#if sasha and milla are canon

[guacanator]

Milllaaaaaa warmup . so fun. so much joy . thought tumblr might like it

[maplemaplemaplemaplemaple]

its a sashamilla summer !

[citricacidprince]

Thinking about Psychonauts and how much I love the Aquato family once again

They mean the world to me your honor

[tuxedokit]

can we get some cmar deets for mermay?

i am. so late. happy mer-june. which is pride month, so here's some random thoughts that i cant remember if ive shared;

cmar!dion would transition during the storm. pre-storm, dion would only use he/him. after running away would be when they would even consider the thought of being trans. only about 6 months after the storm's beginning would di really think about it, but by the end of it she's transfem assuredly, using she/they/he

raz is also trans in this au. this is not relevant at all throughout it, he just is.

[ooliecat]

ohmy god what a day to step off of tumblr for a bit. i totally missed this for a while, i'm so sorry.

a mission story with these three? hearing that is enough for me. teary eyed.

this was very charming. and i love charming. maybe i’ll draw stuff out of it. maybe. thank you, parts of it were like, made for me. and it Was made for me. love it so much because of that. thank you again! happy new year!

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Psychonauts (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Razputin “Raz” Aquato & Sasha Nein, Razputin “Raz” Aquato & Milla Vodello Characters: Razputin “Raz” Aquato, Sasha Nein, Milla Vodello, Original Characters Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Mission Fic, Thunderstorms, Islands, Infiltration, Tension, Some Humor, bit of an open ending Summary:

An unexpected storm brews. From the Pelican, across the island, and to the culprit, Raz goes with Sasha and Milla to complete what should have been an easy job.

happy wicked late holidays @ooliecat! i took on your present when your santa dropped. hope you enjoy!!

[mermaidcowboy]

*busts down the door 20 years late* HIIII @jenniferstolzer HAPPY BELATED SECRET SANTA GIFT!!!!! i went. so overboard with the hurt/comfort cause im a sucker for good angst. i really liked that it was hinted that sasha helped milla with her nightmares (also mentioned in the noncanon li po document) and i really wanted to explore that more!!!

since it's pre-canon i also wanted to acknowledge that they're just starting to get close and sasha is super iffy about affection and showing emotions, so being able to hold space for milla and let her talk about her past while like. actually putting a hand on her shoulder would be super big for him!!!

i rotate these two in my mind constantly and have a poster of them in my room so i hope i was able to do them some justice!!! okie happy holidays hope you like it :DD

[2hoothoots]

(photographer voice) "okay, now let's do one where canon events play out slightly differently and everyone ends up in a significantly worse place because of it"

here's an au of an au because i have issues watched the genghis khan music video one too many times. lore dump + crops/bonus art below

Due to an unfortunate combination of chance factors, Razputin Aquato arrives at Whispering Rock one day late.

He finds the camp a ghost town. The campers are stumbling around, brainless; the counsellors, nowhere to be found. Ford doesn’t know what to make of this kid showing up out of nowhere – but he’s got promise, and with Sasha and Milla out of action, he’s their best hope. He gives Raz a crash course in what he needs to know, and sends him out across the lake.

Raz pulls through, against all odds. But he never gets the starstruck meeting with his heroes Sasha and Milla that he’d been hoping for; never gets to bond with Lili, or any of the other campers. It’s a harrowing and lonely experience for him, but one that ties a burning knot of resolve in his chest. If he works hard, he can be a Psychonaut just like he dreamed. He can save people.

When the alert comes through from Headquarters that Grand Head Zanotto has been captured, Sasha and Milla scramble the jet with Lili on board. They don’t bring Raz along – Ford’s account of his accomplishments is impressive, but without seeing him in action themselves, neither agent is convinced to bring him along on the mission. Sasha invites him to next year’s session of the camp – after all, he clearly has promise, and the Psychonauts are always interested in nurturing young minds.

Raz returns to camp next year with something to prove. He throws himself into his studies with a single-minded dedication, sparing little time to interact with any of the other campers. This time, he’ll show them. He’ll show them all.

Sasha, Milla and Lili are unable to locate Truman in the Rhombus of Ruin. It ultimately takes a week to locate the Grand Head, following an anonymous tip-off (later found to have been planted by Nick). It takes six months for the ruse to be uncovered. Ultimately, Nick is unsuccessful in finding any clues to Maligula’s whereabouts. Lucrecia will pass a few years later, surrounded by a family that has no idea who she really is. Ford never remembers the truth, and when Razputin is fourteen, he takes the secret to his grave.

