#like the uncanny valley subtle differences in appearances is scary Of Course but like. think abt it

[torchiiko]

have i mentioned how badly i want one of those papers please / thats not my neighbor style games where you have to pay attention to their behaviors too... Especially since in tnmn you see the same ppl over & over again cuz of the setting

imagine being able to take your own notes abt info you pick up while making small talk! sudden shifts in personality Could be explained by life events, if you listen to what their personal life is like enough to pick out whats real. otherwise, if it just doesnt make sense, theyre probably being impersonated

itd be especially cool if the info you know changes over the course of the game!! in the first half, you should turn away a student who says theyre coming from school on a weekend, but later on theyre enrolled in additional weekend studies so you have to remember that even if its added to their record

it doesnt even have to be supernatural necessarily, the premise could be that everyone being checked in is like. super rich or important somehow & the impersonators are just trying to take advantage of their status. or they are just mimics bc thats always fun :)

[thecorteztwins]

✍️ Toad with an acolyte that might like him?

(using WATXM so the first-gen Acolytes and second-gen ones can be on the same squad! Also assuming this is for @toadlingscentral. I also wasn’t clear on what “might like him” meant so I went with friendships.)Toad neverbeen lucky enough to know other physically mutated types. Okay, technically there was Blob, but…Fred still looked human. Not a type of human that other humansliked, but still…better fat than a freak.After he’d joined the Acolytes, however, he’d been introduced to Seamus Mellencamp (no codename) and Mortimer Everett (alias Barnacle), both of them physically mutated in…less than attractive ways…and had found companions in them both. Of course, Toad wasn’t friends with themjust for that, he was sure they’d have gotten along fine anyway(especially Barn, he was really nice—and his real name was Mortimertoo!) but  there was a certain unspoken sense of solidarity betweenthem. Without ever having had to talk about it, they knew theyshared certain experiences, certain feelings, certain realities. Theyall understood what it was like to be like them in a way that the others,even the kindest, just couldn’t comprehend. Indeed, Toad actually wondered ifthese two didn’t have it worse than he did. Mellencamp looked even more inhuman than Toad did, frighteningly so, and poor Barn…his mutation had given him dry cracked scabby crusts and scars all over his skin, not to mention a big lumpy abscess that hung over one eye, rendering him half-blind. To top it all off, he also had a speech impediment, possibly from having crusts and scars on the inside too. So yeah, it was hard not for Toad to feel a certain connection with these guys.Not that the other Acolytes were all bad either. Some were bullies, like the Kleinstocks—though atleast unlike Fabian, they didn’t seem to hate him for how he looked,they were just jerks—and some, like Senyaka, were just plainscary….but Milan was great. He looked totally human, but he was a big nerd who the others picked on a lot. This and a shared love of technology connected him and Mort.Amelia Voght was nice enough if not exactly his friend, and Scannerand Neophyte seemed as unsure and nervous as he often was, seen them, and he saw them bossed around and picked on too.And, of course, Anne Marie. She had been the first Acolyte he met, and his first friend among them. She’d always been nice to him, and she never flinched when looking at him, nevergave any sign she was looking at anything strange, be it disgust orpity or the natural nervousness that an appearance like his couldinstinctively incite in people not because they were bad or hatedhim, but just because…people weren’t supposed to look like him.Barnacle had been the one to explain why most people were like that.”It’s called kkkst the Uncanny Valley,” he said, “You and—kkkst—I, we look human, but not human enough. It hits a weird part of the brain that–-kkkst–unnerves people even more than monsters do. That’s why clownsand puppets—kkkst— scare people. They look SIMILAR to humans but withsomething just ‘off’.”He paused to take a drink of water; Barn had to do that a lot when he talked. Then he continued,“They use that in–kkkst–movies, to make people creeped out instead of just ‘oh shit a scary—kkkst—monster!’ like when they see someone like Mellencamp.”Barn paused again, and then finished, “”It’s natural instinct, everyone–kkkst— has it.“Idunno, man Anne Marie doesn’t,” replied Mort, “But that girl ain’t got a lot of anyinstinct, I don’t think”He liked her a lot, she was just a bit…screw loose. But in a good way.

“Shefeels bad for you,” said Mellencamp, putting his claws lightly on Mort’s arm, as if delivering some painful news, which he was,”Some people—especiallywomen—they’ve got this Quasimodo complex. They pity us, they wantto be that one special person who sees past our looks, but theydon’t, not really. They can’t. Like Barn says, it’s instinct. Evensomebody blind wouldn’t like us once they touched us—they can 'see’with their hands, you know. ““Anne Marie’s 'bout as subtle as anaxe to the head”, said Mort,”If she thought we was ugly monsters,she’d say so.”“Kkkkst—she has!” Barnacle exclaimed.

