Hey, so I had a guess for Stan Baker's knack. I read a post that it had been used in Brothers Chosen, and I thought about how Dean had somehow managed to forget an entire being on his person. Who also might have been a threat to him. So does Stan have like a stealth ability to kinda make people forget he's there. Like how sometimes someone is so quiet that people forget they are there?
( @borrowedtimeandspace )
This is actually the closest guess to his actual knack that anyone's gotten, so we're gonna give it to you!
Attention Manipulation: The ability to psychically manipulate a human's attention.
Stan's knack works a bit similarly to John Winchester's, in that he is able to divert humans' attention from himself if he focuses on it. In the case of the scene you mentioned in Live and Let Die, Dean was a bit distracted doing what he was doing on that hunt, but Stan was definitely putting out 'don't look in your pocket' vibes that sealed the deal. At least for a bit.
While Stan concentrates on not being seen, humans' eyes won't focus on him and/or they might ignore his general vicinity. Even if he were out in the open and a human tried looking right where he was, with his knack active their gaze would simply slide off him like... uh, whatever it is water slides off. It's an incredibly useful skill for a borrower to have, and even in AU like Brothers Chosen where he doesn't realize he has it, he can still use it!
And though it isn't as easily discovered by him, his knack also works in the reverse: Stan can draw a human's focus towards himself, making it difficult for them to ignore him or even look away if he's really digging in. This could be a handy tactic for diversion, or a way to alert a friendly human that something's going on with him.
Like most knacks, Stan's does have its limits and rules. It works similarly to Sherlock's knack, where it only affects Stan at its base level but he can train it to affect others in a larger area with much greater effort and higher chance of burnout. It also doesn't affect borrowers/littles' attention at all, so even if he's fully hidden from human view, a fellow smol will be able to see him just fine.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
I read so much of the brother multiverse and I wonder want are all of the borrower knacks that been revealed like there so much Smol. Also i really appreciate you continuing to upload for these awesome series for so many year!!
Oh, knacks are one of my favorite parts! And they've certainly grown from how they were initially, becoming so important in the stories.
You can find a full list of knacks on this post, along with an explanation I worked out when I finally decided to fully define them.
That list might be missing a few, I think we did officially announce what Sherlock's knack would be while I'm pretty sure John Watson only has some guesses under the #borrower knacks tag I use to keep this sorted out.
(Smaug is trying to preen me while I answer this so I keep getting pecks to the face when I move against his wishes)
Some additional fun facts:
The strongest knack in existence was the ability to smite demons and monsters, just like an angel, and the person who received it was plenty strong enough to put it to use if they ever saw a demon.
Stan Baker has actually already used his knack in his borrower adventure, found in Brothers Chosen, but we won't see it discovered by the characters for a bit.
As useful as knacks are, there are limits to what they can be.
Borrowers cannot change their size.
Borrowers cannot shapeshift.
Borrowers cannot fly or teleport.
If you want to create your own knacks for characters, we'd love to hear the ideas! A great resource for them that I use is the Superpower wiki, and then adjust the power levels to what the borrowers can handle. They're not at the full superhero levels, of course.
Honestly, answering this has jazzed me up again for the stories, I've been trying to break out of a touch of depression the last few months so it's great to feel that energy again! Thanks so much for the ask!
Under the cut, I'll list out the knacks I can find, it might be a project for another day where I see if there's any others we might have announced separately:
Sam Winchesterâ
Enhanced Awareness:Â This can either enhance an already understood sense to supernatural levels, or give the borrower a âsixth sense,â much like how Sam can feel if heâs being watched. His ability does not work on other borrowers, the angelic Grace around their souls keeping the perception from working on them.Â
Dean Winchesterâ
Enhanced Tracking: Trackers, like Dean, are able to use their ability to track down their target with undeniable accuracy. There are limits, as Dean can only track down objects he needs. He is unable to apply this to people, and if he canât conjure up that sense of need, nothing will happen. This is not limited by distance, though if heâs far from an object, he only gets a sense of what direction itâs in.Â
John Winchesterâ
Perception Filter:Â The ability to be unnoticed and/or ignored in presence and actions. Johnâs ability is unique, so far as heâs discovered. He is unable to apply this ability to himself, but has found that if he concentrates, he is able to hide his family from notice, even if a human opens up the walls and looks right at them. This allows him to leave without worrying that they will be found, though of course, stuff doesnât always go to plan.