Truman’s brain spends almost seven months in a box, under poor conditions with insufficient oxygen. When it’s finally returned to his body, he’s not the same man he used to be. He quietly steps down as Grand Head of the organisation, and spends years of his retirement in intensive therapy.

Lili is heartbroken. Her faith in the Psychonauts is shattered. She never returns to Whispering Rock again. Over the years, she becomes more and more withdrawn; isolated from her peers, estranged from her mother, and struggling with her relationship with a father who on bad days can’t even remember her name. The bitterness grows day by day, blooming within her chest.

She’s sixteen the first time she's forced to turn her powers against another person. Even in his current state, her father has enemies – old foes the Psychonauts can’t (or won’t) protect him from. There’s a raid on her house, late at night. It’s only by chance that she’s still awake. She breaks two of the assailants’ bodies, and when she twists her hand, the plants in her father's greenhouse writhe under her command and rip the third one to pieces. It’s the last time that house ever feels like a home to her. She cuts ties with the Psychonauts entirely, and never looks back; the next time they hear of her, it's under a completely different name.

Dogen Boole never returns to Whispering Rock either. He’s thoroughly traumatized by the events at camp, and his parents refuse to send him back the following year. With nobody to help him learn to control or harness his powers, his episodes steadily become worse as he gets older. Although reluctant, his family is eventually forced to reach out to the Psychonauts to help. Compton is still a nervous recluse, and nobody else in the organisation is quite sure how to handle Dogen’s powers. He spends his teenage years in and out of psychoisolation, and is subjected to more and more intense experimentation in the name of “treatment”. Nothing works. In the end, all he has to show for it are the scars.

His helmet is the only thing he can rely on to stop him mulching the cranium of anyone in a fifty-foot radius. There’s no place for him in “normal” society. Just like Lili, he’s driven to become a villain by a combination of circumstances, trauma, and a bitter feeling of hurt and betrayal towards the Psychonauts.

Raz enters the intern program at thirteen, and quickly graduates to the rank of Junior Agent. The Psychonauts he finds waiting for him is undergoing a marked transition from the organization it used to be. Upon Ford’s passing, the only member of the old guard still around is Otto. Hollis is a Grand Head forced to prioritize efficiency in order to keep the Psychonauts afloat after numerous losses and funding cuts.

Raz enters a passionate, determined boy, remarkably talented but who struggles to connect with his peers. When he gets his promotion at eighteen, he’s the most decorated junior agent the organization has ever seen. At twenty-six, he’s in the prime of his career, honed by years of training into an efficient, meticulous, ruthless Psychonaut.

He’s the perfect agent. As far as he’s concerned, that’s all he needs to be.

under-the-cut bonus, here's some tighter crops on the art, and also a couple extra bits and pieces:

dogen's helmet seals up like a pillbug most of the time, to stop his powers from leaking out when he gets stressed. i couldn't find a way to work it into the art while still making clear that Hey It's Ya Boy, but i think it's a neat visual. the extra pic of lili was gonna be a mugshot - at first i was planning to composit her art into, like, a dossier/file, but i couldn't make it work in the end

[32bitterra]

(June 4 - June 28, 2024)

Watch out, Phoebe... Be careful.

See, I told you I would revisit that sketch.

Scrapped sketches. They were originally going to be part of some sort of joke.

Scrapped sketch.

I can count on you, Crystal and Clem.

I just wanted to draw @sasalele666's ♀️ Misha design (with a half-assed ♀️ Maloof design I came up with in 5 seconds to go with her.)

Sasha really stood there like "Not my problem" listening to Maloof cry above him in the GPC. (I know it's because he knew Raz would let him out anyway in order to get to his lab, but it's funny to think about.)

When I watched my sister play, that was the exact moment I became enthralled with them.

Baby Loboto

Scrapped sequence of drawings in which an invisible Milka would have comforted Elton. Might come back to this one.

Canon Nils and sasalele666's ♀️ Nils (I thought she was cute and I just like the design so much.)

Milla must have the patience of a saint.

