#BUT PSYCHONAUTS CALLS ME LIKE A SIREN SONG

[katie-wants-donut]

"I need to play psychonauts/psychonauts 2 again"

I say having finished both games twice

[maskyartist]

Siren Song AU: Hollis discovers that Augustus has this power and says “We should talk”

haha! uh...i got too excited about this so under the cut is essentially a whole ass one-shot about this idea. its pretty long so i didnt want anyone havin to scroll through all this just to get to their next post on the tl

enjoy for whoevers reading! :D

If there's anywhere Augustus would like to be, it's the Caravan. He could be sweeping the wooden floors, or planning dinner for that night, or helping Donatella with...whatever it is she's doing right now. Laundry? Probably laundry. Hell, he'd rather be at the bottom of the ocean if that were possible. Let the debunked family curse take him. Anything but have this conversation.

And yet, here he sits. Patiently waiting for the Lesser Head of the Psychonauts to make her entrance. She left to gather a few files, at least that's what she said, but all that means is Augustus is alone to think about whatever he's in for.

There's no way she found out. No possible way! Augustus has been so careful with this...this magic of his. He's been so careful, so cautious, only using it in moments he knows he'd get away with it. If she found out, it means he's been slipping up. And if that happens, his children would find out. Dona would find out. Nona could find out. He can't do that to them. He can't let them stress over their father's...backwards methods of making ends meet. Shit, it's not against some...Psychic law to use this power, right? He hopes not.

"I apologize for the wait." Augustus nearly leaps out of his skin when he hears the voice behind him, whipping his head around to see Hollis Forsythe enter the room with a small, sizable sandwiching of folders under her arm. "Truman's filing system is a puzzle to get through."

With a nervous smile, Augustus shakes his head. "N-no trouble at all, Dr.Forsythe." He swears he sees a ghost of a smile appear on her face. Hopefully that lightens whatever sentencing he's to be given.

"Um...I hate to ask, but why am I here? I don't believe you've told me..." How can he feel so small in front of this woman? Augustus is twice her size, and yet sitting in front of her desk while she lays out file after file makes him feel like he's 10 years old again. (and boy, if those aren't memories he'd rather forget all over again...)

Hollis raises an eyebrow. "Mr.Aquato-"

"Augustus. Please." Formalities always made him want to tear his hair out. Especially now.

"-Augustus." Oh, he's not sure if he likes that face... "We're here because you are one of the very, very few Psychics who has your...vocal ability."

If his grip were any tighter on the arms of the chair he's in, he'd be ripping them off at this point. This is the one thing he's tried to avoid since the beginning, since he was 12, new to America, and tried to help make ends meet for himself and Nona.

The air feels heavy as Augustus forces himself to just breathe. He won't get anywhere if he can't focus. He can't drown now, not when he's so close to surfacing.

"And...what does that mean?" He finally asks. "I don't believe i've done anything wrong with this...ability of mine."

He forces himself to push away the sickening sweet taste wanting to cover his tongue. If he used it, he could be out of here while Hollis is left behind to be in a dazed state for at least enough time for him to head to the Campsite and forget about this whole encounter. But...he won't. He can't. Not right now. It's a gut feeling, but one he refuses to ignore this time.

Hollis lets out a sigh. "No, you haven't. At least not anything I could prove." Good lord, it's like she wants to give him a heart attack. "The reason I wished to speak with you is because this ability is very rare. Unlike with standard Psychic abilities, like Telekinesis or Levitation, or even the lesser known ones like Time Bubble or Hydrokinesis, your...Vocal Hypnotism-" Oh he hates that so much more than calling it Mentalist Manipulation. "-can't be taught."

His brows furrow. "What do you mean by that?"

Hollis flips open a file and slides it over to him, letting Augustus take it with a (slightly shaky) hand and skim. It looks like some kind of report, all ending in the unfortunate word of "FAILURE". As he flips through, Hollis leans back in her chair.

"Here in Psychonauts HQ, we strive to learn and discover as much as we can about every Psychic possibility out there. Including powers unknown to us. This way we can teach the generation after us, and give them a broader range of skills to try and push against to develop new abilities. We are always looking to discover more about what Psychics can do." Hollis explains, taking the file back once Augustus sets it down. It's a lot of language he doesn't understand regarding Psychics and powers (plus, written English was never his strong-suit to begin with...), but he's gotten most of it. He thinks.

"However, there has always been one ability that we've never fully been able to properly teach, or learn." She nods towards him. "Vocal Hypnotism."

Augustus sighs lightly, a less nervous and more amused smile on his face. "Well, I believe the first step you should be taking is finding a better name for this ability." Seriously, Hypnosis? Way to make him seem like the bad-guy...

