#and i still couldn't get psychonauts in there

[razzle-zazzle]

Whumptober Day 26: sometimes i get so tired, i don't even know myself

Working to Exhaustion

2330 Words; Ouroboros AU

TW for violence, bloodsport, exploitation, murder, death

AO3 ver

“Next one’s heavy.”

Dion grunted as another box was dropped into his arms. “They’re all heavy.” He muttered, carrying it over to the shelf. But he didn’t have to carry it far, and it wasn’t that heavy. It was kind of big, though, high enough to press against Dion’s mask.

The other guy on unloading duty—Hunter? It was hard to tell, when they were all wearing the same plain white masks—whistled. “I swear, it’s like you never stop.” He commented, as Dion shoved the box into place. “The fuck did they feed you in your old life?”

“...food?” Dion pulled out his boxcutter to cut the box open.

Hunter chuckled. “A kid your age does not just handle heavy boxes like that.” He insisted.

Most people Dion’s age also didn’t have a body count, but that was besides the point. Dion rolled his eyes behind his mask.

There was always something to do in Ouroboros. And if Dion wanted to live, then he needed to be doing something. And he needed to live, no matter what—if Dion didn’t survive, then Mirtala would be the only Aquato in Ouroboros. And he couldn’t—he wouldn’t let her be left alone here. Not if he could help it.

(Mirtala didn’t deserve to be here at all, but there was nothing Dion could do on that front. His powerlessness would drive him crazy if he wasn’t able to at least provide for her.)

“Right, this one’s gotta be at least a little heavy to you.” Hunter grunted, slowly sliding the next box off the stack to pass to Dion.

Dion took the box, wincing slightly. Yeah, this one was kind of heavy—he wouldn’t want to carry that many boxes like it. But Dion knew how to handle heavy things. It was part and parcel of growing up in the circus, after all, from equipment to the other members of his family. Frazie was at least as heavy as this box, probably. Dion hadn’t had the chance to lift her in a while. Maybe she had gotten heavier, gotten the kind of muscle to make girls swoon over her.

(Dion swallowed that thought down. With any luck, he might never see Frazie again—which was for the better, because the day any more of his family ended up in Ouroboros was a day that Dion never wanted to see.)

Dion shoved the box into place on the shelf, pausing for a moment once it was in place. Still, it wasn’t that heavy.

(Queepie might have handled the weight better than Dion—

Dion shoved that thought away immediately. Queepie would be turning four soon; he should be nowhere near Ouroboros, ever. None of his family should, really—none of them but Dion.)

“Heavy, right?” Hunter prompted, already holding the next box.

Dion grunted, pulling his boxcutter out once again. So what if it was? He could handle it. He had to handle it.

Hunter shook his head. “Kids.” He grumbled. “You’re going to run smack into a wall with that kind of attitude.”

Whatever. Dion would be fine.

He had to be—there was no other way. If he slowed down for even a moment, if he let weakness show—

Dion took the next box. He’d survive.

No matter what.

+=+=+=+=+

Mirtala came back that night with a fresh bruise on her arm, her hair still damp from her shower.

“Tala—” Dion started. Stopped, his words catching on the knot of feelings in his throat. He reached out. Stopped.

Mirtala stared at him with tired eyes. She sat down on her bedroll, not saying a thing.

Dion looked away. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t want to encourage this. He never wanted Mirtala anywhere near the arena—she only just turned six. It was Dion’s job, his responsibility to take care of her—and every time she stepped into that arena, he failed.

What was he supposed to say? He didn’t know. He didn’t know.

(An apology might be a good start.

But Dion had always been a coward when it came to apologies.)

Dion’s jaw worked, his shoulders tensing. He should say something—

Too late. Mirtala laid down on her own cot, facing away from him. She huffed, curling up without a word.

I’m sorry. Dion wanted to say it. He needed to say it.

I’m sorry. The words got stuck in his throat.

Dion clenched his hands into fists, his eyes darting away from where Mirtala was lying—

Wait. “Um.” He managed, the sound of his voice surprising even himself. “Do you… do you want your unicorn?” Mirtala usually always grabbed it, when the light in their room started to fade. Dion couldn’t fathom why it was on his cot.

Mirtala rolled over, squinting at Dion. “Her name is Francis III.” She muttered.

“Oh.” Shit, when did Mirtala name it? How long ago? Wow, Dion felt like an idiot. His face was already heating up. “Well, do you want Francis III?” He really needed to apologize.

“No.” Mirtala said. She blinked, and yawned. “But you do.” And with that, she rolled back over, pulling the blanket tight around herself.

Dion swallowed. He grabbed Francis III, running his thumb over the felt strips making up the mane. One of the Wolves had gifted it to Mirtala when they had first gotten here—Dion looked over at his baby sister, who was the nicest person he’d ever known, and he could guess why. Even if she wasn’t his responsibility, he still wanted her to get the best that she could. Mirtala was just easy to spoil like that.

And yet he still couldn’t find the words to talk to her…

Dion looked Francis III in her beady little button eyes. He wanted to put the plush into Mirtala’s arms, adjust the blanket around her like he was tucking her in—anything to prove that he wasn’t an awful brother.

But he just sat there instead, choking on the knot in his throat.

Like a coward.

+=+=+=+=+

Dion looked up at the sound of footsteps, the mop coming to a stop.

He immediately looked back down, moving the mop again the moment he saw who was waling across the tiled floor. Oh, god, was this the end? Was he somehow mopping wrong? Or was it just fun to torment him?

Creed came to a stop not far from Dion, hands folded behind his back.

Dion continued mopping. If Creed wanted him to stop, he’d say so. Probably.

“Boy.” Creed started. Dion gripped the handle of the mop harder. “Look at me.”

Dion lifted his eyes to meet Creed’s dark brown. He paused in his mopping—he needed to rewet the mop in the bucket again, anyway—and waited to see what Creed would do.

Creed’s eyes flicked over Dion. He immediately felt like an ant confronting a boot—certain doom was all that awaited him, now.

“You’ve got a fight tonight.” Creed commented airily. “I’m sure you’ve had plenty of time to… recuperate.”

It had been a while since Dion had had a fight—he hadn’t been scheduled for the last two Death Pits. And he wasn’t allowed back into the regular fights—though Dion really didn’t want to think about that.

“Okay.” Dion said, hating the way it sounded so small in the empty air. “I’ll be ready.”

(He wouldn’t, not really—he never was.

But Dion didn’t survive by waiting until he was ready—he couldn’t. Either he got his head above water, or he drowned—and Dion refused to drown. He’d survive however he needed to.)

“Good boy.” Creed nodded. He turned around and began to walk away—

“Oh,” Creed paused, “And this next fight?”

Dion looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“Win it.” Creed growled. “Your opponent isn’t meant to make it out of that arena alive, you got it?”

Winning was what Dion normally did, though? Dion stared at Creed a moment longer, then nodded slowly. “Yeah.” He confirmed, still unsure why Creed felt the need to tell him this.

“Good.” And with that, Creed left.

Doubts and uncertainties floated around in Dion’s head. He was finally going back in the ring, and the notion terrified and excited him in equal measure. He could finally get ahead just a little bit more—but he’d have to kill someone to do so.

