIIb]
[Part IVa]
[Part IVb]
[Epilogue]
[Thanks and Author's Notes]

[identity profile] silverblaze85.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
*whimpers*

I was about to go to bed!! You know how long I've been -dying- to read this?!?! *eyes the bed, then the coffeemaker*

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Aw, I'm sorry! I hope you get to sleep. It's pretty long, so you should probably go to bed first. ;)

[identity profile] annie200.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee! It's up..and the really fantastic thing is, i've never seen Avatar so I have no idea what this will be about, so double pleasure: you writing RPS and a huge long story!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay! OMG it took forever to post this thing! Guh. I really hope you'll enjoy it!

[identity profile] nwspaprtaxis.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
\o/

YOU DID IT!!!!!!!!!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I did!

*twirls you*

[identity profile] tahirire.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 06:45 pm (UTC)(link)
96k plus? O.o I think it's probably safe to get rid of the 'omgiwroteslash' tag at this point. *snerk*

Congrats on finishing it. :)

*excuse to use my Na'vi cosplay icon*

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL

I guess so. It still amazes me that I no longer write only gen, but I think that ship sailed a while back.

Yay Na'vi cosplay!

[identity profile] callistosh65.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, that is one heck of an accomplishment - well done you, it looks incredible!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

After months of whining about it, I figured I owed it to my flist not to drop out in despair. ;)

[identity profile] yunho.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
YOU POSTED IT! :DDDD /HUGS/ It's amazing and everyone is going to love it ♥ ♥

Btw, I accidentally linked you to the dummy post I made rather than formal one /facepalm/ Could you update the art link to

http://interspersed.livejournal.com/60277.html#cutid1

Thanks! ♥

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeee!

*twirls you round and round*

I fixed the link. :)

[identity profile] le-maistre-e.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
*WAVES POM POMS MADLY*

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to reading this!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:34 pm (UTC)(link)
*bounces*

I hope you enjoy it!

[identity profile] naisica.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
OMG, you wrote RPS!!! * runs to read *

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I did! Yikes, what a trip THAT was! Hope you like it!

Argh.

[identity profile] cattraine.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Any chance of a PDF?

Re: Argh.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, but give me a few seconds to catch my breath after coding this beast and taking two hours to get it to post properly. I'll be cross-posting to AO3, where people can download whatever format they want. :)

Re: Argh.

[identity profile] twasadark.livejournal.com - 2011-07-11 20:46 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Argh.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com - 2011-07-11 20:47 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Argh.

[identity profile] amber1960.livejournal.com - 2011-07-11 21:18 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Argh.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com - 2011-07-11 22:23 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Argh.

[identity profile] amber1960.livejournal.com - 2011-07-12 07:46 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] quickreaver.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Gorgeous art, from what I can tell on my iPhone! Can't wait to read...

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
The art is lovely! I can't wait to hear your thoughts when you see it on a proper computer. :)

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[identity profile] quickreaver.livejournal.com - 2011-07-13 13:25 (UTC) - Expand

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[identity profile] quickreaver.livejournal.com - 2011-07-13 13:36 (UTC) - Expand

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[identity profile] quickreaver.livejournal.com - 2011-07-13 13:52 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] mimblexwimble.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL MONSTER OF A FIC. *tears up*

Congratulations on finishing! It looks brilliant!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! God, it took forever, but it's done! I'm not 100% happy with it, but it would have taken another six months for me to write everything I wanted to.

[identity profile] tvivel.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
*wail* It's 11 PM. Let's see how long it will take me to read this monster.
I have a thing about reading fics in one go. And I can't possibly wait til morning. This seems far too amazing!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
*g*

I hope you don't stay up too late! ;)

[identity profile] genevieve-1.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Did you write J2 rpf?!? As in Jensen/Jared? Oooooh, this is going on my ebook as soon as I convert it!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I did! You can go to the link in the post and download it in whatever format you want from AO3. :)

[identity profile] gilesgirl.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
So I'm sure I'm like the ONLY person in the world, that hasn't seen Avatar....Lol. Should I watch the movie to better understand this fic when I read it? :)

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-11 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
There's at least one other person on my flist who hasn't seen it who's reading the story, actually.

