#second of all.. raz...what a good kid

[marbledpython]

RAZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[barrenclan]

I think people forget that, even though it's upsetting and sad, Asphodel needed to die to drive the story forward. Of course, you could have turned the story a bit differently, but it's like that with every story written... Asphodel just happened to be the character you picked (it worked out quite beautifully story-wise though). It's sad, it sucks, it makes you wish things could be different. That's the tragedy. Not only did someone die JUST as they were growing into themselves, but we also witnessed the "first(second?) death" of someone who has been established as 'good' and 'right.' Rain's character development isn't as dissimilar to Asphodel's as you might think. I do believe that if Dust had died earlier in the story Rain's and Asphodel's growth could have mirrored each other (Rain being bi and Asphodel being aroace).

Both of their TRUE stories (about self-growth, even if it contradicted everything they were taught) were killed by the circumstances of their lives.

If the great disaster never happened, If Wheatstar had tried to warn the other clans, If Barrenclan's ideals were beaten into every generation; If Rain had stayed with his clan, If, if, if, if, if, if... they could have grown together as people.

Guys, I am SO normal about these kitty cats and the effects of multigenerational trauma hahahaha I'm totally not writing an in-depth analysis about Rain and Asphodel hahahahahahhahah

(debating if killing mom was the first death or rain realizing he couldn't change his mother' and becoming passive at his sister's abuse. ofc you can say, what can a kid do? and the small community ideals didn't help either. But I could talk about Rain for hours so again: debatable 'first' death)

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I, and even Raz prob, wish things turned out differently. But don't be sad Asphodel died, be happy she lived. However short it was. Trust me, you'll go crazy if you keep thinking about how you wished things turned out differently (Which is OKAY to do!!! Just don't spiral ;v;). I'm sorry to everyone who knows the pain of loss in any form. It's hard to accept and it's not easy or simple. But that's life. I give you all a big hug. (I'm calling myself here too btw, as I am still struggling with different losses in my life)

Awh, what a lovely analysis! Many of the things I was thinking about while writing the story.

[dammarchy211]

Rejoice! Donatella backstory headcanons be upon ye!

Donatella was raised by her widowed mother, Lorenza, with her 4 sisters, living in a small town in Italy. After years of performing as a figure skater and dancer, Lorenza was finally able to settle down in a town with her now deceased husband. A mix of the death of her husband, and the hoops she had to jump through to get her life as good as it was for her and her daughters, Lorenza suffers from the same personality defects has Alma from Encanto (though I had actually made Lorenza before that movie came out haha). She pushed all of her children to pursue the same career she did, as she that’s what she knew how to teach them best, as well as pushed them to all hold themselves with the same grace and elegance associated with their profession. Constantly. Francesca was always the troublemaker child, but in twin cliché fashion, her and Dona always went everywhere together. Eventually when Dona was around 16, and sick of the grueling practice, being sheltered, and the closed off behavior of her mother, she decided to run away with the circus that had come to her town. It wasn’t Augustus that originally made her go, though he was nice and she liked him a lot, it was really the freedom. Lucy (though Marona at the time) was so much more warm and welcoming than her mom, and while her dancing and skating training would come in handy with the acrobatics, it wasn’t something she was forced to do. So she left in the night and never turned back. However due to the fact she wasn’t just leaving her mother behind (and the fact that she was leaving her mother behind, she still loved her regardless), it’s something that STILL eats Dona away inside, so she never really told any of her children about any of her family members. She’s more of a sweep anything that’s troubling you under the rug kind of person.

She wrote to her mother over the years, telling her about her life and just trying to keep in touch in some way, but she never got any messages back, despite Lorenza still reading the letters (Somehow her mother can hold a grudge for that long). The main reason Dona was so upset that Raz had run away, is that she really didn’t want to face the hurt she had caused her own family, and fearing she had become too much like her own mother, she masked it with passive aggressiveness.

I’ll just briefly go over their personalities too !

Fran: Even though Dona kinda got put on Lorenza’s shit list permanently for running away to the circus, Fran is this the one she butts heads with when it comes to family members she’s actually in touch with. She’s a famous fencer! Something her mom wasn’t the happiest about but she grew to at the very least tolerate it over time. Fran is very bold and extroverted, as well as a romantic and chivalrous person when it comes to her fiancée. She loves action and despite holding some contempt for her closest family member running away, she mostly just really misses her. If anything, she just wished Dona had brought her with her. Despite not following her mother’s career path that she set for her children, Francesca is probably the most well known out of all of them.

Pippa: Pippa is the second youngest after the twins! She does figure skating like her mother, and has At Least one kid (who is named Michelangelo or Mikey for short). She’s the biiig gossip or the family, and loves talking, which is basically how she’s been her whole life. After Dona left, her and Fran grew a little bit closer (but still not as much as her and her twin). Pippa is a bit of the glamor girl, but she’s very nice and bubbly, and when it comes to gossip she just likes to hear and talk about drama, not really insult people. As a kid she tried her hardest to be like her oldest sister, Giovanna, which worked out for her in some ways, but put pressure on her in others.

Imelda: Imelda is a bit closed off and introverted. She’s not openly shy, but she prefers to spend her time not talking. She used to be a dancer (more specifically ballet) but changed careers to something more “practical” like a business or research based job (idk yet like an accountant or data analyst or smth) when the dancing wasn’t really working out. I could mmmaybe see her having children but probably not.

Giovanna: Giovanna is the oldest, and golden child. She never really experienced parentification, their mother fussed over them a lot, but she was still held up to the standard of the example for her younger sisters. This caused her to be much closer with her mother than any of her sisters. She also found herself scolding her sisters for her mom. Giovanna ended up being a figure skater like her mother.

Lorenza: I feel like I talked about her a bit in the backstory already but like, imagine Alma from encanto, yeah. She’s super passive aggressive when she sees Donatella again. After a whiile she comes around and sees where she went wrong, and they keep in touch. Nona thinks she has a stick up her ass, and Lorenza is a peeved her grandkids call their non-Italian grandma ‘Nona’ (Dona’s like “I’m sorry they picked it up from me!! I didn’t think they’d ever meet you!” Which just makes things worse.) queue running joke of the Aquato kids trying to think of something to call Lorenza instead of Nona.