(Well, it wasn’t like Dion’s hands weren’t already covered in blood.

He would survive. He had to.)

Dion sighed.

Back to work.

+=+=+=+=+

Dion waited for the gate to rise. The bars of the gate casted shadows across him, the audience already a loud din outside. It sounded bigger than usual, too, which grated on Dion’s nerves. He watched as another gate opened and his opponent-to-be was forced into the arena, stumbling across the sand. His own gate hadn’t opened, yet—god, Dion hoped it wasn’t broken.

The announcer was saying something, now, trying to get the audience to chant—

“DEATH! BY! LION!”

Dion went rigid. Suddenly, the earlier interaction with Creed made a lot more sense.

But… why him? Surely Creed had more popular fighters, more capable fighters—

The gate began to rise. No more time to doubt. Dion walked out into the arena, out into the lights hanging down, the cage bars casting shadows across him—

The audience ROARED.

“AND THE LION MAKES HIS RETURN!” The announcer cheered. “Let’s see some BLOOD!”

Dion’s opponent stood, staring at him through their orange and blue Ox mask. They snorted.

“This is it?” They asked. “This is the big bad Lion?” Derision colored their voice. Dion’s face flushed behind his mask, his hands squeezing into fists. “You’re just some kid!”

“And you’re dead meat.” Dion snarled. It was him or them, and Dion had no intention of losing.

The Ox broke out into a charge, raising their hand. Metal glinted in the light, and they swung down—

Dion ducked out of the way, rolling to the side and using his hands to spring up onto a hanging cord. The “Jungle Arena” was full of hanging cords and bars, like some twisted trapeze, and Dion was quick to fling himself up out of the Ox’ reach.

You’d think I was the Leopard, with the way I’m climbing around. Dion thought to himself, coming to a stop halfway up the rope. He looked down at the Ox, considering what to do.

Him or them. Dion would survive, no matter what.

He was supposed to make a show of it, too.

The Ox bellowed, grabbing the rope Dion was on. They yanked—

And Dion twisted over to the next rope with practiced ease. He didn’t want to have a favorite arena—he didn’t want to be in the arenas at all, really—but if he had to choose, it was probably this one. So many things to climb, so many ways to fling himself around!

(The arena that Mirtala made her official debut was similar, but Dion didn’t want to think about Mirtala in any arena.)

The Ox couldn’t climb as well as Dion could—if they could at all, seeing as they weren’t even trying—so Dion couldn’t lead them on a merry chase through the ropes and bars. So much for that idea.

Still, how to make this look good?

The audience was chanting, jeering, roaring for blood and violence and death. It was either Dion or the Ox—and Dion intended to win.

“That might work…” Dion muttered, flipping over backwards onto one of the hanging bars. He lifted himself up so that he was doing a handstand on it, allowing his legs to hook onto another bar higher up. He let go of the bar and looked down on the Ox.

“Are you even trying?” He jeered, “Surely you can take out ‘some kid’!” He flipped over to a knotted rope, then flung himself with a forwards flip onto a sideways one. The tightropes back home were way narrower than this. Confidence filled Dion as he paced along it, the Ox yelling below him.

“Get down here!” They shouted. “You little shit!”

Dion laughed. The sound shocked him, escaping his throat before he even recognized what it was.

What was he doing? This was a life-or-death situation! The cage bars cast shadows across the arena. The audience was cheering, jeering, roaring. Dion’s mask pressed against his face.

Fuck this. Fuck putting on a show. Dion wasn’t here to entertain, for all that Creed wanted him to. He was in here to survive, dammit!

With a cry, Dion flung himself down. He rolled as he fell, kicking out as he landed to hit the Ox square in the back. The impact flung him away, and he rolled with the impact, springing up off the floor at the soonest opportunity.

The Ox whirled around to face him, snarling through their mask. Dion darted to the side, cartwheeling up onto one of the ropes. They charged, and instead of climbing up Dion flung himself onto their shoulders when they passed, locking his ankles together in front of their face.

The Ox reached up, trying to pull Dion off—

Dion squeezed his thighs together. The Ox’ hands scrambled against Dion’s legs, prying uselessly at his boots—

Crack!

Dion jumped away as the body fell, flipping over backwards. That probably looked cool, right?

The audience was cheering. The chant from earlier returned, harsh against Dion’s ears.

“DEATH! BY! LION! DEATH! BY! LION!”

Across the arena, the gate rose. Dion stared up at the audience for only a moment longer before darting back to the tunnel.

His hands were shaking. He needed to get his mask off right now. He needed a shower, he needed a drink, he needed to lie down and stare at the wall until he felt human again—

Dion stumbled, leaning against the tunnel wall. He'd just killed someone.

But he had survived. It was him or the Ox, and he had won.

Dion stared at his hands. He had survived. Grim satisfaction knotted in his throat, and he struggled to breathe around it.

Dion had survived.

He was more willing to pay the cost than he wanted.

[eveningrainstorm]

my take on teenage raz and lili!

some design notes under the cut:

They're intended to be about 16 here! I didn't go for anything too drastic in terms of changes -- these are largely just what I'd consider natural evolutions of their canon designs

For Raz, my main focus besides just making him look older was to add a bit more resemblance to the other Aquatos in his design, since his relationship with them wouldn't be strained like it is during canon

Raz is shown with very straight hair in canon, but since most of his family's hair is more wavy or curly I tend to imagine he styles it that way on purpose as part of his Sasha Nein cosplay or whatever. He wouldn't still feel the need to do that at this point, though, so for this design I wanted to make it more curly, similar to Augustus or Frazie, while still similar to his canon style. This turned out to be incredibly difficult and I'm still not entirely happy with where I landed, but it's good enough

I didn't think he would still wear the helmet but I didn't want to discard it entirely, so the goggles were a compromise. I meant to give them some visible scratches and wear and tear since they're presumably the same goggles he's been wearing since he was 10, but I forgot. rip

Obviously the most notable change to Raz's outfit is the scarf -- I wanted something that would tie him visually to the other Aquatos while still fitting with his general look. I imagine they gave it to him as a gift, sort of an acknowledgement that even if he doesn't perform with them as an acrobat, doing his Psychonaut work is his own way of being an Aquato

Raz's outfit here is honestly very similar to his PN2 outfit. This is because in my eyes "long coat and turtleneck" is Peak Character Design and cannot be improved on. (Hence why I may not be the best person to redesign Raz.) He has an actual coat rather than just an oversized blazer this time though, so that's an improvement. With the turtleneck I was was vaguely intending for it to be color-wise something of a middle ground between the Sasha-style green striped turtleneck and the Aquato blue/green and white stripes, but it ended up basically just being the PN1 stripes with the PN2 color. which, you know, that works

I went back and forth on what their heights should be -- I thought it would be kind of funny if Raz ended up short and Lili ended up taller than him, but then I decided to just make them more in line with their families, with Raz being tall and lanky and Lili being average verging on short. Except then I accidentally made Lili tall anyway because I was only vaguely considering her height relative to Raz. I guess Lili's probably taller than her dad now? good for her ig