I'm very picky about older camper designs, so I don't usually share mine (Crystal's is the only design I've held onto, and I got it from a DREAM lol.) I was just messing around and thought this drawing turned out well enough to share.

Crystal 🩷

[cy-fi-theansweris42]

You know, I really wonder about how what happened with Maligula affected things for the adult psychics we see throughout Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2 back when they were growing up.

Maligula "died" 20 years ago, her being this huge threat because of what happened in Grulovia was only 20 years ago in the world of the game. That'd be like talking right now about something that happened back in 2004 (which is wild in itself to think about).

So how did this affect the lives of the adults we know? What did this mean for characters like Sasha, Milla, Hollis, Truman, everyone else?

I've especially been wondering about this for Sasha and Milla (since they're always on my brain while I replay the first game). I know we don't have canon ages for them, but I think they're probably around 30 years old or so. Old enough to join the Psychonauts, develop their skills, and become the duo we see in present day for the games.

So say they're 30. That would mean that everything that happened surrounding Maligula, her wiping out so many people, her "dying", the Psychonauts organization becoming a thing, etc., that all would have happened when they were around 10, around Raz's age. Now I don't know if Milla had her abilities back then or not (personally I think she didn't discover she was psychic until later in life when she heard the children screaming telepathically during the orphanage fire) but we know that Sasha has had his abilities since he was a kid, we see it in his memory vault when he reads his dad's mind.

So just, imagine being a 10 year old kid and seeing all these news stories about a dangerous psychic, seeing how everyone around you where you live reacts to that, all the while knowing you're a psychic too.

I can't even describe what that could have been like for people in the Psychonauts world.

[m-musings]

Headcanons: Fallout Men + Halloween Fun

A/n: i've been waiting for october just so i can write a bunch of these lmao

Word Count:454 Warnings/ Other Notes: written with a fem!reader in mind, nothing is canon compliant here

Cooper "The Ghoul" Howard:

Originally, when you brought up the idea of a couples costume to Cooper, he wanted no part of it.

But eventually, after he thought it through for a while and after you kept begging him with puppy dog eyes, He begrudgingly agreed.

After weeks of changing your minds, planning and finally making the costumes, the day was here.

As kids of all ages began to knock on your door, they were greeted with the sight of Cooper dressed up as the Phantom of the Opera.

As he gave them a menacing grin, they all backed away in fear before you- Dressed as Christine Daae- came rushing up with a bowl of candy.

The kids all took some candy before dashing away as fast as the could. You apologized and slapped Cooper's shoulder as he let out an amused chuckle.

"Cooper Howard, you stop that!"

"What?! It's Halloween, darlin', it's s'posed to be scary!"

Knight Maximus:

A few days ago, You and Maximus had decided that he needed a break from the Brotherhood base camp, so you figured Halloween was a perfect excuse to sneak away for a night.

You didn't have much in the way of costumes, but you managed to scrounge up materials to make yourselves look like Orpheus and Eurydice.

You spent the majority of the night trick-or-treating and socializing around a small nearby town before ending up at a party being thrown in the local bar.

After the good times are over, you take a long walk back to base, just so you can spend a bit more time together.

"Thanks for coming out here with me. I really needed this..." Max says, gently grasping your hand with a sweet smile.

"It was my pleasure! I always have fun with you." You reply, squeezing his palm in thanks.

Norm Maclean:

When Halloween arrives in the vault, it's one of the few things Norm willingly participates in.

He had your outfits planned since last year so as soon as the daylight comes, he's decorating your living quarters as much as possible.

And once that's finished and Norm declares it perfect, the two of you get dressed up as Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello just before the sound of children knocking comes from your front door.

After greeting all the parents, the two of you turn to the dressed up kids who begin bouncing on their heels as they see the plastic bowl in your hands.

"Hey, ya little menaces! You ready for some candy?!" You say, giving the kids a polite grin.

"Emphasis on the some, you guys. Gotta save a bit for me and my girl!" Norm smirks as he steals a piece of chocolate from the bowl and places an arm around your hip.

[doodle17]

i kind of want double fine to retcon d'art into a major character in a psychonauts 1 remake

by way of making him a sort of rival to raz until they stop playing games and go to the asylum

and d'art would have some more preference to milla, up to and including taking her psy-door when she drops it like raz with sasha's

Tbh that idea sounds more like it would work better as a DLC/ whole new game ENTIRELY than a remake. Maybe a semi-canon multi-player DLC, if you will. I think that'd be a fun idea!

