#psychonauts ror spoilers

[girlboyadvance]

lost at sea without a compass

[bootycheeks-world]

What's the matter Caligosto?

[bcdrawsandwrites]

Day 5: Hostage / Kidnapping / Held at gunpoint

Characters: Truman Zanotto, Caligosto Loboto

Warnings: None

Summary: It's not the first time Truman's been in a dangerous situation, but it might be the first time he's unable to get himself out of one.

---~~~---

The first thing he became aware of was a foggy headache--the kind that made one feel like they should just go back to bed, or else wake up with a strong cup of coffee. The former sounded more appealing right now, so he tried to turn over to make himself more comfortable.

Only to find that he couldn't.

He also definitely wasn't under any sort of covers, nor was he lying on a bed.

Opening his eyes with a gasp, Truman's gaze darted around, trying to determine his surroundings. Before he could even figure out where he was, he tried to reach out a telepathic message to Lili to see if she was all right. Their mental connection wasn't always perfect, however--Lili often deliberately shut it off--and he half-expected the attempt to fail.

He did not, however, expect the sudden spike of nausea and dizziness at attempting telepathy, and groaned.

"Well, now! The patient awakes!" came an unfamiliar, ashy voice from directly behind his head. "You're a bit early for that..."

Truman craned his neck back to try to get a look at his abductor. His vision was fuzzy, and annoyingly there were two very bright lights directly behind him, one red and one green. It wasn't until those lights suddenly moved to shine directly over him that he realized that they weren't just lights--they were directly attached to the face of a person. Over his eyes, specifically--or, perhaps, they were his eyes. The man had blue skin, multiple facial scars, and an impossibly wide smile filled with yellow teeth. A bright green shower cap with floral patterns adorned his head.

While Truman knew he needed to be gathering any information he could possibly get out of this place, his immediate reaction was to recoil in horror. "Get away from me!"

"Pbbbt!" The man stuck his tongue out, inadvertently spitting in Truman's face. "That's no way to talk to your dentist!"

"Dentist?" He struggled to think past the fog in his head. Why did dentist sound familiar? And the silhouette of this man--he swore he'd seen it before, perhaps somewhere in the Psychonauts' files... Regardless, he shook his head, casting a look around the room. Focus, focus--he'd gotten out of worse before. He just had to gather some information. "Where am I?"

"My office!" the dentist said, stepping back and gesturing to the space around them with his prosthetic arm. "Amazing, isn't it?"

Truman blinked a few times to clear his vision, finally taking in the sight of the space around them--an observatory of some sort with a domed ceiling overhead, a large metal sphere suspended from the ceiling, and multiple people wearing hazmat suits wandering around. There was also something oddly familiar about this place, but he couldn't put a finger on it. "Strange place for an office," he remarked.

"Well, it's not like my old office, but it's a lot more spacious." The man twirled, tipping his head back as though to regard the space. He wore a long brown apron with a complicated bunch of straps in the back, and a long white coat beneath that. "Gets the job done, and has a lot of fascinating things to study out here!"

Something clicked in Truman's mind, and he leaned forward as much as his bonds allowed, not needing to feign his interest. "What sort of things do you study?"

The dentist hummed, turning his back. "Oh, some fascinating marine life, and some very fancy rocks..."

Right--psitanium or psilirium. Probably the latter, given the way it was blocking his powers and making him feel dizzy. Marine life, though... He ran through a few things in his mind, mentally going over a list of locations.

Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap.

Jolting out of his thoughts, Truman found his kidnapper suddenly leaning over him again, tapping his fingers--no, claws--against the arm of his chair.

"You're awfully quiet for someone who was, hm, taken far away from his home," the dentist remarked, his smile twitching and looking just a touch angrier.

Truman gave a nervous laugh. "Ah, I'm just thinking! Someone brilliant enough to be able to kidnap the Grand Head of the Psychonauts must be a talented individual! And you look quite... familiar."

A metallic shriek made him grit his teeth as the dentist's claws seized the arm of the chair, digging into it. "Come again?"