Most of their facial features are just slight variations of how they look in canon -- slightly smaller eyes and so on. the only real specific change is that Lili has a more defined nose now, similar in shape to her father's

Lili's outfit here is more different from either of her canon outfits than Raz's is, but there's still not much that really requires a ton of explanation. The goal was to make her look vaguely cool and fashionable, although as I am neither of those things I cannot guarantee I was successful

I tried a couple different hairstyles for Lili, and I'm still not entirely set on this one -- Originally what I settled on was to give her two braids, which I did like, but I kept doing sketches of her where I just drew the top part of the hair and was like "ngl this kind of works on its own" and so I ended up going with the short hair. I also briefly tried an asymmetrical haircut but I couldn't get it to look right. I think this one suits her though

Lili's tattoo (on her left wrist) was a later addition to the design, and even in the later stages of drawing this I wasn't sure whether to keep it. I like it conceptually I just haven't figured out a consistent design for it yet, only that it has to be of plants

god these notes got way longer than I meant them to be I am so sorry. Uh basically I'm still figuring out the details of these designs but for now here's Raz and Lili, they're teenagers now, thanks for reading

[doodle17]

Psychonauts 3 minor antagonist >:)

D'Artagnan Astubelief! The "mystery" person who's been framing Raz! Or at least one of the people behind it...

Im still trying to figure out was his motivation could be... I was thinking maybe his Aunt who I might make (at least One of) the main antagonist could be influencing him, but I still need a motivation. I'd love to hear any ideas!

I also updated his lore! Like- a lot! I'll put it under a read more >:)

*None of this official, btw. all of this based purely off my headcanons*

D'Art used to be born Psychic, but I changed it to where he was actually born NON-psychic, but becomes psychic due to some.... Stuff

SO D'Arts mom, Natasha, got super sick while she was pregnant with D'arts little sister, Ania. Unfortunately, after Ania was born, Natasha was so weak she couldn't fight her illness and she passed a few days later.

D'Art's dad, Ronan, was so overcome with grief over his wife, that it had a huge impact on D'art and his family.

Fast forward about 5-ish years, right as Ronan is finally starting to recover from the loss if his wife, D'art gets the same sickness. And similarly to his mother, he dies. Ronan is once again absolutely crushed by the death of his youngest son. At this point, he can't take the loss of another loved one anymore, and on one rainy night goes to see his aunt.

Dr. Vladlena Astubelief is studies in the paranormal. Including necromancy and re-animation. But don't let the "Dr." In her name fool you, a lot of her experiments are very cruel and botched. Unfortunately, Ronan is also very desperate.

He begs for her to help bring D'art back. She's only ever experienced on dead animals, so she was very delighted to be given the chance to experiment on an actual person. She took D'Art's body and sent Ronan back to the rest of his family, saying if all goes well she'll return D'art herself.

Fast forward 2 botched surgeries/dissections, and replacing bits of his non-psychic brain with psychic bits, which were totally not stolen, and Ronan gets a call, saying D'Artagnan will be dropped off, alive and well.

D'Art is returned back to his family, so things are all fun and good now! Right?... Well...

Yes, D'Art is back, but his personality and behavior is very different. He used to be very energetic and bright. Playing with his siblings and helping out with chores best he can, always willing to lend a hand. After he came back, he became distant and cynical. Appearance wise, he also looked a lot more pale, his hair even started to turn white, when it was originally jet black like his dad's

It turned white thanks to his Aunts experiments, and also the fact that he's basically half alive

[anonymouspuzzler]

While I know it isn't fully your AU, how did poor Cali fair the events of Psychonauts 2 in your take on the Uncle Cally AU?

i saved this ask for Ages because I wanted to draw something big and bold for it! i didn't do that but i DID draw this that got the energy across and will say a lot of words in an order under the cut!!

[Image ID: A black-and-white digital ink drawing of Caligosto from Frankie and Puzz's "Uncle Cally" AU. He is wearing large round glasses like his childhood self, has shoulder-length shaggy hair with a kerchief tied in it, an Aquato Circus unitard with baggy shorts over it, knee-high laced boots, a high-collared shawl, fingerless gloves, and an elbow-to-wrist sleeve on his right arm only. He is drawn in a sketchy, inky style, staring directly at the viewer ominously, standing with his arms held at his sides, hands splayed out menacingly. There are numerous telekinetic hands around him. End ID.]

so my interpretation of Uncle Cally changed a lot post-Psychonauts 2, understandably, and as always whenever I talk Uncle Cally I have to give enormous credit to Friend of Frankie for 1) coming up with and selling me on the idea in the first place, and 2) always being so game to bounce ideas off each other in ways that allowed me to cook on pretty much everything I'm about to say. but more or less, I took what was already in this version of Cal (taking on work that was morally ambiguous at best and using his psychic powers in an effort to protect his family from the many unseen-yet-implied Enemies Of The Aquatos) and reinterpreted that with what Psychonauts 2 then elaborated on with regards to the Aquatos' history and particularly Nona, and where I landed was this:

Cal, post-Psychonauts 2, realizes he was being put down a path to become a successor to Maligula.

Not intentionally, mind. It couldn't be - Nona didn't remember that part of her life, not consciously. but Cal always did get flashes of a different Nona when it was just the two of them - a Nona that insisted he had to use his powers to keep Augustus safe, that he had a responsibility to protect the family no matter the cost. a more haunted Nona. and Cal took it all to heart, doing things he knew were wrong for the sake of protecting his family. even by the point of Psychonauts 1 and RoR, when the things he was doing started backfiring and getting his own family involved and endangered, I think he thought it was a terrible fluke, that he still believed he was doing the wrong things for the right reasons.

and then, you know. he finds out about Maligula. how Lucrecia became Maligula in the name of using her powers to protect her country and her family; how what little fragments were left of her had been feeding Cal that same logic and leading him down the same path. I think it made him horrified and angry, at Nona and even moreso at himself, and left him grappling with how he could deal with that hurt and betrayal without just... continuing to worsen the harm that had already been done to everyone involved. much like Augustus, he has to kinda retreat and spend a lot of time mulling things over, and in some ways I think he does take it even harder. (it definitely makes him finally turn his back on any further work as "Dr. Loboto", and I think maybe between that + Raz's involvement + his little kinda sorta crush on Oleander he starts considering work with the Psychonauts in the aftermath of Everything.)

[luciddaydreamingworlds]

More sketches of Q. Every day, I stray further from consistency /lh

Also made a design for little Q-

This lil thing would fight God if he weren't so damn smoll.

I also made another OC for Psychonauts. Meet JP!

JP is the grandson of Lana Pozani.

Tw teenage pregnancy, ig?

A while after Lana had left Edgar for Dean, and Edgar had isolated himself in the art room and lost himself in his romanticized maladaptive daydreams, Lana had gotten pregnant with Dean's child. Dean left her after finding out, not wanting to get saddled with a kid, and Lana's career and reputation were destroyed. She ended up having a baby girl (name still to be devided), and she raised the kid on stories of Edgar, telling her how much she regrets ever leaving him for Dean. And unintentionally causing the connection to form in the girl's head that wrestlers are always kind and honest and cheer captains are always bad and dishonest.