OKAY TOPIC SHIFT. HERES FRAN AND HER FIANCÉE I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!

Gay aunts win

[evesetchings]

So! A few years ago, I found this piece of very cool fanart by the amazingly talented @mysterykidsmisadventures and at the time, as a huge enjoyer of both mystery kids (I was mainly there for coraline and gravity falls, as I had yet to see paranorman and lacked the ability to play Psychonauts) and the monster falls au, (probably my favorite of the gravity falls aus) it was probably my favorite piece of art for a good long while, and I really wanted to make something for it. However, I didn’t think I had the artistic ability to make something of suitable caliber whether it be in art or writing. So I just sort of didn’t.

THAT IS, until last October, when I had just finished my first watch of ParaNorman, and decided to finally just grab a pencil and paper to make something for this awesome art. I wanted to get this out around Halloween of that same year, but a combination of real world stuff and general anxiety stopped me, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Finally I have decided to post these drawings. They were super fun to do and I really hope you enjoy them. Just remember to check out the original artist as well!

Art under the cut!

Here we have the classics! Cervitaur Dipper and mermaid Mabel! I tried to put in some of the classic Gravity Falls artstyle, and I think they turned out great!

Although the lower halves did give me a bit of trouble. Dipper isn't feeling too good about...any of this, especially considering he now has an extra pair of legs to worry about, but Mabel seems to be adjusting fine, maybe things won't be too bad.

Mabel on the other hand is living. Sure it was a bit tough to begin with, but being swim and move like this feels amazing. Plus, she's been able to see and do so much new cool stuff like this! She knows that it can't last forever, but she's gonna enjoy it while it's here!

And these are reaper Norman and... winged dog? Neil. These ones turned out pretty nice too, I especially like Norman's expression.

Norman's feeling pretty worried about this, but it's not like this is totally new to him. He's always been disconnected from the living due to his gift, and this isn't too different from that. Besides, he's gotten through something like this before, how hard can it be a second time?

Neil is honestly doing just as well as Mabel, if not better. He’s pretty quickly realized how great having wings is and enjoys swooping around and seeing things from the skies. It also helps that being a dog himself makes him feel closer to his dead dog Bub, and who should have said how great it is to be a dog!

We got wood-owl griffin Raz and dryad Lili, which I’m mostly happy with, although Raz’s design was a pain in the ass. Both of them are really freaked out at first, they’re used to dealing with the inner workings of the mind, not weird transformations!

Raz is especially not used to being a quadruped, but once he gets used to it, it’s actually really cool. Having this kind of flexibility is super useful for all kinds of stuff, like getting to new places and trying out interesting new tricks! So it’s not all bad, especially with psychic powers in the mix.

Lili is also pretty alarmed, but she’s also a bit irritated by it too, cause even if she likes plants, she never asked to BE one. She does eventually feel better about it after a while, and it does help that she feels even closer to them, even if she needs to be a bit more careful with her pyrokinesis now.

And finally there are kelpie-taur Coraline and salamander Wybie. These were that last ones I made, and I had a lot of fun drawing them, even if it was a little frustrating at times.

Coraline, like mostly everyone here, is pretty freaked out at first, and learning about what kelpies usually do certainly doesn't help with that. Thankfully, she doesn't have the urge to drag anyone down to the bottom of the lake, but she does realize that she's starting to feel more comfortable near bodies of water, and that moving though water is easier now, and it's actually kinda...fun. She is still looking for a way to change back now, what on earth would she tell her parents if they saw her like this.

Wybie is equally alarmed about being a metallic, fire-manipulating creature that is not an amphibian despite the name, especially because he has no idea what his grandma will think once she arrives. As soon as he starts experimenting around a little, and that doesn’t take long, he starts discovers some interesting things about his new body, like that he can stick to walls, (just like an ordinary salamander!), and that he’s fireproof. (which certainly helps with his tinkering habits) So while he still wants to change back at some point, he’s gonna work with this while he can.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. This project certainly took some time, and I’m glad I finally get to share it. I hope you enjoyed the product of me discovering old art and my insane mental mutterings, and also don’t forget to check out the original art as well!

[doodle17]

Could you maybe tell us what future Raz and Lilis relationship is like now?

*vibrating with excitement*

Putting this under a read more because it might be really long hemngh

So I'd decided to study their characters and how they interact a little more (mostly from the second game, but a little bit of the first too) and think about how their relationship would develop as they got older.

I came to the conclusion that I want to portray them as two people who have some level of affection for the other, but don't have time to focus on being sappy "boyfriend and girlfriend" because of work. The "fun" part their relationship ended waaaay back when they were 18-ish and went from Junior Agents to Official Psychonauts. It ain't exactly easy to go on dates and save the world at the same time y'know, and both of them have a lot of personal stuff going on.

Raz is almost always busy. Constantly filling out paperwork, running around in Sasha's lab, doing agent stuff, Circus stuff, the WHOLE shebang. Lili, is still trying to get over her dad's retirement, as the while thing still feels very surreal to her. Not to mention Hollis and her dad trying to push her to become the next Grand Head, much to her dismay. It's not very easy to have a social life with that much going on to be 100% honest.

Theres also taking their very different personalities into account. Lili's "Fuck around and find out" and Raz's sticking to a solid plan type of methods tend to clash quite often, and many newcomers have a hard time telling whether or not they're dating or competing with eachother.

Lili is probably the most complicated woman Raz has ever worked with, and while he finds it endearing he also finds it incredibly exhausting. Sometimes, It feels like she'll do the exact opposite of what he tells her just to get a reaction out of him, out of spite. But it's not like she can help it. She absolutely hates being told what to do, and one of her least favorite things about Raz is when he decides to become "Mr. Boss man" and order everyone around during missions. Despite all of- that- however, they do end up having very successful missions!... Most of the time.