“What?” Mort’s jaw dropped, “You sure you ain’t mixin her up with the OTHER Cortez?”“Fabian?” said Barnacle, “kkkkst—No, he’s—kkkst—cool. As cool as anyone can be, But his sister—well, like you said, blunt as a—kkkst– axe to the head.You’re telling me she really hasn’t said anything to you?”“No! Whatdid she say to you?!”“Well, she walked right up to me when we met and said wow, you look like amonster!” Mellencamp told him, his voice full of understandable resentment.“She started–-kkkst– trying to touch my lump,” Barnacle bemoaned, referring to his forehead abscess, “Like I’m a zooexhibit. The others at least give me a little—kkkst-–respect.”Mortcouldn’t believe what he was hearing. Anne Marie? The sweetest girl inthe world? Scary, sure, but sweet. There must be some kind of misunderstanding. He’d try to clear it up–he didn’t want his friends to fight, and he especially didn’t want these two guys to feel bad! Because boy, he knew what that was like.***”Anne Marie?” Mort asked timidly as he approached her. She was lying on her back on the grass, pedaling her feet in the air, bouncing a ball of them.”Hey, Anne Marie, can I ask ya something? Am I…do you think…am I ugly?””Yeah!” said Anne Marie, without hesitancy, and without cruelty, just casual simplicity, as if he asked if she’d like a soda. As earlier, his jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t wanted to believe it. He always usually assumed people thought he was hideous to start, but he’d come to think Anne Marie was different…and that made it hurt so much more than when people like her brother said it. Because Fabian, he was a douchebag in general, but Anne Marie…she was a nice person.So if even nice people thought he was ugly…Tears began to well in his eyes, but it had been a long time since he’dever cried in front of anyone, so he  wouldn’t start now. Without another word, he hopped away fastas his legs could carry him.Anne Marie, oblivious, got to her feet and began bouncing the ball off her knees***Later that week, Mort ventured into the kitchen when Chrome and Frenzy were having a conversation. Usually, Mort just tuned out their discussions like everyone else did. He could seldom follow what they were saying. Mort was not dumb at all, buttheir kind of smart was very different than his kind of smart. He couldn’t help picking up, however, that they were talking about looks, and how people were treated because of them, and he began to listen despite himself. They were saying stuff about…how beauty wasin the eye of the beholder, you aren’t entitled to have people findyou attractive, but also how people see beauty was shaped by a verybigoted culture hence the existing standing of beauty and how thatshould be questioned…“But ultimately, isn’t that juststill playing into the dominant paradigm?” said Chrome, pointing a finger as if to illustrate some invisible diagram,“Like,okay, let’s say the powers that be say that brunettes are ugly andblondes are the best. If the brunettes go, hey, you know what,brunette is beautiful, then they’re still playing the game, they’restill supporting the idea that beauty matters at all. When a lot ofpeople say “fuck your beauty standards” what they actually meanis “include me in them” rather than dismantle them altogether,which is what SHOULD be done. We’re so entrenched in this system,this way of thinking, that we’re trying to get a piece of the piewhen the pie itself is rotten.”“I agree with your pointin theory,” Frenzy returned, “but in the real world, beauty DOES matter in society, and peoplenot considered part of the pretty pie are getting treated like shit forit—-namely, people of color, transgender and gender-nonformingfolks, the disabled, the physically mutated, none of which YOU are, soforgive me if I think it’s really easy for you to say that beautyjust shouldn’t matter to anyone when you have the privilege of it notaffecting you in the first place.”“You know what, that’s a really fairpoint, excellent point,” Chrome admitted, “So, with that in mind, what would you think of—”“She’s right!”Mort burst out without realizing he was even talking until it was too late, throwing his arms up, “You have no idea what it’s like! Either ofyou!”Both of them stared at him, and Mort felt himself shrink. He seldom spoke to either of these Acolytes at all. They were intimidating people. Frenzy was was even bigger than Anne Marie, andunlike Anne Marie, she NEVER looked friendly. Chrome was scary in hisown way too—not because he was big, he was tall but he was as skinny as Mort— because he….he was very handsome, Toad thought, not like amusclebound meathead like the other men here, but like a willowymodel, with a strange sort of striking beauty. And he was…he wasn’tmean in the way like Fabian or the Kleinstocks were, but he was always arguing withpeople, and he always seemed to be right. It made Mort uncomfortable,he didn’t like the conflict, and he didn’t want to ever risk being onthe end of that kind of tongue-lashing. To his surprise though,neither of them told him to shut up. They looked expectant.