I do agree that it'd be nice to have D'art in a larger role in canon other than a little blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. He has so much potential and his design is too good to waste.

[cringywhitedragon]

Sashamilla HCs on becoming Parents

Been playing Psychonauts and I love this little dynamic, also these two I could see marrying and becoming parents post-canon and oh boy it would be a roller coaster at first but the two would love their kid(s).

This is set post canon but won’t have many spoilers since I still haven’t gotten very far in 2 yet (Plus I’m planning to restart my save there)

Even though the two had planned and tried for months, not even that could dampen the shock for both of them when Milla uttered those two simple words.

Sasha was the one who took the longest to process just what was going on until Milla pulled him into a tight hug. “We’re going to be parents, querido! Our very own little one like back at camp. Oh, I’m so happy!” (I have this headcannon that Milla would give Sasha pet names in her native tongue when they started dating)

Both of them still hold trauma relating to kids/childhood that while is mostly under their control, does somewhat start to come out more as Milla’s pregnancy progresses.

Milla, while the less nervous of the two, is mostly worried about the rare off-chance that the two might lose their child like all those years back when she worked at the orphanage leading to one or two Nightmares to escape containment. Though they are quickly put down.

Sasha on the other hand is the most worried despite how hard he tries to hide it from anyone. Losing his mother at such as young age and his father’s subsequent depression from it makes him worry about his fear of losing Milla or if he’ll be a good father to his soon to be son or daughter.

I’m not sure if it has been stated but I think it would make for an interesting idea that mothers who are psychics develop a sort of mental link to their children during development. It’s not as strong as one per se that two adults might have as the baby’s brain hasn’t fully developed yet, but just enough to convey simple emotions or to tell if something is wrong. Milla would use this link frequently to check up on their little one. Thankfully there didn’t seem to be any problems.

It happened suddenly one summer day at camp when Milla had to cut a Levitation class short. Sasha had to be the one to drive but at least that was the benefit of always carpooling.

Sasha’s not one for squick being a germaphobe and all. Piled on top of that with nervousness that he was not able to suppress, he really just wanted to leave the room until it was all over. But he stayed by Milla’s side until it was all over.

The first cries of their daughter was enough to bring them back to reality. Milla was more than joyful to get to hold her while Sasha could help but feel both perplexed yet amazed as he held the child. This small human wasn’t just some random kid like back at Whispering Rock, this something that both of them has created together. In a way, it was oddly beautiful.

Their little girl got mostly Mila’s looks with slightly lighter skin due to her father’s genetics, though she did get Sasha’s eyes as Milla put it.

The kid would grow up mostly in both the Motherlobe as well as at Whispering Rock during the summer as her parents were often busy. Though that didn’t stop them from spending time with her.

In terms of personality, she’d turn out to be a mix of both her parents. Very smart and also a little shy, but also very kind at heart and willing to stand up for others.

She was an early bloomer with her powers. Both Milla and Sasha made sure to teach her some of the basics ahead of time as she got older.

She looks up to Raz as a sort of older brother figure. Milla introduced the two when she was still a baby and the little one was quick to take a liking to the Junior Psychonaut. I could also see Raz using a combination of both his background as a circus kid and his own psychic powers to show off some neat tricks to her.

[maplemaplemaplemaplemaple]

was having counsellor pyjama discussions with friends yesterday and i think this is accurate

[sxrrandomfanfics]

Decided to start doing pixel measurements

Basically, there's a height chart that I've seen around that has all of the Psychonauts 2 characters in a line from tallest to shortest.

So, using this, I figured out how tall Raz was by putting the chart into MS Paint 3D and getting a pixel measurement,

which turned out to be 81 pixels. Since we know from stats in game that Raz is 4'4", we can go from using the pixel measurement to figure out how many pixels can equal 4'4". 4'4" is 52 inches tall. We must divide 52/81 to get the amount that 1 pixel to x inches. So 52/81 = .64 inches.

The formula I used was P*.64 = X... /12 = H

Below the keep reading I'll place down my chart of different character groupings. I used generated approximations on HeightComparison.com

DREAM TEAM! Sasha turned out to be 135 pixels, Milla was 133 pixels, Morceau was 105 pixels, Raz is canonically 4'4" Lili is an approximation. She measured around 75 pixels. So she should be 4' even.

