To better understand "Definitely not Shambala (but it's good money)"
The fic I'll post very soon is a crossover between Lost and Supernatural. It's seen though Dean Winchester's eyes, and he is not up to date with everything that happened on Lost himself. SO I do think it can be read if you are not familiar with Lost. But last night, I decided to do a little primer, just to situate possible readers.
Lost facts it could help to know before reading this fic (or 4 seasons of Lost in 400 words):
In September 2004, Oceanic flight 815 crashes on an island in the South Pacific. We're introduced to the Losties, about 42 passengers who survived it.
Then shit happens.
Polar bears, heaps of daddy (and mommy!) issues, bad flashback wigs, conflict, smoke monster that kills people, and also people that were already on the Island (called with affection - not - the Others) start to stir WAY more shit and are at war with the Losties. There is kidnapping, torture, etc, etc.
We meet Ben, leader of that merry gang, and manipulator extraordinaire. He fucks the live of several of the Losties pretty spectacularly. Oh and for a while, he's sort of taking orders from a shadow they call 'Jacob' who lives in a cabin in the woods that hops around. Hey, I never said Lost was easy to follow!
Some Others change camp, rescue seems to come (but in fact it's mercenaries coming for Ben, hired by a guy with lots of money called Widmore who wants the control of the Island) and all goes to Hell. AGAIN. People die right and left, killed or by self sacrifice.
BUT 6 of the original survivors manage, with a good helping of luck, to escape the clutches of the Island, who is an evil evil mistress. They lie to the media about where they were and how they were rescued, supposedly to protect their friends still on the Island. By that time, it's the end of 2004 and they are nicknamed by the press the Oceanic 6.
Our friend Ben, the weasel, "sacrifices" himself to "move" the Island so the other baddie (or is he? duh duh duuuuuuh!) doesn't find it. It bans him from the Island, moves him in time, and he can't go back without help. He hires Sayid (one of the rescued) to kill people saying it's to protect his friends from Widmore, tells him he's a killer.
By the start of the fic, we are in 2007, and the Oceanic 6 tried to get on with their lives, but that's not going so well.
What is important is that Ben wants to go back. Badly. And he needs help and as many of the Oceanic 6 he can get. By the way? All of the Oceanic 6 have a reason or another to hate Ben, don't think they are friends, oh no.
(then season 5 happens, but what you need to know is in the fic!)
for visual aid:
Here are the characters from Lost who appear, briefly or not, in this fic. Only to give you some visual, I'm not explaining the - often complicated - rapport between them, that range from friends, spouses, siblings, enemies, lovers, etc etc. Dean who's my POV character doesn't know them more than you do (if you don't know Lost), but those are the faces associated with the names.
Benjamin Linus
Team Others
psychopath
Jack Shephard
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
surgeon, leader
Sayid Jarrah
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
ex republican guard
Hugo "Hurley" Reyes
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
thinks he's crazy
Kate Austin
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
once fugitive
Sun Kwon
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
wants revenge for
Jin Kwon
Team Losties
presumed dead after S4
Desmond Hume
Was on the Island but escaped
on the run
James "Sawyer" Ford
Team Losties
On the Island
Con man
Juliette Burke
Team Others now with the Losties
On the Island
doctor
Miles Straume
Once Team Widmore
On the Island
ghost whisperer
Eloise Hawkins
affiliation unknown
woman of mysteries
Daniel Faraday
Once Team Widmore
Fate unknown end of S4
scientist
Richard Alpert
Team Others
On the island
made of awesome
Frank Lapidus
Once Team Widmore
Escaped from the Island
pilot -and made of awesome too-
Christian Shephard
Father of Jack Shephard
Died before flight 815
apparitions on the Island
Claire Littleton
Team Losties
On the Island
Fate unknown end of S4
Jacob
Team Others
invisible for most people
The Smoke Monster
Team Others
"protects" the Island
oh and linked with it all is:
The DHARMA (Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications) Initiative was a scientific research project that had a large presence on the Island between the 1970s and early 1990s. It is represented by variations of an octagonal logo that appear on most of its products and stations.
Supernatural facts you need to know before reading this fic (or 4 seasons of SPN in 220 words)
Dean and Sam Winchester were raised as hunters by their father John. We're not talking about deer or duck hunting here, but hunting the supernatural: ghosts, demons, vampires, werewolves, etc. It's scary shit? they take care of it and live mostly out of credit card fraud, criss-crossing the United States in Dean's 1967 Chevy Impala and sleeping in cheap motels.
Once wanted by the FBI, they are now presumed dead. The very important thing to know is that those two boys are everything for each other, especially since everyone they care about die, father included. They would die (and did die!) for each other. Dean went to Hell to bring Sam from the dead, where he was tortured by demons and became a torturer himself. He was brought back on Earth looking as fine as new by an Angel, Castiel, to fight the incoming Apocalypse.
Sam, who was fed demon blood as an infant, has psychic powers that are amped up if he drinks more demon blood. It permits him to exorcise and kills demons with his mind, but on the downside he became addicted. For the purpose of the fic, I assume that he eventually gets clean and that the apocalypse is adverted, to leave the boys free to take the road again, saving people and killing things (the family business!).