There's also the pressure to keep up professional appearances for their fellow agents and new interns. One thing the both of them can agree on, is that they'll avoid showing any PDA in front of their coworkers. They still cringe thinking about how a little too comfortable they were as kids, and how almost EVERYONE in the Motherlobe knew about it. Luckily, most of those people are retired, quit or fired, and gives the two a better chance to be a little more professional with their relationship in front of the newcomers, because if they have to hear, "You guys are like the next Sasha and Milla!" One more time...

This isn't to say that things are always rough and gloomy for them. They still have a very special connection, and after knowing eachother for half of their lives, it's not like they're going to get rid of the other anytime soon. So might as well make the most of it, eh? She'll never admit it out loud, but there's really no other person Lili would rather be tied up and dangling over a pool of pyrokenetic sharks with than Raz (which has actually happened before btw) There's no way you won't catch them holding hands or sneaking a quick kiss at least once.

Anyways, to sum all of this shishkabable up best I can: They're WAY too close to be considered "just coworkers", but they also have way too much going on to focus on a serious relationship at this time.

Good on you if you managed to read my nonsensical ramblings all the way through! Take a prize from the prize bin you deserve it 👏 👏👏

[shiningwonderland]

Syo Kurusu (Repeat)

Translator: Raz (Twitter: agnadance)

Editor: Snail (Twitter: herbert_snail)

True Love Ending — Harmony of Tears

Syo-kun sang a cute pop song with all his might.

To be honest, I think he wanted to sing a cooler sounding song.

He suggested that I should make a song that takes advantage of his appearance and voice.

The things you want to do and what you are actually good at are different.

He said that if he was going to compete, he should try to meet everyone's expectations.

That's why the song he's singing is very much like him.

It's cute, but at the same time, stylish.

Female Student A: What's this? It's such a cute song, but I'm starting to cry.

Female Student B: Yeah, me too… This is such an amazing song… I feel happy just listening to it. 

Male Student A: That guy's a shorty, but he's amazing… I'm nowhere near as good as him.

Syo-kun is using this performance to proclaim with all his might that this is who he is.

That he's this charming.

He doesn't let on that he has a heart condition. He grabs people's hearts with his energetic singing and doesn't let them go.

Then…

Kaoru Kurusu: Syo-chan… This is the first time I've ever seen him like this… He’s… become strong…

It seems that Syo-kun's feelings have reached Kaoru-kun.

Syo Kurusu: Haa, haa, haa… Thank you for watching!

Syo-kun screams out after he finishes singing, out of breath.

At that moment…

Yeeeah! Shouts of joy and applause ring out and continue for some time.

Syo-kun walks over to where the other contestants are in the corner of the stage.

Without hesitation, I run to the stage and stand by his side to hold him up.

He should be in so much pain that he could fall over at any moment… but Syo-kun's smile never fades. He keeps standing where he is.

For the graduation audition, nine judges, including the principal, and the audience vote on who wins.

The nine judges give a score up to ten points each.

The audience votes on which student they think was the best, and the student that gets the most votes from the audience gets another ten points. Second place gets nine points, and it goes down to tenth place.

The person who gets the most points overall gets first place, becomes a new idol in the Shining Agency, then aims to become the top idol.

For the students who don't win first place, anyone that gets more than 85 points can still join the Shining Agency.

Furthermore, there are people from other agencies that come to watch our audition…

Even if we don't get into the Shining Agency, there's a chance that another agency would ask us to join them.

But I'm sure that Syo-kun wouldn't be satisfied unless he's number 1…

Syo-kun shined so brightly just now, so I'm sure it'll be fine. We can win…

Ryuya Hyuga: We’re ready to announce the results… The winner of this year's graduation audition is Syo Kurusu!

When his name is called, Syo makes a wide grin and lets go of my hand.

He takes in a deep breath and slowly walks to the center of the stage.

Ryuya Hyuga: You did great. You really put in your 100% into that song. 

Syo Kurusu: I am honored! Thank you very much!

Syo takes the trophy into his hands with utmost confidence that it's what he’s deserved all along.

Ryuya Hyuga: You've really grown, kid. You're not the kid that needs to be protected by somebody. You're a grown man who can protect someone with that strong back of yours.

When Hyuga-sensei makes a satisfied grin, tears well up in Syo-kun's eyes.

He must be feeling emotional from being praised by his hero he looks up to.

Shining Saotome: Once your body becomes healthy, you'll be perfect! Get properly cured, you hear?

Syo Kurusu: Roger!

After that, we immediately go to the classroom that has been designated as a break room.

Syo Kurusu: … Haa, haa, haa… Damn it, this needs to calm down… Ha, haa, haa, haa…

Syo-kun's heart is at its limit. He didn't stop smiling on stage, but he must've been in extreme pain.

Haruka Nanami: Let's take a break, okay?

I hug Syo-kun tightly.

Syo Kurusu: … Ha, ha… I'm being so uncool… We won so… I wanted to hug you to celebrate…

Haruka Nanami: Syo-kun…

Kaoru Kurusu: Syo-chan! So you are having an attack… Here, take this. Also, take this and this.

Kaoru-kun takes out medicine and a bottle of water from his bag and makes Syo-kun drink it.

Kaoru Kurusu: My word, you always push yourself too far, Syo-chan… I felt like I was watching your life shorten. Nonetheless… your song was great.

Haruka Nanami: Kaoru…kun?

Kaoru Kurusu: You've become stronger, Syo-chan. You aren't just putting a front anymore. You really have become strong.

Your song proved that to me.

But… if you go overboard and collapse again, that'll all be for nothing.

You've been an idiot ever since we were kids… Your personality hasn't changed even if you've become stronger.

Syo Kurusu: … Haa… Idiot… It takes one… to know one…

Kaoru Kurusu: You're in that much pain and that's all you got to say? You really are stupid…

I can't keep up with you. Go to the States or wherever.

Haruka Nanami: Kaoru-kun…

Kaoru Kurusu: Then… once your stupidity and heart both get cured, sing me a song again.

I believe with the way you are now, you will definitely be cured.

Syo Kurusu: Yeah… You can count on me… It's a promise.

He grins and passes out in my arms with a sigh of relief.

Haruka Nanami: Are you… absolutely sure?