AQUATO FAMILY! Augustus, not including his hair, had the exact same pixel measurement as Milla. Donatella was 129 pixels. Dion was 125 pixels. Frazie was 117 pixels. Raz is his canon height. Mirtala was 68 pixels. Queepie was 56 pixels.

PSYCHIC SEVEN! Cassie was 180 pixels. Helmut was 150 pixels. Otto was 125 pixels. Ford was 120 pixels. Bob was 116 pixels. Lucy was 90 pixels. Compton was 84 pixels.

SENIOR AGENTS! Sasha was 135 pixels Milla was 133 pixels Hollis was 126 pixels Truman was 122 pixels Morceau was 105 pixels

JUNIOR AGENTS! Adam was approximately 146 pixels Lizzie (and Norma is the same height) was approximately 119 pixels Gisu was 98 pixels Sam was 88 pixels Morris was 79 pixels

[cubezart]

Hi!! You totally don't know me at all, I'm a complete stranger >:) And I'd love to hear about Jim's mental world!!

HI ok so erm this is mostly just gonna be a mess of rambles and vague ideas smushed together barely in order but

(old/outdated concept sketch, but it's a good start)

for starters, the prime issue(s) to help resolve in his mental world (or this version at least) is jim's fear of burdening his friends and family, and his resistance to reaching out for help, as much as he really needs it. it doesn't get too deep into his trauma, it's just giving jim the push he needs to seek out help again

after jim's recent divorce with bettie, he's been trying to give his family "some space to process" ...which didn't take long to sink back into old self isolation habits. he's been putting his all into his job to repress and distract from everything else going on with him, and it doesn't seem like it'll work for very much longer

first area in his mind is a boring + extremely tiny office room, the other cubicles are all empty and open except for jim's, which has a big metal door attached to the entrance. you can try and talk to him or ask him things, but it won't get you much . he insists he's happier in there really !! its so nice and safe hes fine :) its ok :)

when asked why he's locked in, he'll insist it's for his own safety, saying some vague stuff while the clairvoyance hints become even more obvious. when you use clairvoyance on him, his POV shows the cubicle door and everywhere around it surrounded by nightmares clawing and staring at him from the other side. (something something these are all just his own perception of things and he's really not in danger)

afterwards, his dialogue tree gets pretty short and limited, leaving raz to explore !! there's a few doors you can interact with, one being just a simple archetype-required door with a little collectible or somethin. the other is an old n dusty storage closet filled with memory vaults piling up to the ceiling. you can't really interact with any of those individually, (maybe some raz line along the lines of "i can't punch through all those :( ") but there's one or two real ones that just seem to have completely mundane and normal memories inside. weird! cuz with cpstd n trauma memory loss/repression, it can repress a lot more than what's necessary

there's one last door to try, leading out into the next phase ! raz says goodbye to jim, and jim happily waves back as the door shuts n locks behind raz, and the hallway distorts and extends, distancing raz away too :( sorta like the effect in the pn2 office construct !! im taking a lot of inspo from that world tbh heehe except for the obvious yknow. dental stuff

the next phase is kind of a messy stub for now, still sorting n planning out everything in my head lol but it's called Jim's Judgement

it centers more around jim's trauma and Issues TM and a lot of it is more vague concepts than any real gameplay ideas for the more dark story elements bc i don't want raz to have to see that and like to think after raz gets him a head start, he gets into actual professional Psychonauts therapy (and for my own silly oc/canon interaction fun, its sasha and milla assigned to help him. perhaps. maybe. they almost assigned oleander but he yelled too much and scared him away /hj) ANYWAY!!

all that being said i honestly have 0 ideas how to tone shit down for raz and im still trying to plan out the smaller in-game per se variation on it so i will simply. wait to talk about it. there's a lot of cool symbolism and motifs i prommy i swear </3 but the main "boss fight" final moment thing surrounds his whole paranoia of being a horrible person who others only tolerate + he constantly has to "make up for it" by putting everything and everyone Before him. i really wanna end it back in the small office space with jim having the key on his desk this whole time, making it literally In His Hands to get himself out. he just needed the support! he's definitely scared and slow, but he opens the door and steps out of his cubicle. the room grows a little bit. its a start

i was gonna ramble more about the darker version of the second phase but this post is already gettin Long and kinda incoherent i think so ermm. ill split it off into a second post probably if anyones interested in hearing more . i hope this all made sense lol i have too many thoughts about him to keep together honestly

[marshvlovestv]

Prompt number: 14 "Did you stick to the plan?"