Years later, when the girl was a teen, she ended up hooking up with a wrestler and getting pregnant. Lana, determined not to let her daughter face the same fate she did, took her on an "extended vacation to visit extended family" so the pregnancy would remain a secret, and raised the resulting child as her own, letting her daughter continue her education and career free from the burden of raising a child. To add another layer of separation from the scandal, Lana moved her family out of town and transferred her daughter to a different school, claiming it as a better place with better opportunities.

And thus started the life of Joseph "JP" Edgar Pozani. As he got older, his resemblance to Edgar grew, which caused Lana to become convinced that she had accidentally manifested a love child to help her live out a persistent "what if" so she'd finally be able to move on from her past. Needless to say, it was weird as hell for JP. Especially after he had incidentally developed psychic powers of his own and discovered the secrets his family was keeping. One day, he couldn't handle it anymore. Not knowing if he was his own person or just existing for his abuela's benefit, he left. He didn't want to be yet another man who left their lives, but he had to see if he could exist for himself.

After a while, JP did something that caught the attention of the Psychonauts, and he was invited to join them, to hone his abilities, and to find community. It's here that he met Q.

And mayhap more~

Anyways, that's enough ranting for now.

[king-magppi]

PLEASE tell us more about the camper parents/guardians, they have so much personality already but I'm curious as to your thoughts on them!!!

OK SO. Here's a little info on some of the pairs! I based some of their backstories and "parenting" on how their children behave in Psychonauts 1 and on what little insight into the campers' home-lives we are given by their Campster pages if any at all (there's a web archive link to it on the Ps wiki when you look for "Campster" if you ever wanna check them out! Lots of interesting stuff on there! I've also tried to add it here!). They don't all have names yet, but soon enough they will!

⚠️ALSO! Before we start: a quick content warning for mentions of child abuse, alcoholism, and neglect. Not all of these kids live happy lives.⚠️

The Canolas: Don Canola and his wife homeschool Maloof and get him private tutoring in the subjects he needs help in. They're actually one of the more stable families of the bunch despite being a crime family.

Ms. Foote: Her and her Ex-husband share custody of Clem. Their relationship is extremely rocky and the only reason he even gets to see his son is because of the intense fear she has of him. She finds it hard to have a relationship with her son because of his unwillingness to show interest in anything at home. She tries her best to indulge in anything Clem seems to enjoy, but she feels like she barely knows him.

The Phages: Ms Phage is a widow and now single mother to Milka Phage. Her husband was an alcoholic that stormed off after an argument over his addiction one day and just never came home. The police found his body with several stab wounds under a bridge somewhere days later. After this death, Ms Phage went into a severe depression. During this time, she would become irritable when she saw her daughter and told her to "dissappear" because she couldn't stand to look at her (she looks a lot like her dad). Milka became so good at disappearing on command that sometimes her mom just straight up forgot she was there. During these times, Milka would help herself to whatever was in the fridge and hang around for however long she'd like. Well, at least her cat could see her.

Ms. Snagrash: The single mother to Crystal (never married). She hasn't gotten the memo that she can't go out drinking and partying all day anymore if she's a mom. Because of this mindset, she sees Crystal as a burden and make sure she knows that. She's never had Crystal in a stable environment and is always with some new guy she more than likely wants to leech money from.

The Bulgakovs: Mr. and Mrs. Bulgakov are Mikhail's parents! They live in Kazan, Russia, but sent little Misha over just so he can make some friends over in The States! Mr Bulgakov looks stern and serious, but enjoys a good bear fight. Mrs Bulgakov wishes the boys would get some different, more productive interests like carpentry or archery or something...

The Tripes: Mr and Mrs Tripe love to tell Vernon stories! They encourage him to make his own and think he'll make a great author one day (with A LOT of practice, of course). Sometimes, they'll tell Vernon a story, and he'll try to tell the same one to kids at his school but with HIM as the main character. They have an old little dog named "Lady" that Vernon likes to take on walks.

Ms. Fir: She is the single mother of Elton who works at a brothel by the seaside (this is also where she met his father). While she isn't with her son 24/7, she still makes an effort to provide what she can for him in their situation. Elton spends most of his time down by the docks talking to the marine life in the sea.

The Hedgemice: Mr and Mrs Hedgemouse are the parents to Quentin Hedgemouse! They are probably one of the most loving and supportive pairs in this bunch! Mr Hedgemouse used to be in a band himself in highschool (it wasn't very good or well known, but he had fun!) and thinks it's great Quentin's got one too! He often jokes about trying to join "The Levitators". Nowadays he works as a simple book shop clerk. Mrs Hedgemouse is a stay at home mom who enjoys baking and making treats! She dreams of one day opening her own bakery!

The Loves: Mr and Mrs Love are still new to learning about their psychic powers. They only recently got into it after finding out that Phoebe shared this gift and was having problems controlling it.

(P.S. I'm really glad a lot of you seem to enjoy them so far!!!!! Like I'm seeing a bunch of positive feedback for them and it makes me 😭😭😭/pos)

[2hoothoots]

I’m probably off base here, but the implication I got from the game was that Gristol WAS the Delugionists. As in, he alone was it in the entirety, the only one funding it, and the Psychonauts just assumed it was multiple people.

There’s probably something in the game that contradicts that but that was my first impression

see, i like that interpretation a lot, but i don't know if it lines up with what we see in game. when we're first introduced to the Delugionists in the cutscene after Loboto's mind, Sasha has these lines:

[transcript: "She was a monster - a ruthless, power-hungry psychic who drowned hundreds of her own countrymen. Nevertheless, she still has her loyal followers to this day. This file documents recent activity believed to be the work of these modern day "Deluginaries".]

(side note, is it Delugionists or Deluginaries? the game can't seem to make up its mind.)

to me this implies that a) there have been small cells of pro-Maligula supporters for a long time, and they've long been a thorn in the Psychonauts' side; and b), they're very widespread. it's not a great screenshot, but there are five locations on that map, spread all over the world.

i dunno - i guess it's possible, but i look at how the Psychonauts are apparently tracking multiple global cells of Delugionists (i don't have screens/transcripts to hand, but some of the idle dialogue in the Nerve Center has the agents discussing the different groups they're monitoring)... and then i look at Gristol. i'm gonna be honest, the impression that i get from him is that he couldn't mastermind his way out of a paper bag :P his plan is laughably terrible, and from figments and the absolute mess his suite in the casino was in it seems like he spends most of his free time lazing around and eating caviar.

i don't think there's anything in the game that directly contradicts it, but i don't know if there's any direct support for it, either. i can definitely imagine Gristol meeting up with other Delugionists, maybe even wielding a sizeable influence with them due to his status, but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to be able to orchestrate a one-man show like that is the vibe i get. (it probably also depends on how much faith you put in the Psychonauts' intel capabilities, too! it feels like the game wants you to think they're a cool and competent spy organisation, but then it keeps portraying them as just absolutely useless and incompetent as soon as you start looking any deeper, and i've never been able to work out whether that's on purpose or not.)