“Go on,”said Chrome after a moment.“…go on?” Mort squeaked, confused.“Your opinion is relevant”,said Frenzy, “We’d like to hear it.”“I…I…I don’t have an opinion,I just…I just…later!”And he hopped away again.***The next day, as timidly as he had approached Anne Marie, he hobbled up to Chrome in the hallway.“Um, chrome?”Chrome looked at him.“You’re…you’refriends with Anne Marie, right?”Chrome nodded.“Does she….does she think I’mugly?”“Best way to know is to ask her,” Chrome answered, “Anne Marie doesn’t lie. Don’t thinkshe can.”“Yeah, I…I know,” Mort hung his head, “I did ask her.”Chrome regarded Toad thoughtfully for a moment, then asked, “She said said yes, didn’t she?”Toad nodded.“And she probably said it realcasual-like, like it was the simplest thing in the world, am Iright?”Toad nodded again, head still down. Chrome nodded too, but it was more of a thinking nod, and he curled his long thin fingers around his jutting chin as he did. Then he put his hands out in a ‘hear me out’ kind of gesture, his tone matching,“Okay, so—here’s a little thing that’s differentabout Anne Marie. When most people say ugly, they mean bad. Uglinessis culturally linked to evil and inferiority in our society. Like,it’s no fuckin’ coincidence that light skin and straight hair, aka traits associated with white people, getconsidered the prettiest, y'know? And when people say you’re fat,they don’t mean it the same as “you’ve got green eyes” like just another physical trait, they meanyou’re gluttonous and lazy and probably really stupid and gross. All this stuff attached to it. So,you know what Anne Marie means when she says you’re ugly?”Mort whimpered, afraid to hear.“She just means you’re ugly. She doesn’t have avalue judgement attached to it. She doesn’t think ugly things arebad. You know what I was saying, about how we need to embrace aworldview in which beauty, be it societally defined beauty or our ownpersonal definition, does not matter beyond who you’re choosing to fuck? Anne Marie is already doingthat and she ain’t even trying. You know what she means when she saysyou’re ugly? Just that she wouldn’t sleep with you.  Andshe doesn’t wanna sleep with MOST guys, so don’t go feeling specialfor that.”Mort looked up at last,  “But…Barnacle and Mellencamp…”Chrome winced, “Oh yeah, that. Yeah, even I wanted to slap her for that one, though I gotta respect her candor—or I would, if it was something I thought she tried at instead of just, like I said, how she is. But yeah, no, those guys, if they’re mad at her, they got every right. Her delivery is totally disrespectful, she has no idea how her wordsaffect people and she should really fucking work on that. So I’m notgonna tell you, oh, you can’t be hurt because she didn’t mean to hurtyou. Someone fucking opens a door into my nose, doesn’t matter ifthey didnt mean to, it HURTS. But what I mean is…the real reasonsyou might feel bad when people say ugly, because of all the things theyMEAN by it—that you’re bad or inferior or not worthy of love orwhatever—they aren’t attached to it when she says it. She just sayswhat she sees.”“I just…I thought she liked me?”“You think saying you’re ugly means she doesn’t like you? Anne Marie loveslots of ugly things!” Chrome threw his long skinny arms out the sides for emphasis, “Man this one time she showed me these weird newts, and she said they were so ugly, and shesaid it the way most people say cute! Look, I’m not gonna tell you how tofeel, or what to do. That’s your choice. Just, if I were in your shoes–flippers, whatever—I’d go back to her and ask the right questions thistime. For your sake, man.”***”Anne Marie?”Mort had poked his head into her room. She was on her bed, curling in on herself, trying to bite the waistband of her underwear.“Uh huh?” she said, continuing her attempts.“Do you…like me?”“Yeah!” she said happily.“Are wefriends?”“Yeah!”“Would you…ever have sex with me?” He didn’t WANT her too, and he didn’t want her to think he wanted her to, but he remembered what Chrome had said about that, so….“Nope!”“DoI…gross you out?”“Nah!”“But I’m ugly?”“Yeah.”“Isthat…bad?”“Nah” she sat upright properly and beamed at him, “You’re really good.”Mort smiled back at her,

“Youknow, you’re really good too.”