"I know you--you've got a file a mile long in our records," Truman said. "You've worked for some pretty famous clients, too, haven't you? The Noodler was one, as I recall. I had to deal with that mess you helped create. Quite the piece of work you managed to do."

"Yes, that one was an interesting client," the man--Dr. Loboto, Truman remembered the name--said, turning away for a moment. But his eyes, which were on telescoping loupes, suddenly snapped back over to Truman. "You're not going to get anything out of me about my current client, though!" He leaned in close enough for Truman to smell the peppermint toothpaste in his breath. "Doctor-patient confidentiality."

"Ah, yes, very important!" Truman let out another forced laugh. "Good... good to see you've a strong moral code."

"Morals?" Loboto echoed, then threw his head back with a wild laugh. "I haven't seen him in a while!" Idly he picked up a pair of pliers off of a nearby tray, turning the tool in his hand. "He had six decayed teeth in his upper jaw, last I saw him! Well, not anymore..."

"That's... fascinating." Shutting his eyes, Truman tried to remember something from this man's file. He always worked with someone, but had he done any kidnapping on his own? He couldn't recall it... But who could have gotten to him? Especially with all the security measures, both in the Motherlobe and in his own home! It would've had to be someone he knew. A traitor? A mole? But who?

Oleander showed problems sometimes, and Sasha had his issues, but neither of them, surely. But... what about...

He opened his eyes to find Loboto staring directly down into his face again. "Say," he said, before Loboto could speak, "you seem like you'd get along with someone I know. Have you ever heard of a Nick J--"

Loboto's hand grasped the front of his robes, yanking him upward, and his claws were at his throat.

Both arms were shaking. Sweat trickled down the side of the dentist's neck.

Loboto spoke through gritted teeth. "I think," he said, "we're done here."

His smile twisted into the angriest grin Truman had ever seen in his life.

"Goodbye!"

He dropped Truman heavily back onto the chair, and in one swift motion, covered his nose and mouth with a cloth. Truman fought as long as he could, but the last thing he saw before descending into unconsciousness was the permanent grin of the dentist shifting into something resembling a frown.

[ashes-and-static]

Right so I'm stuck on the Psychonauts train and I need to screech this into the black hole that is Tumblr

Spoilers (at least vague ones) for Psychonauts 2, so it goes under a cut. Warning for talking around trauma.

After the events of Psychonauts 2, Hollis Forsythe mandates therapy for everyone under her command who was involved with the events of the game (and especially the newly-minted junior agents). She also recommends therapy for the non-Psychonaut Aquatos, offering them their choice of therapist(s) at no cost to the family.

This goes over fairly neutrally for the kids who have been in the Intern program for a while - par for the course, pretty bog-standard when there's a major event. And, being that this is the Psychonauts, major events are pretty common.

It goes over like a lead balloon for Razputin, who has never had any kind of psychotherapy before and does not like people being in his head (literally or figuratively) any more than is necessary. Even with Sasha or Milla, he's EXTREMELY reticent to let them into his head. Or to really talk about what all happened. Like, yes everything happened and he did his best, that's all anyone can ask of him right?

Except, no, that's not the question, Raz. Raz is canonically 10 years old (unrelated fun fact, I thought he was 12 until recently), and not only ran away from home, not only had to help rescue his heroes from a man driven mad by his personal demons, BUT he was also subjected to psilirium poisoning, had to rescue his heroes and his girlfriend? (he's still unsure if she's actually his girlfriend, to my knowledge) from the person who kidnapped the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, AND THEN we have. Everything. from Psychonauts 2.

Lemme see here, we have 1)relentless bullying from the interns for the first while, 2)the whole thing in Hollis' mind, 3) the process of trying to find the mole (including both himself and the only friend he really has in the Motherlobe being suspect), 4) sorting through the various traumas and tribulations of the members of the Psychic 6, 5) confronting and dealing with literal generational trauma inflicted on his family by one of his greatest heroes.

So, yes, Raz needs therapy. Raz does not acknowledge that he needs therapy.