[jaydawne]

Samuel Ramblings

As concluded by the poll, I shall now ramble about Samuel on as much as I can that I haven't mentioned yet already. So, without further ado~ Here is Even More Info™️ about Samuel under the cut (WARNINGS: Mentions of; Purposeful misgendering/deadnaming, physical and verbal bullying, obsessive behaviours [potentially parental yandery], death of a loved one, very long ass post)

So, I've already given a basic rundown on Sam in general, but now you get his

~Backstory~

(I'll get to his other interests and such in another post probably, this got a lot longer than I thought it would) So, Samuel essentially grew up in a household where he was very much loved and cared for, however the way said love and care went was a biiit, askew to say the least. His parents were very helicoptery, wanting to know everything going on with him at every given moment, even going so far as to pull him out of school in order to keep a closer eye on him and teach him things themselves (It is at this point that I think I might have accidentally made his parents kinda yanderey, but without the whole killing thing. Not sure but I'll add that to the warnings/tags anyway just in case). Admittedly another part of that was because Sam was often bullied for his appearance, the other kids finding him to look too weird to be normal, calling him mean names, excluding him during playtime, stealing his food, general mean little kid stuff, but it still didn't really excuse pulling Sam out of school altogether. They even went so far as to put a tracker on him so they'd always know where he is. They're also very in denial about Samuel being trans, calling it a 'phase' and insisting that he's still their 'precious little baby girl' no matter what he says or does. Luckily though, it wasn't all horrible all the time, Samuel had his uncle, Boris, and his little cousin Brody, who had the same heterochromia as him, just in opposite eyes. Boris was a wonderful uncle, he adored and accepted Sam and always did his best to tell Sam not to listen to anyone who tells him to be anything other than himself. Boris taught Sam many things both fun and practical, like how to play a guitar, lock-picking for just in case purposes of course, basic self defence and cooking, anything he could that he thought Sam might need to know in the future. He knew Sam's parents wouldn't teach him anything that would help him survive away from them, so he wanted to do everything he could for him so that if Sam were ever able to get out, he wouldn't be completely unable to help himself. Brody, meanwhile, adored Samuel, and wants to be 'just like him' someday. He's pretty much more like a little brother to Sam than anything else, and he thinks his big cousin is just the coolest ever, and often refers to him as 'Samsam'. They were practically inseparable whenever Samuel came over, also cheering and hugging each other tight when they saw the other. It always made Boris smile to see them so close. Unfortunately though, things couldn't be this happy forever, because when Samuel was 10, something happened to Boris that caused him to pass away (I'm still undecided on what that is, either illness or car accident), meaning Samuel no longer had a safe space he could go to, and Brodi had to go live with his grandparents who live outside of the US. Thus, Samuel was alone, but he wasn't out of hope. He'd had enough. So, he did the only rational thing an 10 year old could think of: he ran away from home Psychonauts anyone? No? Okay then- Admittedly, it did take him a while to do so, but he managed by the time he was 11, and had also taken out the tracker so they couldn't find him. He took a lot of measures to make sure they couldn't find him for a while at the least... This is how he ended up coming across a junkyard, intending to lay low there for a bit until he figured out how he would earn money in order to live on his own. At least, that was the idea, until he ran into a pre-mutation Repo Mantis (who I will be calling 'Manny' as 1. he is not a mantis yet and 2. I yoinked the name from @/rottmnt-risuum , go read their comic it's so good, just mind the gore if you're not into that). Luckily, however, instead of kicking Sam out, he decided to make an offer; Sam can help out in the yard in exchange for cash and a place to live until he's able to make it on his own, to which Samuel accepted. Manny may be a greedy guy, but he ain't the heartless type to leave a kid to rot.

 From that point on for the next roughly 2 years, Samuel would help around the yard, doing tasks that are reasonable for a kid his age, and if anyone were to give him any trouble for any reason, Manny would handle it and add some compensation to make up for whatever it was Sam had to deal with. He may seem like the kind of guy to not care a lot, but he has a pet kitten and kept her even after she mutated and tried to eat him for crying out loud, he has some softness under that Brooklyn accent somewhere, and sure enough he'd grown to like Samuel, becoming a sort of surrogate father/uncle figure to him. Somewhere along that line Samuel was somehow also able to procure HRT and start on that, but how it happened I will never know. It's a show with talking turtle ninjas that have magic I don't have to be logical about things ALL the time.

Soon enough, when Samuel was 12, he managed to save up enough to get himself an apartment and was even able to get into a school and find a relatively okay job that didn't know he was not 14 because he sorta kinda lied on his resume- It was worth it though, he was glad he did it. He was finally able to be independent and not need to rely on others help to get a better life, but he will always be grateful to Manny for everything, and still visits him at least a few times a week either to just hang out or do favours, like fixing something or taking care of Mrs Nubbins, in exchange for being able to scrounge around for parts that he can use for any projects he's working on either for practice or to get one step closer to his dream of being a mechanic/technician. Manny only ever pretended to keep score of how many favours Sam could cash in. As far as he was concerned, Sam could take anything he wanted, within reason at least.

Of course, this doesn't mean Samuel is completely free. He still needs to be wary of his parents, as they're out there looking for him. They almost did find him at one point, but he was able to move somewhere else before they did, but he had to change his contact details and other such things in order to keep them off his trail. It's a song and dance he'd have to go through generally once or twice a year at least, three or maybe four if he's unlucky. He doesn't have a lot with him, so it makes the process easier, but it's never any less nerve wracking or stressful, not to mention expensive. But he's been getting more and better jobs, and eventually he didn't need to lie about his age on his resume anymore, which was a huge relief off his shoulders if he were perfectly honest. He still got bullied at his new school though, again for his appearance, which was unfortunate.

 His main bullies were these two guys, Kyle and Lyle, who sometimes had one or two other guys with them to join in on tormenting Samuel as much as they could, calling him him things like 'freak' or 'monster' or 'failed Frankenstein' (which Sam often wants to correct that Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster), even going so far as to beat him on the odd occasion. Safe to say, Sam can't really catch much of a break. That is, at least, until one night he sees a video of his employer's kid, Baxter Stockkid, making yet another one of his videos again. He goes to the Stock 'n Shop in order to stop Baxter from doing anything stupid that would get himself into trouble with his parents, only to end up meeting April from school, and two very green very three-fingered people that are very clearly not human despite their cosplayer claims. They are very clearly not cosplayers, he can smell the turtley-ness on them. He's more intrigued by them than freaked though, finding them rather cool and interesting. After that whole situation is over and done with, Samuel ensures that any video footage Baxter might have taken of the turtles is erased in order to protect their secrecy, and also put up a firewall to prevent any of such videos being released in case Baxter had any backups somewhere he didn't know about. It was after this that Sam and April actually met up properly and started to bond, earning Samuel his first friend of a similar age group, and also someone who can and will stick up for him when Kyle and Lyle try shit, which he greatly appreciates but also tries to discourage as he doesn't want her caught up in his shit. It's not long after that when Samuel, while rummaging around Repo's junkyard, he comes across Donnie for the first time. It catches them both quite off guard, but after a moment Samuel recalls Manny mentioning some troublesome turtles stealing that movie buggy he'd found a couple weeks ago, and figured that this terrapin likely is not exactly on friendly terms with the mantis mutant. Thus, he warns Donnie of when Manny would be doing his rounds and that he should get what he needs and go before he's caught before leaving himself as to not draw attention. Skip to a week later, April decides to properly introduce Sam to the turtles and cue recognition and mild shenanigannery, solidifying Samuel as a friend of the turtles. Aaaaaand that's about it! For the most part that is, this is just up to being properly brought into it, there is still a bit regarding his time with the turtles, let alone his change in species and whatnot. That can be for another post on another day, hopefully not several months from now-

[program-251]

gosh so I have been thinking about what my mindscape would look like in psychonauts (I have become obsessed with that game recently, help it's on my mind at every waking moment). And it felt like a neat little thing to do to figure some mental things out on my part.