Hollis nods at this, as if taking note. "I'll keep that in mind." She says.

There's a long pause after that, neither wanting to take the initiative. Until Augustus finally decides to do so himself. "How...did you find out?" He asks, tentatively. "I've been so careful for so long. I don't think i've slipped up anywhere..."

A small, amused smile takes her face as Hollis taps the side of her head. "Psychic, remember? Sometimes when you'd speak, there'd be a certain energy around your words. I'm sure others would've noticed if it hadn't been for your ability taking over so easily."

"I see..." She's probably known since the start, then. When he had to keep Donatella from starting a brawl with the Lesser Head of the Psychonauts when they arrived. The dots connect in his head, and he can't help the way his stomach twists uncomfortably. "Let me guess. Now that you know I can do this, you...wish to study me?"

Hollis frowns. "Not you. Your ability. We want to know how it works, and if it can be taught. We've never been able to get much information on this skill. Only what we've read from magazines, reports, and old books." There were books about Psychics? Maybe Nona has one... He's sure Razputin would love it. "All we want is information that we can pass down to the next generation. And then the next after that. We don't want any of what we can do to be lost to time, if we can prevent it."

Augustus can understand that. Wanting to let the children after them learn from their mistakes, do better than what they've done. His have already begun doing so, after all. Razputin and his Psychonauts adventures, Frazie grasping her own abilities, Dion becoming less cold around the powers of their family... It's nice to know Mirtala and Queepie won't have much to worry about thanks to what's happened. Even if they'll have to experience the awkward period of learning from taught mistakes.

Nervously, he wrings his hands together. "What would this...testing entail?" He asks, as politely as he can.

Hollis seemed to have expected this, handing him a small, stapled together stack of about 5 papers. Somehow, picking it up felt too heavy for Augustus. "If you want all the details, it's all in there. But to keep it brief, we wouldn't be putting you under some kind of microscope, no matter how badly Otto would want to." Augustus swallows. That doesn't sound good... "At the beginning, we'd simply have you use your ability on others and study the effects. You would explain how it works, how you activate it, how you learned you could do this, and so-on and so-forth. Over time, we'd push your already established limits to see how far this could go, and eventually attempt to teach someone how to use this ability as well."

"That's..." So much. That's so much all at once and Augustus feels like he's about to pass out. He leans back in the chair and looks at the papers he was given.

He's always hated using that...that power. He's hated it since he was 12. At first, it was fun. Innocent, honest fun. But once he figured out how the public worked, it became less innocent. No longer did he entice people with his words to make them smile those big, dopey smiles they get. From then on, he learned to use it to wring a few extra dollars from peoples wallets. For his Nona, who was already greying too much for Augustus to not stress over. For his wife, who deserved to have cushion money to sleep easier at night. Especially for his kids, who shouldn't have to worry about money troubles ever. Who should be able to go to the thrift store and pick out whatever they want for cheap without worrying if it's too much. Who deserve to be kids. Proper kids, at least for a little longer if he can help it.

It's always a struggle to use this stupid power of his. The guilt always settles in so early. To have to use it over and over, twisting facts and logic in with stories and fantasy to make everything into a sugar-coated world of lies... Even if it's for study, Augustus doesn't know if he could do this.

Finally, after a long silence, he offers a small shake of his head. "I...I can't. Not now, at least. I...need to think this over."

Perhaps it's a bit dramatic to be so worked up over this, but for years and years Augustus has spent stressing over every small Psychically-inclined thing he's done, worrying if he'd be caught in the act, worrying if he'd be hurt for his actions. Plus, his own moral compass spins itself out of control at the mere idea of using that manipulative tactic over and over again just to get a bit of writing on paper. Maybe it's selfish, but he can't... No. He can. He could. He just doesn't want to.

Hollis simply nods. "Take your time. There's no rush for this. But do know that we here at the Motherlobe would greatly appreciate your help in this matter." Oh, that just makes him feel worse... "That's all I wished to speak to you about. Thank you for your time, Augustus."

"And you as well, Dr.Forsythe." And thankfully, with that, he was allowed to stand, turn, and walk out the door. The air has never felt this good, even when he's inside.

As he heads further down the hall, eager to leave the building and head back to the Campsite, a part of his mind can't help but wonder...

If Nona was able to pass on Hydrokinesis to Augustus, and Augustus passed it on to his own children...did they inherit his Siren's Song?

.

.

.

Augustus pushes that thought away. It's better if he doesn't think about it right now. Besides, he has work to do. Laundry won't do itself, and if it's not laundry, then dinner certainly wouldn't cook itself either.

A father's work is never done, after all.