Imagine it's his Nona who breaks through to him, by sitting down with him and asking him to talk about everything. (Imagine Lucretia, between the founding of the Psychonauts and the events in Grulovia, pursuing a degree in psychology). Imagine Hollis listening in (with Lucy's permission), and being horrified about what all this kid, this literal ten-year-old has gone through in under a week. And Raz is nonchalant about it, at first. Plays at being blase about the literal brain-powered battle tanks, the terror-inducing experience of thinking he was being left behind by the others at the end of RoR, the isolation and humiliation he felt during his internship.

And then Lucretia says something along the lines of "I would've been scared, trying to go through all of that."

And Raz... pauses.

And in the smallest voice ever, says "yeah, it was... um. it was really, really scary."

And that's the breakthrough moment. He doesn't cry, not unless it's in the private safety of his family's camp, but he does just. wilt. Lucy talks with him about everything, and talks about how Hollis has pulled some strings and has offered therapy to the entire Aquato family. To her.

And to him.

Look I have thoughts™ about my faves getting therapy and taking care of their mental and physical health.

(Yes, this specific instance involves Raz getting a PTSD service dog because there is no way Raz is not dealing with trauma.) (also imagine best boy with a best boy/girl of his own, either a newfie or a great pyranese - dog is literally big enough for him to ride on and is perfectly willing to leverage its superior size to make him sit still and do his therapy exercises)

[helloemptyset]

[ image one: a drawing of morceau oleander from psychonauts as a mermaid, with a very pretty, shiny blue tail. he is topless and laying on a rock in an ocean, though the background shows that mermorry is in caligosto loboto's mental bathtub. his arms are crossed in front of him, and he's smiling serenely, looking up at the sky.

image two: a doodle of morceau oleander sitting at a desk, positively beaming about a drawing he's finished of him as a merman. there are little flowers and sparkles floating around his head, and he is sending out psychic waves of the first image. loboto is beside him, arms crossed and brow furrowed in frustration, saying, "Why am i seeing you as a merman in my brain? Stop that." ]

yahoo mermay mermorry. oleander is so bad at keeping his thoughts in his head.

[pyrajanison]

“This place is great! I feel like I can really keep my mind together here. Well, for the most part, I remember everyone’s names at least. This is Jeff and Maddie! We’re helping the Doctor work on his BIG secret projects. Very hush hush.... It’s gonna be so cool!”

PJ hanging out with some Fish Henchmen in the Psychonauts’ abandoned underwater base in the Rhombus of Ruin. She helps out with stuff underwater, hence the flippers, per the Doctor’s orders. Her main work consists of the construction of the Doctor’s ‘pet project’, something that requires a ton of scrap metal... (This takes place farther ahead in PJ’s timeline, set either right before Psychonauts or after Psychonauts but before Rhombus of Ruin.)

[paperpennies]

In this edition of Noticing Things in Psychonauts Cutscenes, look how DANG disappointed Sasha looks when he finds out Raz was inside Truman’s head. From his perspective, Raz was just doing exactly what he promised not to do again- messing around in someone’s head without permission, and a high-ranking Psychonauts official, no less. (There’s a good reason for it, of course, but none of them know that yet.) 

This is some of the most physical emoting we ever see from Sasha. His whole posture changes; his facial expressions are pretty dramatic, by his standards. He composes himself after this, but the emotion still must have been very strong to break through his usual stoicism.

I think it underscores how much he really does care about and believe in Raz. He wants him to succeed, and seeing him make the same bad choice again right away is crushing. Like kid we JUST talked about this, what are you doing?

[jnixz]

yeah that part is a bit headscratchy to me when I thought back to it. Seeing through the brain(much less one that’s under lock and radius of a large area of psilirium) seems very challenging after all

The way I could see it is with how Raz does his clairvoyance by using an item in the first game, there is a certain fixed point that he could reach and look out to. Since Truman’s brain was sealed in a box which probably limits his connection to the outside world, the closest Raz could get to would be his body. On a similar vein, another theory of mine I had before is that Raz was seeing through the thinkerprint on his beard since I think that’d have some connection to Truman's psychic signature.

So... If in ROR Truman was actually Gristol in Truman's body... Why when Raz used clairvoyance on Truman's music box did it link him to Gristol? Shouldn't it have connected to the brain in the box or not worked at all?