I don't think you need to have seen the movie. I think the story stands pretty well on its own, I made an effort to keep everything internally consistent and provide explanations where needed. That being said, I have now watched this movie forty-seven billion times in order to write the story, so my judgment might be clouded. ;)

(no subject)

[identity profile] gilesgirl.livejournal.com - 2011-07-11 23:42 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] ennyousai.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
Haven't even started reading yet, but just dropping in to say that I am one of the people who unabashedly loved Avatar, and am super psyched about this fic.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
Yay! I'm so pleased to hear it!

[identity profile] ash48.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my lordy! This looks epic! I have book marked for future reading. I'll be snagging the PDF - thanks so much for that.

And congratulations!!

<33

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!

[identity profile] saintsghost.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
My god you just made my day!!! Its about dang time somebody did a full length fic for this movie!!! Yea!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :)

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
*g*

I'm glad you're excited!

[identity profile] sinka.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 11:05 am (UTC)(link)
Yay!! I've been really looking forward to your first J2! I'll start reading this tonight! And wow... nearly 100,000 words, at my pace it's goint to take a week, but I know I'm going to enjoy every minute!!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 12:16 pm (UTC)(link)
:D

I hope you enjoy it!

[identity profile] asilia.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I've been waiting for your BB :D I hope I'll find some time to read it soon - I kinda loved the movie so this should be perfect for me.

And the art is pretty amazing - I never noticed how good a Na'vi Jared makes!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
*bounces*

I'm so pleased! I hope it lives up to your expectations. Jared makes a great Na'vi. :)

[identity profile] josieb1.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 03:21 pm (UTC)(link)
This sounds facinating, I haven't seen Avatar yet. Thanks so much for posting, and thanks for the downloads on A03, I grabbed the MOBI and the PDF.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-12 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool. I don't think you have to have seen the movie in order to understand the story, so I hope you like it. :)

[identity profile] brianshanelvr.livejournal.com 2011-07-17 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Does it have a happy ending!??

Because my friend told me that in the movie they don't end up together.
:(
Edited 2011-07-17 20:25 (UTC)

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-17 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Your friend is high, or didn't see the same movie I did. They totally end up together in the movie, and I didn't change that.

awesome!!!

[identity profile] lichtor.livejournal.com 2011-07-26 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
thank you for this fic. i was impressed by the movie, but it didn't blow me away. what you've accomplished here was IMHO better than the movie. kinda makes me want to go back and watch it with a new appreciation. :D

i especially liked how this was not a scene for scene rendition of a movie, like so many film-inspired fics are. i got to see the in between moments that were not shown in the movie, and somehow they still made sense within the overall plot.

it has always bothered me that the movie had an obvious plot hole in the love scene. thank you for fixing it.

Once again, thank you very much. And I hope to read some new and exciting fics from you in the future.

ORION

Re: awesome!!!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-29 12:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you very much! I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you, but as you know most people haven't had access to LJ for a while, myself included.

I'm so pleased you liked my variations on the movie. :)

[identity profile] tcs1121.livejournal.com 2011-07-31 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Amazing storytelling! I adored your J2 version of Avatar. The story came to life in a new and exciting way for me.

This was quite a labor of love for you, I could tell. It wasn't wasted. I am so glad you gave this story to us.

Congratulations on a wonderful addition to the 2011 SPN J2 Big Bang.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-07-31 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! I'm so very glad that the "new" version I wrote worked for you. It was a lot of work, but ultimately worth it.

Thanks again!

Wow!

[identity profile] slashcat22.livejournal.com 2011-09-23 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Your story is amazing and I really enjoyed reading it! Avatar ist one of my favorite movies and now I like it even better! So thanks for writing it. *Hug*

Re: Wow!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2011-11-15 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you very much!

[identity profile] jackien1968.livejournal.com 2011-11-23 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
I skimmed this really fast when you posted it, except for little sections that sucked me in completely, and I never did get a chance to go back and read it properly. But I loved what I did read of it.

After that I watched "Avatar" on free on-demand on cable. I liked it enough to watch it 2 or 3 times, get my mom to join me one of those times, and scrounge deleted/extended scenes on YouTube; but I (1) like this story better and (2) think it is a better story. Thirdly I like the major changes you made to the storyline.

I don't like how AO3 formats their pdfs or their html downloads, but I've found another way to save a whole story off AO3 in one html file in a format I do like. So it awaits me on my computer in one tidy chunk.

When I do finally catch up with this it's gonna be a treat!

<33
J

[identity profile] jackien1968.livejournal.com 2011-11-23 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
just fyi the art post is locked now
I do have a copy of it from 7/13 though

J

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