Kaoru Kurusu: Yes. Even if he were to never undergo surgery, it doesn't seem that he'll give up trying to become an idol.

Even if I were to try to stop him, he'll do whatever it takes to get his way. If he's just going to collapse from pain every time, I would rather want him to get cured right away.

I didn't believe him at first, but now I have no more doubt in my mind that Syo-chan will survive…

Haruka Nanami: Yes, I think so too.

Kaoru Kurusu: I wanted to cure him myself… but as long as Syo-chan becomes healthy, I'm fine with anything. 

As for you, are you fine with being left alone? You care about Syo-chan just about as much as me… no, even more than me…

Haruka Nanami: I'll be fine. I can wait because I believe in him.

Kaoru Kurusu: I see… You're strong. You must be the reason why Syo-chan became strong, too. I'm a little jealous.

I'm going now. Tell Syo-chan congratulations for me after he wakes up.

Haruka Nanami: Yes, I will.

Kaoru-kun has given Syo-kun permission to go to the States.

Thank you.

Today, Syo-kun flies to the States.

Syo Kurusu: … It's time… I have to go. Don't cry when I'm not around to keep you company, okay?

He pats my head twice.

Haruka Nanami: Yes… I'll do my best.

I feel like I'll burst into tears at any moment…

But I know that would just cause trouble for Syo-kun… I hold back my tears by clenching my hand into a fist.

Syo-kun grins and lets go of my hand.

No. I don't want him to go.

That thought almost leaves my lips but I keep it inside.

Haruka Nanami: U-Um… Here's a charm for you…

My hands trembling, I give Syo a small bag containing a crystal.

Syo Kurusu: A charm? That’s so like you. Here, have this.

Syo-kun takes off his hat and places it on my head. 

Haruka Nanami:  Huh…?

Syo Kurusu: Think of this as me. It's like a charm, I guess.

Haruka Nanami: Thank you…

I shouldn't cry, but… I feel like my tears are going to overflow at any moment. I need to hold them in.

I need to see him off with a smile. Tears, please listen to me, don't fall…

Syo Kurusu: Don't get the wrong idea. I'm only lending this to you, got it? Give it back to me once I return.

Haruka Nanami: Okay.

So this is really goodbye…

Syo Kurusu: Don't give me that miserable look. Smile! I'm about to go on a new journey!

Haruka Nanami: … Okay.

I hold in my tears and force a smile.

Syo-kun smiles and embraces me tightly.

Syo Kurusu: Good! You're a great partner! … Or rather, should I call you my girlfriend? I get a little embarrassed at the thought, though…

He grabs my shoulders and looks at me in the eyes.

Syo Kurusu: Now that I think about it, I haven’t acted much like a real boyfriend to you yet…

Syo-kun pauses to think and then kisses me on the forehead.

Haruka Nanami: Syo…kun?

Syo Kurusu: Once I get back, I'll give you a proper kiss on the lips! Pray that my surgery will go well!

Haruka Nanami: Of course!

I nod, then Syo-kun flashes a satisfied smile and runs towards the gate.

Natsuki Shinomiya: He left.

Kaoru Kurusu: … Yeah. Syo-chan never drops his guard, does he? Oh well, that's just him being him.

Haruka Nanami: Shinomiya-san, Kaoru-kun… If you came, why didn't you say anything?

Kaoru Kurusu: We thought it would be bad to interrupt.

Nanami-san, you did your very best. You can cry now.

Haruka Nanami: But Syo-kun told me not to cry…

Natsuki Shinomiya: Yes, that's why today, you should part with your tears.

When Shinomiya-san rubs my head, my tears overflow.

I begin to bawl.

Several months pass with no message from Syo-kun.

I have texted him several times, but he has never replied, and he wouldn't pick up his calls.

I have no idea if he's doing well, or when the surgery is, or if he has been cured…

I know nothing at all. I want to see him and hear his voice. I'm just so, so lonely.

I promised him that I wouldn't cry, but there have been many times when my tears would almost overflow.

It'll be okay, I'm sure of it. Syo-kun will come back better than ever.

It'll be okay…

I've told myself that repeatedly and endured my anxiety. The only thing I can do is believe and wait for him…

Haruka Nanami: A text? … Syo-kun?

This is the first text I got from Syo-kun ever since he went to the States…

"The surgery was a success! I'll be back soon!"

The text is brief, which is very much like him.

Haruka Nanami: He's… coming back…

I'm so happy that tears almost fall from my eyes.

Soon after…

… A phone call?

Haruka Nanami: Yes? Hello? Who is this?

Syo Kurusu: Hey, it's me. Did you see my text? Sorry, I didn't have much battery left, so I couldn't type more than that.

That's why I'm calling you now through a public phone. Um… ahh, I can't word! A-Anyway, I'll be back!

Haruka Nanami: Syo-kun!

I haven't heard his voice in such a long time.

Syo Kurusu: … Sorry that I've taken so long to reply. I knew if I heard your voice, I’d want to go home as soon as possible… so I decided to wait until I was fully recovered before contacting you, but it took so long.

I just realized that I could've just sent you a text, too… Sorry. I'm actually at the airport right now. I'm about to get on the plane.

Haruka Nanami: Huh…? You mean you're at the Los Angeles airport?

Syo Kurusu: Yeah, I'll arrive at Narita in twelve hours. … Do you want to see me as soon as possible?

Select The Phrase!

1) 会いたい。I want to see you.

Syo Kurusu: I see! I'll be back as soon as possible! There's a flight that arrives a little before five o' clock, so wait at Narita for me!

Haruka Nanami: Okay! I'll be there, so come back soon!

I'll get to see Syo-kun in half a day's time. He's finally coming back!

2) 無理しなくていいよ。Don't push yourself.

Syo Kurusu: Huh? Don't you want to see me as soon as possible?

Haruka Nanami: Of course I do, but if something happens if you rush, I…

Syo Kurusu: What do you mean by that? Anyway, I'll reserve a flight, so go to Narita! I'll arrive just a little before five o' clock. Wait at the airport for me!

Haruka Nanami: Okay! I'll start preparing right now! I'll go as soon as possible!

I can finally see him… He'll be recovered and well!