Does clairvoyance work by connecting to the body and not the mind?

[girlboyadvance]

[violetscacti-art]

Y'know as much as I loved Psychonauts 2 and its masterful plot twists, it never did answer how Loboto was able to defend himself against Sasha's mental construct so quickly in the first level

[pyrajanison]

And here I thought Loboto’s backstory couldn’t get any sadder.

Dr. Loboto and psychosurgery

hey hey hey, its memphis here to bring all yall loboto stans some real sad news :^\

:trigger warning: ( discussion of lobotomy )

Keep reading

[nowyourcookingwithboolie]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and hello, @razs-archetype I am your secret Santa this year! 

Here is your gift. Lili does Arson on a tree in the newly decorated house, while Raz’ Archetype decorates himself with and the house with glitter, and Raz watches, and Compton and his “real” Tincan Zanotto puppet freakout. Plus it is snowing outside. 

I Hope you like this! I had a lot of fun making it. I also could not resist making anything that involves Compton and the Goat puppets, as they are my fave characters ever!

[sxrrandomfanfics]

Headcanons that I Personally Don't Have, But Want to Read About

Truman Zanotto hired Loboto to steal Razputin's Brain. Imagine that after Razputin got into Truman's head and was on his way to the Rhombus with Truman's daughter, Truman tried to replace the idea of Loboto stealing Truman's brain for taking Razputin's. Wanting his and his daughter's safety while also offering money and another brain that this Deluginist could use. It didn't work, but now Loboto (after getting his kid back from Camp) comes back to fulfil the deal. Even if that means stealing his first mate's brain.

Evil!Otto Mentallis. Make Otto go full evil. Teddy Bear with no moral compass and only wanting to progress. (Thank you, Strawberry, for making my associate "Biggering" with Otto and Lili, very cool.)

Psychic!Dion I personally like to think that Psychic abilities skipped 'Tala and Dion and they resent it. But when PN2 first came out there was a PLETHORA of Psychic!Dion stuff that seemed to fizzle out.

Truman has a wife that has not left him, but she just travels because she is also an agent of the Psychonauts. I think most people (myself included with Tansy Martindale) like to give Lili a non-nuclear family because of her attitude. But imagine Lili just trying to rebel from people and her family being in full support of her. Fantastic idea.

[jnixz]

A List of Psitanium & Psilirium related tech

for my own reference

Psychonauts 2: How the machines make contact with [a person’s] mind [?]

“The secret is Psitanium. It’s a psychoreactive quartz-like mineral that respnds to and amplifies, psychic energy. It vibrates with the psychic waves, driving the machines." - Otto Mentallis

Devices that (most likely have) psitanium/some sort of psychic energy

Psi-cards & Psi-cores

Cobweb dusters

Merit badges & Pins

Otto’s inventions (Thought tuner, Otto-shot, Otto-matic, Hyperhyglaciator, Astralathe, his amulet, Otto-bon)

Brain Tumbler

Psycho-Portal

ThinkerPrints (could probably count the gates/doorways having this tech)

Floating security camera with eyeballs for detecting psychics

Floating Platforms and other fancy looking tech

The Pelican (psychonauts jet)

Devices psilirium-related

Psychoisolation chamber (especially the one by the motherlobe)

Rhombus of Ruin (the container Truman’s body was help up on, that huge meteorite of a chunk of psilirium at the bottom of RoR)

These are probably made out of some metallic material but it is possible that the Boole Hats and the Psi-lock (or whatever that restraint for psychic is called) have psilirium to dampen psychic powers.

[nonbinaryshotgunman]

Now weep/j

[pyrajanison]

“I’ve been having a dream recently. It’s the same every time.

I see the Earth, far below me, the vastness of space above me. 

I’m hanging, suspended, spinning slowly as I drift. 

It’s beautiful but...

... something is wrong.

I don’t know what it is, I wake up before I can figure it out.

...

What do you think it means, Doc?”

“Oh, that’s simply a flying dream. Most people have them. Nothing to worry about, my dear.”