(This is most likely a repost sorry, couldn't find it while looking through my posts though). This was the first thing to come to mind, it's a concoction of different places I remember living in (since we moved a lot). The boxed one kind of out in the middle there is my dorm room, I didn't include it but there would definitely be emotional baggage there. I also wanted to include projectors (like the ones in movie theaters or classrooms), replaying the same scenes over and over again on walls.

I ended up not doing that and instead went for these kind of screen things to represent bad memories or replay them per say. (one of which has a picture hung over it to try and cover it up, as ineffective as that is). (I wanted to include these because I replay things in my head over and over again, not all of them are bad, but it tends to lean toward negative memories. (there are a few other things about this that are intentional and have reasoning behind it, but I don't feel like explaining it all) (I do plan on making more concepts of the terrain as well, but I haven't yet)

Besides that, I thought of this thing, a silly little impersonator if you will. A worm in your head telling you about how others feel about you, reminding you of how things hurt, essentially just how I think my anxiety would look since it is running my life frankly. Gotta weaken that anxiety worm because it's a bit too intense (thank gosh for prescribed medicine, still got to get my hands on therapy though.) (additions will most likely be made and added oh joy)

[idioticsky]

Hello- hi- I'm sorry for so little updates but hey, new stuff for things you check my page for-

I have been working on the rottmnt thing don't worry for whoever wanted to see that, but this post is mainly for something else

And that something else is Psychonauts, that's right, I collaborated with @doodle17 to make a Psychonauts au called Welcome new campers! (Also tw for mentions of abuse and murder)

--------------------------------

This au is a future au that mixes bits of doodle's own future au and new characters, but unlike that au it mainly focuses on the kids over at Whispering rock and the new interns which I can tell you a bit about now and give some picrew visuals (or at least the closest I can to how they look and I'll try to find the links to the ones I used and add them later, but I wanna get this out first)

First: Sora Elliott Zanotto

Sora is one of the older campers coming in at the age of 14, he used to live with his father who normally abused him and his mother before she was murdered by him and he got away with it over lack of evidence and he bribed the jury. During the time he still lived with his father he used camp as a way to escape his home for a few months where he learned how to use pyrokinesis before ending up getting adopted by Lili. He dresses like a gay little emo (cuz that's what he is) and he hates most people cuz trust issues, but will warm up to you if you start talking about music or bands he likes. He has a bit of medical knowledge cuz he would try to help his mother whenever he could when she was alive, including stitches and bandaging up wounds, he can even do a minor surgery if he's asked to.

Second we have the twins: Callie and Milo Tucker

Callie and Milo are some of the younger campers at the age of 9. They're little balls of chaos who love to mess with people and cause mischief. Callie love to levitate out of people's reach and throw water balloons at them while Milo (who can see the dead) just loves to throw people away with telekinesis so he can talk with his ghost friends alone, he really only let's Lili, Milla or D'art get close. These two have older sister that will be talked about later and two parents who have a hard time dealing with them most days. Their clothes match most of the time and they love it, makes them feel special to one another. But yeah, they're chaotic, they're cute, and I love them.

Third: Marshall Watts

He's one of the only non psychics on this roster, being one of two. He's an intern who's just there to help with paperwork. Not too much is known about him other than that he's a psychic fan boy. He's also Sora's partner that Raz doesn't really like for whatever reason.

Next is is the start of doodle's little friends and I love them: Margo Teef

(Note: I copy and pasted all of this from a convo doodle and I had) He was raised by his non-psychic grandparents after his mom left when he was a baby and his father was nowhere to be found. Other than that, he's had an okay life, other than the fact he couldn't afford a way to get to and participate at camp which made him really sad. It ended up in him actually sneaking into the camp and running into his hero Raz! (But he had no idea it was raz at first) his personality is pretty simple. He's kind of shy, but always up for an adventure, as well as being super nerdy lol. If you bring up something about comics or the Psychonauts he'll start rambling for hours put of nowhere.

And next: Natalie Fealt

She's a punk girl who isn't afraid to tell you how things are. She lived with her dads and still kinda misses them now that she lives in the dorms at the motherlobe. She interns under Adam but is a little upset that she didn't get Lizzie or Lili as her mentor, but Adam is nice enough.

Now we have one of my favorite little goobers: Shirley Adams

She's very strange and very loveable in my eyes. She normally has a weird fact or two up her sleeves and is never in one place for too long. She mentors under Gisu, and as per Doodle's words (or at least close) will take any chance she can to escape. She'll come back like an hour or two later with bugs in her hair or on the back of a goat or something.

Finishing up: Luca Nein

As his name suggests he's the child of Milla Vodello and Sasha Nein themselves. He's not really an intern, but hangs around them enough to be like one. He's kinda a germaphobe and if you cough near him he'll freak out. He tries his best in what he wants to do and we love him for that.

Alright! This is the basics for the interns+ Luca! I'll have to make a part two for the camp councilors and other adults that are featured in this au but I hope you guys have fun with this! This au is still a work in progress, we still need a solid story to figure out as well as a few other things, and you guys are free to give any suggestions you want!

[trashy-opossum]

Oh man! I've forgotten completely to post my stuff here! Been busy with stuffs, but I've been getting into writing more!! Not gonna unfortunately put anything public yet, but I'm hoping in the future I get my little guys story put together! ^-^

Also new(-ish) guy!! Frances my beloved little nerd, He's basically another one of my Gaurdian enjoyer ocs, He's a cannon friend of #325 and have been besties for decades. (Also I'm blaming Nero again for influencing me!!/lh /j)

Some sketches as well! (Sooo.. Uhh, Ignore the fact that I spelled jealous incorrectly, I couldn't go back and fix it cause I merged layers so.. I'm still weeping about it!!)

Also.. *cough* Yeah thats a Psychonauts OC in the middle but I'm keeping it untagged

And Jozlyn!! my girl!! Letting you on a little secret, But since I've seen my friend play HOME I've personally Headcannoned that all the cats were owned by their respective guardians... I think its super cute..

LAST FEW I PROMISE

The Horror and an older oc!! Only my og friends remembers who this tough guy is!! I like his design a lot this time round, Both these goobs will be important for a certain someone's story, so look out for that!! :3c

OKOK, so that's all! Enjoyyy~ -w-

[haalyle-psychonauts-fan]

Hey I've seen your texture and model changing tutorials, tried them out and they worked perfectly great but it also made me curious. Is there a way to customize the model (not the textures nor using already in game models) by using sculpting and such and make it work?