I come to the airport two hours before Syo-kun's flight is about to arrive.

I couldn't wait any longer.

I'm so happy that I'll get to see Syo-kun today… I feel like I'm going to cry.

If I end up sobbing when he arrives, he'll surely berate me for crying…

Syo-kun… I want to see you soon.

As I watch the arrival gate, the people around me make an uproar. 

Haruka Nanami: What happened?

I become inexplicably anxious.

My gut instinct turns out to be right.

There is news that the plane that Syo-kun took crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

Haruka Nanami: No… Why? That can't be.

Why? The surgery went well…

We were going to spend so much time together…

And yet… there was a crash? This must be a mistake.

There's no way. Syo-kun, you must be okay, right?

I ask Syo-kun, wherever he is, as I tightly hug the hat he lent me.

…

No matter how many times I look at the news, the plane that crashed is still the same plane that Syo-kun boarded.

Even the follow-up news did not update that information.

There is no report whether or not there are survivors.

Even so, I kept praying. Please, save Syo-kun.

Please let me see him at least one more time.

He has tried so hard to get a chance at happiness. Don't let his life end here.

Haruka Nanami: It's because I told him that I want to see him as soon as possible…

If I just told him that he could take his time, or that he could board the next day, this wouldn't have happened…

Haruka Nanami: I'm so sorry…

The tears I have been holding back fall one by one, until they all start overflowing.

I promised him that I wouldn't cry.

And yet…

My tears soak his hat that I'm holding in my arms.

Haruka Nanami: Syo-kun…

Syo Kurusu: Did you call me?

Haruka Nanami: Huh…?

I raise my head and see Syo-kun before me.

Haruka Nanami: How…? Syo-kun, is that really you…?

I doubt what I'm seeing and for a moment, and think it's a dream.

Syo Kurusu: Of course it's me. I'm standing right here! Also, why are you crying? I forbade you from doing that.

Haruka Nanami: But your plane… It crashed… Why are you here?

Syo Kurusu: You told me to come as soon as possible! Someone canceled their seat on an earlier flight, so I switched over to that.

Haruka Nanami: … So you really are Syo-kun? You're not a ghost, right?

I reach out and touch his cheek.

He's warm. He really is alive.

He's alive and right in front of me.

Syo Kurusu: Don't kill me off! Also, stop crying! I won't go die and leave you behind!

He embraces me tightly.

Haruka Nanami: Okay.

Syo Kurusu: I told you that I'll protect you. You're such a crybaby. Have you started crying more easily when I haven't been around?

Haruka Nanami: Yes, that might be true… I've been very lonely. I wanted to see you as soon as possible.

Syo Kurusu: I wanted to see you too. I wanted to hug you this whole time. I felt like I was going to go crazy when I wasn't with you.

I've come to realize that I want and need you so badly. I'll keep holding onto you. I won't let anyone else touch you.

You're mine for the rest of your life! I'll be with you forever, and I want you to keep smiling beside me.

Haruka Nanami: Yes!

I smile and Syo-kun smiles back.

Syo Kurusu: Thank you, Haruka! I love you!

Haruka Nanami: Ah…

Syo's lips brush mine for a brief moment.

Syo Kurusu: Ah, hold on– I wasn't thinking! Redo! Give me one more chance! Haruka, I'm in love with you! I will make you happy, so be with me forever…

Haruka Nanami: Yes. I love you too, Syo-kun.

Syo-kun grins and leans in.

Syo Kurusu: Mm…

Haruka Nanami: Mm…

Unlike the kiss from a moment ago, this one is passionate.

Syo Kurusu: I love you. I'll be with you always!

We hug tightly once more.

After that, I work hard to support Syo-kun to achieve good results.

The principal gives us a pass and allows us to date each other as long as we keep our relationship a secret.

Now with a more physically resilient body, Syo-kun begins to incorporate more dancing while singing.

We still can't tell everyone that we're dating, but…

I'm happy just holding onto his warm, steadfast hand…

I want to be by his side as his partner for the rest of my life, forever and ever… for all of eternity…

I LOVE YOU!

Thank you for playing.

Fin.

[youngerfrankenstein]

So. What about Psychonauts ?

(<- only has very vague memories of the game after watching one let's play years ago)

*Vibrates* Okay SO-

On one hand I feel like I’ll just be repeating stuff I’ve said. Still.

Psychonauts is an older platformer where the platforming levels are the minds of the people around you, and you pop in to help sort out their trauma and get things to help you fix supervillain plots in the real world. It was co-written by Tim Schafer (who worked on, amongst other things, Grim Fandango and the first two Monkey Island games) and Erik Wolpaw (who would go on to write the Portal games). From there you can probably guess the tone, a comedy that is both completely absurd and pitch black.

Razputin Aquato is, I think one of my favourite player characters period? He’s simultaneously a gremlin and a sweetheart. Sometimes he talks like he’s 30 and sometimes he very much acts his age of 10. He’s violent and unhinged and incredibly kind. He ran away from the circus. He’s a kid.

The game manages to come up with in-game reasons for why he’s so good at platforming (he’s an acrobat!) and why any amount of water is a barrier (he’s cursed! …sorta, kind of retconned in a neat way by the second game)

The second game was crowdfunded (I helped!) and came out 16 years later. There are definitely some tone differences. Erik Wolpaw didn’t help with this one and the game is a little less… blas��? About its subject. It is still quite good though. The story is well told, with Raz learning more about the Psychonauts and his own history, and how maybe everyone here is more messed up than he thought.

And the creativity in the levels!!! A level where you get to wreck things as a Kaiju while news reports cry for mercy! A level based on the concept of Jungian archetypes in the style of a world made of books! The mind of a deeply paranoid man where you have to sneak past several “secret” agents by using “disguises”. A psychedelic level where you piece together the senses of a disembodied brain! A theatre where you end up having to defeat someone’s literal inner critic!!!

I guess I should warn that the first game especially is not super sensitive with how it treats the mentally ill, but I will say that they’re all still characters we grow to enjoy. And overall the series manages to be both dark with its comedy and kind with its message. It is also, perhaps fittingly, BATSHIT INSANE.