Mary Winchesterâ
Terrakinesis: The ability to control the earth. While Johnâs ability tends towards more protective with his family, Mary is ready to go on the attack. She canât affect entire buildings like the angels, but she can rock the ground just enough to knock a human off balance, buying time for her to escape. This works when thereâs concrete, rock, stone, ect underneath the ground. She is unable to affect wood paneling at all and is cautious if she needs to go over a wood floor. With this ability, she was able to slowly carve out a safe home for her family underneath the ground. Adding in Johnâs ability to keep the family undetected, it seemed a good place to raise their two boys. Mary keeps several pebbles on her that she can flick at an attacker in case she needs a quick escape. Dean certainly got his accuracy from his mother.
Sherlock Holmesâ
Time Distortion: The ability to slow down or stop time. A very strong knack that requires training to sustain for longer than a few seconds. In Sherlockâs case, he is able to slow down time around him, enabling him to escape with a speed that canât be matched, and make observations that no one else would ever notice. When he stretches his ability, he can include others in this. He canât stop time like an angel; it will always move forward
Bobby Singerâ
Psychometry: Bobbyâs knack allows him to learn from books and artifacts at a glance or a touch. Heâs unable to read people, but if he gets an item of theirs, he can know what it was used for, how it will be put to use in the close future. This includes seeing that a knife will be used for a murder, before the murder happens.
Jacob Andrisâ
Supernatural Strength: Some, like Jacob, grow stronger than even other borrowers. This comes from their innate ability to turn their knack on their own bodies by instinct. While Sam and Dean receive the standard borrower strength boost while cursed, allowing them to lift around 12x their body weight, Jacob is able to lift, at only 18, a colossal 42x his natural body weight. If he was human-sized, he could bench a car without breaking a sweat.
Oscarâ
Pyrokinesis: The ability to manipulate fire in limited forms. Oscar would not easily discover this knack, as a fire in the motel room walls might cause the entire place to go up in a blaze.
Walt Watchâ
Telekinesis:Â The ability to manipulate objects outside of their direct reach. This can often cause a borrower to be mistaken for a ghost, moving objects in a house without touching them for a distraction. Walt Watch has taken the ability further, freezing two humans in place and later directing his power at himself to force his razor blade through Celesteâs neck despite her angelic invulnerability. This came close to burning out his knack.
Chase Lisongâ
Emotional manipulation:Â The ability to influence the emotions around him, with no need for physical contact. A way for Chase to keep the peace among whichever group heâs in, or, if he can manage to get close enough, make a human tired or inattentive enough to escape notice.
Bobby Loranâ
Power borrowing:Â Bobby is able to borrower the knack of other borrowers for a limited amount of time. One at a time, and since heâs not used to them he wouldnât have as much finesse with them. Heâd be quicker to burn them out than the actual âownerâ of the knack.
Minnie Lisongâ
Life detection:Â Very useful for finding out if a human is in a room, or seeing if there is a possibly dangerous rat or spider hiding in the walls.
Mark Bendâ
Supernatural Strength:Â Unlike Jacob, Markâs ability only applies to his legs. His legs are supernaturally enhanced, able to leap high into the air compared to a regular borrower.
Seanâ
Invisibility:Â Though the borrower does not make themselves actually invisible in most cases, the invisibility knack allows them to camouflage and blend in to their surroundings. In Seanâs case, he can cause a cloud of distortion that hides himself and any of his friends that stand close enough.Â
There are knacks picked out for the following characters, but they have not been announced yet (as far as I remember, feel free to send in a message if I'm just forgetting them!):
John Watson
Stan Baker
Stan Baker's brothers (Seamus, Dylan, Simon and Levi)
Moira Wainscot
Kara Bolt
Harmony
Adriana of the Woods
Oh! And of course, if you think you know what one of the knacks might be, send in your guess and if you're right, we'll officially reveal it!
The strongest borrower knack in existence appeared in the first batch of curse victims that Celeste attacked. Because she devoted more of her Grace to the first victims than to following ones, this resulted in each person gaining a strong power.
The most powerful of them all was the ability to smite enemies, much like an angel can do, and the borrower with that ability was strong enough to control it.
The creation of knacks vs Samâs demonic blood abilities
Looking back to where Brothers Apart first started, Sam was originally going to have the same abilities that he had in the Supernatural TV show.
What caused it to change?
A lot of the story was still developing when Home was written, and it never felt as though the precognition truly fit with borrower Sam. The other borrowers were always meant to be a parallel to the special children in the series, but this was where they started to diverge.
Demonic blood wouldnât fit, because the curse was linked to the shrinking and Celeste. So I threw out the entire concept, redid Samâs ability, and from Taken on, he no longer has the ability to dream the future. Now, heâs got the perception to know when someoneâs looking for him, the perfect ability to help a borrower survive.
The innate strength of the borrowers, which comes from the way they grow up with angelic Grace embedded around their souls, is an important part of the borrowers, helping them survive at the size they were cursed to be.