I've seen few mods that were completely replacing the models in game and was interested in trying to do this myself (still learning how to do such tricks) and since everything by your tutorials worked, I thought maybe you know how to do this too or at least has any knowledge where to find tutorials.

Even if no, it's fine, I'll try to do so myself till i succeed. Still thanks. Asking this on anon because anxious

Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure how to do that myself.

There were a few guides I used to be able to change the meshes in Unreal Engine 4 games, of which I applied to Psychonauts 2 and I can share those here.

This guide talks about deleting some of the mesh and then extending the mesh to cover the hole, as well as re-assigning materials.

This YouTube playlist of modding Stray is, funnily enough, what helped me actually work out how to get my mods working in the game. This gives the basics of editing and sculpting a model in blender (namely Part 4).

I do want to try and add some meshes to models in the game, like Christmas hats and such. I'll share more details if I can get that working, but I hope the guides I've linked help somewhat.

Sorry I couldn't exactly help out, but once I get more experience with it, I'll make sure to add onto this post.

[that-weird-skeleton-bastard]

Psychonauts hunger games episode 4

here we go

Bloodbath

Clem Foote takes a sickle from inside the cornucopia.

Nils Lutefisk sets an explosive off, killing Franke Athens, Vernon Tripe, Elton Fir and Chloe Barge.

Crystal Flowers and milla vodello fight for a bag. milla vodello gives up and retreats.

Elka Doom overpowers J.T Hoofburger, killing him. (huh i guess she's still mad about him having relationships with people other than her)

raz aquato finds a bag full of explosives.

hollis forsythe snatches a bottle of alcohol and a rag.

bobby zilch scares morceau oleader away from the cornucopia.

Kitty Bubai throws a knife into ford crueller's chest.

sheegor grabs a shovel.

Quentin Hedgemouse kills augustus aquato for his supplies.

dr caligosto loboto convinces lili zanotto to not kill him, only to kill her instead. (FUCKER-)

Milka Phage gathers as much food as she can.

sasha nein, Dogen Boole, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Chops Sweetwind form a suicide pact, killing themselves.

Benny Fideleo stays at the cornucopia for resources.

Phoebe Love convinces Maloof Canola to not kill her, only to kill him instead.

Day 1

morceau oleader camouflages himself in the bushes.

sheegor is pricked by thorns while picking berries.

Quentin Hedgemouse shoots an arrow into bobby zilch's head.

milla vodello strangles Elka Doom after engaging in a fist fight. (that's for being hella toxic, bitch-)

raz aquato tries to spear fish with a trident. (raz my guy you have a hydrokinesis gift. use it)

Phoebe Love, Crystal Flowers, Milka Phage, and dr caligosto loboto raid Benny Fideleo's camp while he is hunting. (that mental image is hilarious lmao)

hollis forsythe attacks Clem Foote, but he manages to escape.

Nils Lutefisk makes a wooden spear.

Kitty Bubai receives medical supplies from an unknown sponsor.

Night 1

Quentin Hedgemouse tends to his wounds.

Benny Fideleo kills dr caligosto loboto with a sickle. (REVENGE!!)

Nils Lutefisk and milla vodello sleep in shifts.

Milka Phage attempts to start a fire, but is unsuccessful.

hollis forsythe pushes morceau oleader off a cliff during a knife fight.

Clem Foote screams for help.

Kitty Bubai and Phoebe Love hold hands.

raz aquato kills sheegor for her supplies. (I THOUGHT YOU SAID SHE WAS ACTUALLY COOL-)

Crystal Flowers cannot handle the circumstances and commits suicide. (of course she did)

Day 2

Benny Fideleo explores the arena.

hollis forsythe attacks milla vodello, but she manages to escape.

Clem Foote kills Nils Lutefisk with his own weapon.

Kitty Bubai decapitates Phoebe Love with a sword. (BUT YOU GUYS HELD HAAAAANDS :( )

raz aquato sprains his ankle while running away from Quentin Hedgemouse.

Milka Phage receives medical supplies from an unknown sponsor.

Night 2

milla vodello falls into a frozen lake and drowns.

Kitty Bubai shoots a poisonous blow dart into hollis forsythe's neck, slowly killing her. (this girl's a fucking menace)

Benny Fideleo spears Quentin Hedgemouse in the abdomen.

Milka Phage cooks her food before putting her fire out.

raz aquato and Clem Foote tell stories about themselves to each other. (raz is now even more traumatised than he already was)

Day 3

Milka Phage searches for firewood.

Kitty Bubai cannot handle the circumstances and commits suicide. (couldn't live with the fact that she killed the girl she held hands with, as well as the secondary head of the psychonauts)

raz aquato practices his archery.

Clem Foote begs for Benny Fideleo to kill him. he reluctantly obliges, killing Clem Foote.

Night 3

Benny Fideleo quietly hums.

Milka Phage screams for help.

raz aquato stays awake all night.

Feast

raz aquato and Benny Fideleo decide to work together to get more supplies.

Milka Phage stuffs a bundle of dry clothing into a backpack before sprinting away.

Day 4

raz aquato severely injures Milka Phage and leaves her to die. (you sadistic little bastard-)

Benny Fideleo camouflages himself in the bushes.

Night 4

raz aquato throws a knife into Benny Fideleo's chest.

The games have ended

💛The winner is raz aquato!💧

[erigold13261]

Do you think the sector Miles and Co are in Nueva York is designed for young individuals with fairly complex powers? (Or difficult situations like Gwen)

So I see NSR as being a company for about... a decade about. And from this, I feel like Nueva York is a younger company

I'm thinking Nueva York is about 5 years old, give or take. Young enough to not have all the amazing funding at NSR, but old enough to still be comfortable and have a reputation.

Because of this, I think Nueva York had an uptick in support and donations in the last like 2-3 years (once it started taking in people who were detained on using their powers, such as Hobie, as a way to rehabilitate them instead of just incarcerating them).

This support went kinda to the infrastructure of the Nueva York building/physical area. There were some reconstruction and added buildings, but most of the support went to advertisement and technical advancements like the watches and Go Home Machine.

What does all this have to do with your question? It's to explain the housing situation!

I think the housing situation for residents are split up like primary schools, by age. There are some powerful babies/toddlers out there and you wouldn't put them in the same are as a grown adult trying to use their powers.

So I would say that Nueva York is split up by ages. Something like, idk what the youngest would be, like ages 2-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, etc. Groups of 10s, maybe the younger groups are split a bit more and some of the older groups combine. Think 2-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25, 26-40, 41+.

The younger groups probably have some leeway in where they are placed, like Hobie can hang around Miles and Gwen even though they are about 15 and Hobie's like 19 because those groups intermingle since social interactions are good.

Like, each person has their own room, or if they share with someone it's of the same sex and age (as much as I would love them to do it by gender, sticking two teens with out of control powers of the opposite sex together might turn out bad, not that something couldn't happen with the same sex, but if there's a possibility of something happening, you just get your own room).