And yet I have been putting off finishing the second because my laptop is MADE OF POTATOES.

Edit: I DIDN’T EVEN TALK ABOUT THE COLLECTABLES!!! Memory Vaults that tell you even more about the character you’re snooping around the mind of! Figments of the Imagination! EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE REPRESENTED BY CRYING LUGGAGE!!!

[razzle-zazzle]

Whumptober Day 10: Blow to the Head

"I can't think straight"

1923 Words; Rewired AU

TW for discussions of injury and violence

AO3 ver

“What’s up with him?”

Morris froze, disgruntled expression replaced with something more along the lines of deer in headlights. Gisu imagined she must have looked the same, as three awful realizations hit her.

Realization One: Dion was in some part responsible for the deaths of several prominent psychics in recent months.

Realization Two: Raz didn’t know this.

Realization Three: There was no way Raz wouldn’t find out eventually.

Morris shot a desperate look to Gisu—she could almost feel him trying to project Do NOT tell him! through his concussion. But what else was Gisu supposed to do? She didn’t like this situation any more than he did! She was tired and sore and angry, still reeling from the gala, and it was too damn close to ass’o’clock in the morning—wait, what was Raz doing up at around… what was it, somewhere between two and three AM? He was still wearing his jammies, it looked like, but he was also wide awake and Gisu was too tired to think up her own explanation.

“Why are you even awake?” Gisu voiced her thought. Morris relaxed slightly in the corner of her vision, while Raz crossed his arms.

“You’re only questioning that now?” Raz summoned a levball to sit on, yawning slightly as he spoke. “The interns had a movie night.” He explained, sticking his tongue out. Even though he was pretty much a full agent in all but name, Raz was still only sixteen; this left him still living in the dorms with the interns and junior agents. “And you asked me to bring you your board.” He added.

Oh, shit, did Gisu wake him up? “Sorry.” She grimaced. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“And let me miss out on—” Raz started, looking the both of them up and down, “actually, what did happen? Nobody would tell me anything.”

As one, Gisu and Morris looked at each other. Though they were both out of their gala outfits and in jammies, cleaned up and mostly unscathed—the exhaustion was clear. There was bruising along Morris’ forehead, Gisu had asked Raz for her board, and Lizzie wasn’t even there in the room with them, which probably spoke volumes to Raz about how much everything at the gala had gone wrong.

“The automaton happened, that’s what.” Morris groused, “The robot that almost killed the senior agents.”

Raz winced, leaning back on his levball. “Is Lizzie…?” Suddenly, her absence seemed all the more ominous.

“She’ll live.” Morris reassured.

“She got stabbed.” Gisu said, at almost the same time. At Morris’ disgruntled look, she hurriedly added, “But Morris is right! She’ll live! She’s being transferred to Clay Ridge.”

Raz sighed. “That’s good. And you two…?”

Gisu snorted. “We got off easy.” She buried her face in her hands as the events of the gala played over in her mind again. “Fuck, when the party started I was trying to get that waitress’ number.” Her hands fell to her lap, and she stared at them, at scars well-known from lightning and her projects. She felt unreal, caught between exhaustion and panic.

It wasn’t the first time a mission had gone wrong, or one of them had been badly injured. It wouldn’t be the last, either.

But it was all still so fresh.

Cold blue eyes disappearing under empty red LEDs—

Lightning burning her fingertips the light burning her eyes—

An eruption of glittery ice, the crush of a crowd—

“Pooter,” Gisu started. She didn’t want to do this. She wanted to tell the kid in front of her to go back to bed—and then go to bed herself—so she could keep the second most awful part of the night hidden from him.

But even if Raz didn’t get into the debriefing, it’d go on the mission report. He would find out, no matter what Gisu did—so wasn’t it better, to break the news to him now? Didn’t he have a right to know what had happened to his brother?

(Even if Gisu still didn’t have the full picture herself—)

Raz deserved the truth. Even if it was awful.

“So, you know how Dion went missing four years ago?” Gisu asked, nervously tapping her fingers against her board.

“Gisu—” Morris hissed.

Raz’ eyebrows drew together, his shoulders drawing in. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

Gisu took a breath. Right. She could do this. She could totally tell the sixteen year old kid in front of her, the one she’d known since he was ten, that when she took off the anti-psychic automaton’s mask she had seen the face of his missing older brother.

Morris’s jaw was clenched, like he wanted to interject. But he said nothing as Gisu bowled through, words spilling from her lips like a river of confession.

“When we knocked the automaton out I took off his hood and realized he wasn’t fully a machine and then I took off his mask and it was Dion’s face under there!” Gisu barely even breathed until it was all out there, hanging in the air between them.

Morris groaned, burying his face in his hands.

Raz stared at Gisu, brows furrowed as he tried to parse her words. Eventually, he spoke. “...what?”

“It was Dion.” Gisu repeated, wondering if maybe she should have just waited. But she was tired and sore and angry and she didn’t want to think things through anymore. She wanted to do something. She wanted to skate. She wanted to collapse into her bed and forget this night ever happened. “The robot assassin? I took his mask off. It was Dion.”

The words felt like a finality.

+=+=+=+=+

10:00 AM came way too soon.

At least, that’s how it felt to Gisu as she and Morris trudged into one of the conference rooms used for mission debriefings, dressed and clean and looking only marginally better than they had the night before. She glanced at Morris’ hands; he had them folded in his lap, staring straight ahead as they took their seats across the table.

Hollis was waiting for them, alongside Truman and Oleander. It was more and less than Gisu expected. After a moment of everyone settling in—Gisu settled her levboard in her lap—Truman called for things to begin.

Mission debriefings were all the same, pretty much; Morris and Gisu traded off talking as they explained the where, when, and what, from their initial mission plan and the gala’s opening to the moment the skylight shattered. If it wasn’t for his concussion, Gisu would have let Morris do the majority of the talking—except he was still concussed and also he hadn’t been conscious throughout all of it. Because Dion—the automaton—Maybe-Dion had sucker punched him with the hilt of his sword.