Fandom: Psychonauts

Rating: Teen and up

Warnings/Tags: Past child death, religious trauma, canon-typical anti-psychic bigotry

“You guys, you’re never gonna believe this! Kratt is up to something is up to something way bigger and worse than we thought. I was in his office, and he was meeting with this CEO, and they were talking about enslaving psychics to work on assembly lines, and –”

“In his office?” Grand Head Zanotto tilted his head, softly interrupting. “That was nowhere near your assigned point. Agent Aquato…”

“Razputin,” said Sasha.

“Soldier!” said Morry, with the tone of someone who had been burned before.

There was a silence in the air, and Milla could tell they meant for her to be the one to fill it. She tamped down her rising fear and frowned at Razputin. “Darling…”

Finally, the circle of scoldings made its way back to the Grand Head. “Did you stick to the plan?”

Razputin looked at the adults one by one, half any of their heights but with twice the boldness. “I could tell there was something going on in that office, and I knew no one else would be there yet! Don’t worry, I floated up through the vents,” he said, miming brushing the issue off his shoulder. “No one saw me.”

Floated up? Milla was suddenly overcome by a great nausea. A hand on her stomach, she waited until Grand Head Zanotto’s gentle reprimand had everyone else distracted, then nudged Sasha with a whispered “Pardon.” She tried to hold it in, but tears were dotting her eyelashes by the time she got to her office.

Milla had taught Razputin how to levitate. The tools of his recklessness, a gift from her. And no, he wasn’t her responsibility anymore; she gifted this skill to every young psychic who passed through the organization, and it was theirs to do what they wished with as soon as they left the camp. And Razputin, he wielded it so much more deftly than any of the others…

But Razputin. Brash, stubborn, confident Razputin. Milla wondered as she had before if she had picked a poor student.

He reminded her so much of Jacó.

Jacó’s mother had still been alive, but she’d abandoned him. She didn’t give the orphanage her reason, because surely Madre Superiora would not have accepted her child if she’d told the truth. The sisters had taught the orphans to abhor the false prophet, the magician, the psychic, for they had no place in God’s kingdom. Milla had recited these same lines without conviction, because it was what she’d had to do to be allowed to care for the children. Still, she would hide Jacó’s bent spoons from the other sisters. She would put a finger to her lips, telling him to be more careful. And one day, she would offer to train him in secret.

She hadn’t had the words yet for many of their powers, so she’d taught Jacó “throwing,” “other-sight,” and her favorite, “flight.” She’d told him never to use these powers where the nuns or the other children could see him. He’d listened. Milla thought he’d listened. But maybe he hadn’t listened quite well enough.

She wanted to believe it was a coincidence that the orphanage had met its gruesome fate just weeks after she’d introduced him to “fire-starting.” But she couldn’t deny what she’d heard when she approached that burning building. What Jacó said to her in between his death screams was the first purely mental communication she’d ever had with another psychic: I’m sorry.

“Agent Vodello?” A small, quavering voice pulled Milla out of her wallowing. She realized that she’d been forcing her sobs in, but her body was still shaking.

Razputin was rubbing his arm, head tilted towards the ground. He’d received all the scolding he deserved and was pondering it now – and luckily, the things he pondered tended to stick with him.

Milla didn’t want to add to his guilt, but she couldn’t help but make a plea of her own to join Morry’s, Sasha’s, and Grand Head Zanotto’s. “Keep yourself safe, Razputin. That’s all I ask of you.”

Razputin frowned and nodded determinedly. “I will, I promise! Don’t worry, Milla, you won’t lose me like –” He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying what he had been about to. “I’ll always be careful!”

Milla shook her head and smiled sadly. Razputin knew about the orphans, and he knew because he’d snooped through the depths of her mind and hadn’t left when she’d told him. This boy was always going to do what he thought was fun or interesting or right. He might save the world that way. He might meet the same fate as Jacó first.

It was out of Milla’s hands in all ways but one. She rarely found herself praying since she’d left the church. But someone had to watch over Razputin, and it couldn’t always be her.