Dean Winchester
Hunter and smartass
Is scared of flying
Sam Winchester
Hunter and very smart
has a thing for demons
John Winchester
Hunter, died to save Dean
raised his boys as soldiers
Castiel
Angel of the Lord
Brought Dean back from Hell
1967 Chevy Impala
Dean's car
Lost facts it could help to know before reading this fic (or 4 seasons of Lost in 400 words):
In September 2004, Oceanic flight 815 crashes on an island in the South Pacific. We're introduced to the Losties, about 42 passengers who survived it.
Then shit happens.
Polar bears, heaps of daddy (and mommy!) issues, bad flashback wigs, conflict, smoke monster that kills people, and also people that were already on the Island (called with affection - not - the Others) start to stir WAY more shit and are at war with the Losties. There is kidnapping, torture, etc, etc.
We meet Ben, leader of that merry gang, and manipulator extraordinaire. He fucks the live of several of the Losties pretty spectacularly. Oh and for a while, he's sort of taking orders from a shadow they call 'Jacob' who lives in a cabin in the woods that hops around. Hey, I never said Lost was easy to follow!
Some Others change camp, rescue seems to come (but in fact it's mercenaries coming for Ben, hired by a guy with lots of money called Widmore who wants the control of the Island) and all goes to Hell. AGAIN. People die right and left, killed or by self sacrifice.
BUT 6 of the original survivors manage, with a good helping of luck, to escape the clutches of the Island, who is an evil evil mistress. They lie to the media about where they were and how they were rescued, supposedly to protect their friends still on the Island. By that time, it's the end of 2004 and they are nicknamed by the press the Oceanic 6.
Our friend Ben, the weasel, "sacrifices" himself to "move" the Island so the other baddie (or is he? duh duh duuuuuuh!) doesn't find it. It bans him from the Island, moves him in time, and he can't go back without help. He hires Sayid (one of the rescued) to kill people saying it's to protect his friends from Widmore, tells him he's a killer.
By the start of the fic, we are in 2007, and the Oceanic 6 tried to get on with their lives, but that's not going so well.
What is important is that Ben wants to go back. Badly. And he needs help and as many of the Oceanic 6 he can get. By the way? All of the Oceanic 6 have a reason or another to hate Ben, don't think they are friends, oh no.
(then season 5 happens, but what you need to know is in the fic!)
for visual aid:
Here are the characters from Lost who appear, briefly or not, in this fic. Only to give you some visual, I'm not explaining the - often complicated - rapport between them, that range from friends, spouses, siblings, enemies, lovers, etc etc. Dean who's my POV character doesn't know them more than you do (if you don't know Lost), but those are the faces associated with the names.
Benjamin Linus
Team Others
psychopath
Jack Shephard
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
surgeon, leader
Sayid Jarrah
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
ex republican guard
Hugo "Hurley" Reyes
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
thinks he's crazy
Kate Austin
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
once fugitive
Sun Kwon
Team Losties
Oceanic 6
wants revenge for
Jin Kwon
Team Losties
presumed dead after S4
Desmond Hume
Was on the Island but escaped
on the run
James "Sawyer" Ford
Team Losties
On the Island
Con man
Juliette Burke
Team Others now with the Losties
On the Island
doctor
Miles Straume
Once Team Widmore
On the Island
ghost whisperer
Eloise Hawkins
affiliation unknown
woman of mysteries
Daniel Faraday
Once Team Widmore
Fate unknown end of S4
scientist
Richard Alpert
Team Others
On the island
made of awesome
Frank Lapidus
Once Team Widmore
Escaped from the Island
pilot -and made of awesome too-
Christian Shephard
Father of Jack Shephard
Died before flight 815
apparitions on the Island
Claire Littleton
Team Losties
On the Island
Fate unknown end of S4
Jacob
Team Others
invisible for most people
The Smoke Monster
Team Others
"protects" the Island
oh and linked with it all is:
The DHARMA (Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications) Initiative was a scientific research project that had a large presence on the Island between the 1970s and early 1990s. It is represented by variations of an octagonal logo that appear on most of its products and stations.
Supernatural facts you need to know before reading this fic (or 4 seasons of SPN in 220 words)
Dean and Sam Winchester were raised as hunters by their father John. We're not talking about deer or duck hunting here, but hunting the supernatural: ghosts, demons, vampires, werewolves, etc. It's scary shit? they take care of it and live mostly out of credit card fraud, criss-crossing the United States in Dean's 1967 Chevy Impala and sleeping in cheap motels.
Once wanted by the FBI, they are now presumed dead. The very important thing to know is that those two boys are everything for each other, especially since everyone they care about die, father included. They would die (and did die!) for each other. Dean went to Hell to bring Sam from the dead, where he was tortured by demons and became a torturer himself. He was brought back on Earth looking as fine as new by an Angel, Castiel, to fight the incoming Apocalypse.
Sam, who was fed demon blood as an infant, has psychic powers that are amped up if he drinks more demon blood. It permits him to exorcise and kills demons with his mind, but on the downside he became addicted. For the purpose of the fic, I assume that he eventually gets clean and that the apocalypse is adverted, to leave the boys free to take the road again, saving people and killing things (the family business!).
Dean Winchester
Hunter and smartass
Is scared of flying
Sam Winchester
Hunter and very smart
has a thing for demons
John Winchester
Hunter, died to save Dean
raised his boys as soldiers
Castiel
Angel of the Lord
Brought Dean back from Hell
1967 Chevy Impala
Dean's car