At that point, Gisu took up the description, trying her best to fill in the parts that Lizzie wasn’t there to say. She recounted, not quite as professionally as Hollis may have wanted but still cleanly enough to be understandable, the ice cocoon Lizzie had put together as a last-ditch effort, the loss of psychic power and the pressure it left in her head, the desperate scramble to keep the cyborg’s attention while not getting stabbed herself. She skipped over some details, but as long as the Heads and Oleander got the gist it was fine.

“So you electrified the android after Morris shot it?” Truman asked. “And that was when it went down.”

Morris nodded. “The problem was that it didn’t stay down.”

“You gave it a good enough fight to make the thing retreat.” Oleander commented. “It would have been nice if you’d taken it out, but you managed to hold it together in the heat of battle.” He nodded, already thinking of ways to try and counter the automaton’s ability to block psychic powers—which in and of itself wasn’t anything new; people had been trying to counter psychic abilities for decades.

“While it was down…” Gisu tugged at a lock of her hair, her other hand gripping the edge of her levboard, “I saw behind—I managed to take the mask off.”

“Mask?” Truman stroked at his beard. “Why would a robot wear a mask?”

“Cyborg.” Gisu corrected. At Truman’s look, she elaborated. “He had a human face beneath the mask. I saw it…” She had to take a breath, here, before she could speak further. Morris’ reaction had been bad enough—Raz’ had been even worse.

“You think you saw his face.” Morris muttered. Gisu shot him a look.

“If you saw his face, then we can identify him!” Oleander smacked his fist against the table. “We need a description, stat!”

Gisu swallowed. Morris glared at her from across the table. “I don’t believe she actually saw its face,” he said to Truman, “because it’s really not believable in the slight—”

“It was Dion!” Gisu blurted out.

“Wh—we don’t know that!” Morris interjected—

“I saw his face! What more proof do you need?” Gisu slammed her hands on the table. Morris leaned forwards, his voice starting to rise as he and Gisu really started to argue.

“It was a high-stress situation! You could have been projecting—”

“I know what I saw—”

“It’s been four years—”

“You are literally concussed, you don’t get to argue—”

“Agents, please!” Hollis cut through the argument, hands smacking the table as she stood up. Gisu and Morris shrank back, chastened, and Hollis turned to Gisu. “You’re absolutely certain of what you saw?”

Gisu’s hands curled into fists in her lap. She thought back to the previous night, to the moment where she shoved down the hood and pried off the mask. “Yes.” She knew what she saw. Four years and a different hairstyle couldn’t keep her from recognizing him. “He was even doing flips around the ballroom,” she added, her throat tightening. “And yet it didn’t feel like him at all—” She took a breath. She was not about to cry in front of Hollis and Truman and Oleander. She wasn’t! “Something happened to him.”

“That much is clear.” Truman commented. He and Hollis shared a look, mentally conversing with each other and Oleander. After a moment, he spoke.

“That’s enough, you two. Dismissed.”

Morris wasted no time in rolling out, and Gisu stood to follow him. The third time she’d shared what she’d seen that night, and it still felt no less raw. As Morris turned down the corner without a word, Gisu almost followed him—though what she even wanted, she didn’t know. It wasn’t like he was in the mood to talk to her.

Gisu briefly considered hunting down Raz to check in with him, but—well. Raz had made it pretty clear that he needed space. Sam and Adam were out on a mission, and until Norma tracked her and Morris down for answers Gisu didn’t think she’d be up to being pestered. Everyone else either had something to do, or didn’t need Gisu hanging around bringing the mood down—

Gisu turned towards the atrium. She wasn’t really in a state to go skating, but she couldn’t think of anything else to do; chances were that Otto was in the lab and Gisu was too wound up and exhausted to work on any of her projects. So skating it was, at least until her head cleared. If it ever would.

Ugh, this whole thing was such a mess—and not the kind that anyone, least of all Gisu, had any idea how to fix.

Raz was right. Some space would do Gisu a whole lot of good right now.

Maybe it’d even help the knot in her chest.

[cringywhitedragon]

A few mental world stuff for Psychopomp for a possible Psychonauts crossover AU concept (Still very incomplete and a heavy WIP as I’m trying to find a way to weave these two together)

Since I want to treat the Bleeding Earth as a Hub in this case (Possibly part of/fused with the Collective Unconscious. Also what I have in mind is that these Otherworldly Forces in this AU are doing is manipulating the minds of people in the Real World to further their plans by screwing with their mental worlds, which in turn manifest themselves within the Bleeding Earth.)

One again, major spoilers for Psychopomp, these are not in any particular order of what they would be visited in.

Scaraibia (King of Mercury’s Mental World. It’s visited early on and then again after Mariana Depths. A desert themed world initially covered in darkness that changes later on)

Third Eye in the Sky (First stage. This mental world belongs to Harris Caldmen, a blind psychic and astronomer driven insane after witnessing a strange space phenomenon that has riled up the psychic community. This world takes the form of an observatory/space theme with eyes littered around it (In reference to its owner’s Clairvoyance abilities.)

Crow’s Nest (A stage themed around crows belonging to a young child and the second mental world visited overall. Namely being that of Sasha and Milla’s kid (This is after a few years (about 3-5) down the road after 2 and these two have gotten together). She’s targeted due to her links to the Psychonauts, forcing Raz to break a few rules to chase away the force trying to invade her mind)

Medical Gallery (A re-imagining of the children’s hospital stage. Plato, Cleopatra, and Alexander the Great act as the main bosses for this. This mental world prior to its corruption belongs to a pediatric nurse who has a love of history who became a target of the Conspiracy after a tragic loss.)

Nymph’s Rest: A special mental world Raz enters during his tenure at a Trait Village (which also function differently in this AU). It’s more of a hub and where he first learns about the Queen.

Mariana Depths (Queen of Dragonflies/Venus’ mental world. A lake themed stage that somewhat mirrors the Bleeding Earth that’s visited around midway. Stage is a PoNR until it’s cleared.)

Genetic Drift (A stage themed around DNA/Cell Biology and one of the more weird stages. In reality, this stage belongs to microbiologist.)