I think Nueva York is trying to find a way to also separate by power classification (at least keeping DET, VOL, and CON labels a bit more separated), but just doesn't have the time or energy to do so yet. I think that's why Miguel latched onto using NSR's Revolution as propaganda, to get a lot more support and donations to help him with his goals.

Now I realized I could have just answered your question in like 2 paragraphs, but establishing Nueva York's (and by extension NSR's) age is something I wanted to do! I have basically the whole of NSR's (the company) history down already, so using that to work on Nuva York's history is really fun!

(Like fun fact, Psychonauts, by this point, is probably a 30+ year old organization. While Vandelay Tech is about... maybe 15-20 years. However, Kale has only been in power for like 3-6 of those years probably. Nueva York being the baby of the organizations is funny to me. Bitch couldn't even make it to a decade before the people started to revolt lol).

[anonymouspuzzler]

(PSYCHONAUTS 2 SPOILERS IN FIRST IMAGE TEXT ESPECIALLY!!)

oh boy we've hit the point in my Psychonauts art backlog where we get into my OVERLY ELABORATE AUs!! This first one is what I call the "Cally O'Pia AU", which is basically "everything is the same except Cassie stole rescued one very specific weird little boy from a psychic lobotomy, and he grew up raised by her instead. There's a lot more content for this that I'd still like to finish someday, so I'll leave it there for now! There's another AU I've worked on more that you'll be seeing a LOT more of soon, though...

(Alt text/image IDs under the cut!)

[Image 1 ID (PSYCHONAUTS 2 SPOILERS IN DESCRIPTION): A sketchy, colored design for "(Caligosto) Cally O'Pia", an alternate version of Loboto who was raised by Cassie. He is posing with one hand on his hip and the other gesturing outwards; he has both original arms rather than a prosthetic. He has a full head of hair in a sloppy bob with long bangs and a yellow flower tucked behind his ear, wears glasses with green and red lenses instead of the inlaid lenses, and wears several multicolored bracelets and necklaces resembling Cassie's. He is wearing a janitorial staff Psychonauts uniform with the sleeves rolled up, half dark teal-green like an agent uniform and half-lilac purple. Over the uniform, he wears a long handmade-looking light-yellow skirt with pink tassels along the bottom edge, patched with several long patterned scraps of fabric as well as several smaller square patches. He is also wearing blue ribbed socks with light-brown sandals, and two fanny packs on his waist, one purple, one dark blue. There are bullet points about his personality and backstory next to the design, reading: - Picked up by Cassie during a Psychic 7 run on hospitals performing lobotomies (she got a little overzealous seeing a kid on deck and just. took him and ran) - Never met Lucrecia; she'd already left for Grulovia by the time he was adopted - Kept training with the Psychonauts, but became increasingly disillusioned seeing the Psychic 6 fall apart (especially when Cassie retreated to the Gulch) - Extremely powerful psychic, but blows off responsibility to the point he's all but useless as an agent; mostly tends to the aquarium and acts as a handyman - De facto custodian of the Gulch, since he's the only agent who can reliably make it in and out (he's going to check up on his mom) - Openly bisexual; in an on again-off again relationship with Oleander (both would rather it stay on but neither are emotionally mature enough to admit it) - Suspicious about the circumstances behind Maligula's defeat & the "official" Psychonauts founding; took on the moonlighting half from disillusionment, half to secretly investigate without influence (Oleander knew & would occasionally help) - Took the Deluginary job to get info on Maligula, didn't know about the plan with Truman until too late (no hard feelings against the guy himself, y'know?); realized he was in over his head, leaked coordinates to Raz & co. but got threatened into finishing the job regardless - Considered leaving the Psychonauts to be a dentist or marine biologist when he was younger; couldn't bear to abandon Cassie - One of the only agents to still regularly visit Compton in Psychoisolation - Picked up some writing skills from Cassie (he likes freeform poetry) - The socks with sandals are absolutely, specifically to piss off Hollis. Come at him.]

[Image 2 ID: A younger Cally O'Pia. He has messy hair, glasses, a big smile, and is eating a chunk of honeycomb. He is wearing a long tank top resembling Cassie's dress, over pleated pants that reach mid-shin, and sandals.]

[Image 3 ID: Traditional pen sketches of Cally O'Pia. In the left, he is standing with a neutral expression, one hand on his hip and the other holding up a dripping mop; in the other, he is sitting, grinning and using his psychic powers. In the second image he has removed his wrap-skirt to wear it as a shawl around his shoulders instead, revealing the Psychonauts uniform jumpsuit reaches about mid-shin on him.]

[Image 4 ID: A sketchy three-panel comic of Cally and Oleander. In the first, Oleander, wearing boxers and an unbuttoned shirt over a tank top, walks down a hall shouting "Cal??" Cally, standing around the corner wearing sweatpants and a baggy shirt, using telekinesis to bring plates over to him to dry, replies, "Kitchen". Oleander continues, "I can't find my All Paul shirt". The second panel shows Cally shifting his weight onto one leg as he dries the plate with a rag, nonchalantly saying, "Mm. Haven't seen it." Oleander, now looking directly at Cally around the corner, says, "Cal". "Yeah", Cally replies. "You are wearing the shirt", says Oleander. The final panel shows Cally, grinning knowingly and continuing to dry the dish, replying sing-song, "Dunno what you're taaalking abooouuuttt". Oleander, bracing his feet against Cally's lower back and tugging at the hem of the shirt with both hands, screams, "CAL SO HELP ME". Cally simply responds, "I look good though right".]

[somberine]

What made you make Nym a psychonauts oc?

It has the energy and vibe of a psychonauts character/hj. In all seriousness, I love Nym, but couldn't get anything to click when it came to my want to keep using him as an oc.

Nym is very near and dear to me, but his story was kinda Meh, and I wanted to do more with it. Can't really do more with an oc if you are actively trying to push away the fandom they were initially made for to take a breather yk?

Sooo we popped him into btc, the silly psychonauts universe.

The catch is that he fit into the universe so well that Nym is basically the same exact person just with a somewhat changed up backstory because Nym by this point is its own oc and not longer really Gordon Feeeman to me.

Eyes still stars, arm still blown off, it felt weird removing a disability so important to the character. Nym worked in a science facility studying Psitanium and the strengths it could give someone depending on how much of it they used. Being around so much psitanium at the time made its precognition act out, and it had predicted something kinda scary.

Nym lives by the rules of "Something you predict with precog can't always be right, especially if you take steps to change it." And tried this, but ultimately ended up being the center of an experiment with psitanium itslef and the facility pretty much blew up with Nym and very few others as survivors.

After A Lot of therapy and healing, Nym eventually started working in the Motherlobe as a teacher and a mentor for the interns :] Nym actively doesn't tell anyone about its incident and actively avoids most science labs because they scare him, but hes happy with the new job.

Precognition was basically a given with its character, I felt it fit the most. Psychofabrication was the replacement for the sweet voice, I think its fitting. It uses it to replace his arm sometimes as a joke. Teleportation because the au he was in he was essentially Gman, and Telepathy because it just felt like something Nym should have.

Overall stripped this guy of its Gordon Freeman everything and made Nym something more personal to me.

Did still kill all his friends and family in that explosion though. Sorry Nym.