So many other abilities followed Samâs knack that we had to give them an official name, and knack fit best!
Nowadays one of the best parts of coming up with a new borrower character is imagining what ability they might have!
So is Karaâs knack similar to Samâs? As in, she can tell a personâs intent? Or maybe their character? They do say eyes are the window to the soul, and she looked At John and said something about him not having dangerous eyes. As always, amazing stories and details. Thank you!!
Not quite! That part of the story has to do more with her personal empathy with other people, and sheâs always been quite good at reading people, despite her young age. I like the idea, though!
Her actual knack might not make it into the stories (we havenât yet had the chance to integrate it), but itâs the kind of knack that Kara might never notice, but if sheâs using it, everyone around her will be extremely confused by what sheâs doing.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Is Barry's(Bardolf) knack Regeneration? In Out of the frying pan there are a lot of mentions that it's Also, was Sam's knak in Brothers Found burned out:(?
I found this buried in my drafts, and Iâm so sorry for missing it!
Sweet Barry doesnât have a knack yet, because I havenât managed to come up with one. Heâs so far managed to survive through sheer force of will. He might look small and fragile, but heâs got a strong spirit, and doesnât ever give up when others might want to. In fact, his spirit is what helps keep Xander going, at times.
Samâs not doing so well with his knack in Brothers Found right now, and he hasnât admitted it to Dean just yet.
Itâs entirely possible that youâve answered this before, but I was wondering what it might be like if Celesteâs curse was used on one of the adult brothers? I know they wouldnât get the knack that the cursed children get, but how else might that experience differ?
I might have, but I donât remember when, so I donât mind answering again!
As the curse is perfectly viable on adults, itâs naturally possible that this could happen in the future. Celeste just chooses to use it on children because of the added bonuses that they get from growing up with angelic grace inside of them.
Though an adult might not get as strong of a knack, they do still have the grace and a faint one will still develop. It wonât grow as strong as though they were raised from childhood like that, but itâs still there. Knacks manifest in people directly cursed more often than borrowers born and raised.Â
Adults also wonât get much of a strength bonus, and theyâll have very weak nightvision in comparison.
The only exception to this is when Celeste first began her experiments. She cursed adults and children alike, and because she didnât know the exact ratio of what she should use, the adults got a far stronger injection of grace and all exhibited powerful knacks of their ownâ the first of the borrower race, and the hardiest survivors.
I actually was writing out a bit of that first discovery, but havenât had the time to complete it or fix it up, so have a look:Â
~~~
Adriana bolted upright with a gasp, her long dark hair swaying in the breeze as she instinctively knocked the ant away with an arm.
An ant that was larger than her hand.
The creature recovered in the dirt, its mandibles clacking as the antennae quivered in the air. Adriana faced off with it, staring with dark eyes at the creature that should not exist.
And then she shrieked as the rest of her senses caught up with her mind, and were overwhelmed.
Falling to the ground, she brushed at her arms, her legs, her face, trying to shove away the foreign feeling that something was there, crawling all over her. Invasive, it infected her veins, her skin, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck. Confining, controlling, touching at her magic and pulling her mind in a thousand different directions.
Adriana screamed, but no one was there to help her.
kajensen07 replied to your post: So enhanced speed is Sherlockâs knack⌠Is that what you are hinting? Or did I get my signals crossed?
myimaginedairybeard replied to your post: Yeah! I mean, at least thatâs what I meant to say. Weâve cracked the code!
Does it make him more speedy or just more of fast runner? Like, Iâm guessing it includes his entire body and not just the legsâŚ
Awesome! You guys got close enough that I can now officially announced what his knack is as a borrower!
It isnât exactly enhanced speed, but itâll look that way to an outside observer. Sherlock is actually one of our stronger knack users.
He just needs that flair!
Time Distortion: The ability to slow down or stop time. A very strong knack that requires training to sustain for longer than a few seconds. In Sherlockâs case, he is able to slow down time around him, enabling him to escape with a speed that canât be matched, and make observations that no one else would ever notice. When he stretches his ability, he can include others in this. He canât stop time like an angel; it will always move forward
@borrowedtimeandspace: I like to imagine it like a Sherlock-shaped bubble, separating him into his own little time zone that happens to be different to everything around him. To include others, he needs to concentrate harder and expand that bubble. Though, Sherlock being Sherlock, he tends to prefer going it alone. Hereâs a little peek into how it works for him!
He concentrated, and everything around him fell slightly out of focus. All noises were muffled far into the background, and when he looked back at John, he was moving so slowly that he might as well be still.
Sherlock let out a relieved breath, but kept going, knowing this wouldnât last long.
For just a moment, Sherlock was faster than the entire world.