The Wasteaways (A re-imagining of the sewage treatment stage. This mental world belongs to a wastewater treatment worker who suffered a workplace accident.)

Clay Puppetshow (KoaD’s associate/The Child)

Speakeassssy (KoaD’s associate/The Mother. A 1920’s themed stage mixed with snakes)

Rosary Graveyard (KoaD’s Assocate/The Father)

Hall of goDs (Final stage, King of all Dogs. Stop the conspiracy for good)

[tinyinvadr]

Next chapter’s up!

Psychoborrower 2

Chapter 17

Right as we left Gristol’s mind, Hollis, Sasha, Milla, and Coach arrived.

“Were you just in the Grand Head of the Psychonauts?!”

To my surprise, Norma stepped forward. Though, maybe it was just to cover her own ass. Hard to say.

“Agent Nein, it’s not what it looks like!”

Milla sighed. “Kids, we just saw you come out.”

“But we weren’t in my Dad’s mind! That’s the mole!”

“No, the mole is Nick Johnsmith! Sasha figured it out, but I always had my suspicions.”

Coach smirked proudly, as if he wasn’t one of “Nick”’s biggest defenders.

They started to move in towards Gristol’s body, but we blocked their path.

“No, his brain’s not in there! It’s in my Dad’s head! Ugh, we don’t have time for this, we’ve gotta find his real brain!”

Lili grabbed Raz by the hand and pulled us both out the door, pushing past the agents.

He tried to keep up with her, but when Lili’s got her mind set on something, it can be tough to rein her in. She had already run far ahead of us by the time the storm started.

A watery cyclone was fast approaching from the Heptadome. Gristol went and did it. He awakened Maligula. Idiot.

“Okay, there’s a big swirling vortex of death behind us and all of the adults are back at the Heptadome, what do we do?!”

“We should get back to the campsite. Maybe my Dad can help.”

That was our best option, but I couldn’t help but be concerned for his mental state. I wasn’t sure how long it would take for his memories to come back, but even if they hadn’t recovered, seeing Maligula again was sure to bring back trauma for him.

When we arrived at the campsite, the Aquatos were all gathered in front of one of the tents. Augustus sat in the center, his head in his hands. It looked like he’d been crying.

Donatella was the first to notice us. She flashed the slightest smile when she greeted us, though there was still a somber look in her eyes.

“Hello, boys. He’s… been remembering some things.”

Raz’s older brother let out a frustrated sigh. “I knew we shouldn’t have come here.”

“Dion, please. Not now.”

He immediately shut up after his mother scolded him, then turned his attention back to Augustus. Raz sat down beside him, wrapping him in a hug.

“Oh, Razputin… I lost them. I lost… everyone.”

It seemed all of his memories came back at once. It was like he was forced to relive that terrible day when he lost his parents and was taken away to the orphanage all over again. And… he remembered my family.

I knew that restoring his memories would ultimately be a good thing, but I hadn’t considered that bringing them back would also bring back the pain. All those years, he never worried about what happened to them because he couldn’t remember them.

Everyone went quiet for a moment, all of us huddling together to comfort him. I was unsure if him seeing Mom again right away was the right move, but then again, there would never really be a “right” time for that sort of thing.

I was about to try and make a telepathic connection with her to ask her to come over, but I didn’t need to. I heard her and Dad approaching.

“Reed, what if he still doesn’t remember? I don’t know if I can handle doing this again…”

“You can, honey. I know you can. You’re the strongest person I know. Now, go.”

After a second, Raz’s younger sister, Mirtala, scooted aside, letting Mom through. The entire family looked down at her, waiting for her to speak. I can only imagine how intimidating it must have looked from her perspective, but she didn’t look shaken by it at all.

“Gus?”

He lifted his head, staring at her for a second until it clicked.

“Sibi!”

As if they’d never been separated, Augustus scooped her up and held her close.

“Oh, Sibi, I thought for sure… You were back in the caravan, and by the time I came back, you were… And I didn’t…”

“It’s okay, Gus. I’m here now. And I’m not going anywhere.”

I stared in disbelief for a second. “Wait, Mom, does that mean we’re staying?”

She smiled. “Of course, Flint. I had my doubts about the Psychonauts, but you and Raz brought my best friend back. I’m confident that they’ll have at least two great agents going forward.”

Raz chuckled, that ego of his seeping through. “Oh, they will.”

Unfortunately, by that point we could no longer ignore the approaching cyclone. We needed to somehow get close enough to Lucrecia to get back into her mind without getting washed away.

“We need to get back in there. Any ideas?”

At that, Dion grabbed Raz by the shoulders and started shaking him. With me still being on his shoulder, I have to say I did not appreciate it.

“What, are you crazy?! That thing’s gonna kill you! Are you forgetting about the curse that’s plagued us our entire lives?!”

“It’s not real, Dion. Ford made it up so Nona wouldn’t remember being Maligula. In fact, I’m pretty sure I inherited her Hydrokinesis. Not sure how to control it yet, but maybe if I figure that out, I’ll be able to stop her!”

I looked around and noticed that Frazie was no longer standing beside the rest of her family. She had to have snuck away when the conversation shifted to the curse. She may not have been ready to tell them the truth, but we needed her help.

“Hey, uh, Raz? Can you put me down? Gotta pee.”

“Really? Now?”

“Yes now! It’s been one thing after another today and I’ve been holding it for hours!”

“Ew! Ugh, fine, just go, but make it quick.”

He put me down, giving me my chance to go after Frazie. Thankfully, she didn’t go far. I found her sitting on her own, staring endlessly at the approaching cyclone as if entranced by it.

“Frazie, come on, we need you to help us with Maligula!”

She sighed, shaking her head. “Flint, I told you, I can’t. I’ll only make things worse.”

“You don’t know that for sure. And Raz thinks he might have Hydrokinesis powers too, but he doesn’t know how to control them. If the two of you work together, it might be enough to beat her!”

“It doesn’t matter. Either way, my parents go right back to being afraid of psychics, Dad casts Nona out of the family and gives up on using his powers for good, and Raz and I are back at square one. We’re all better off just running away. At least then none of us will get killed. And I won’t get written off as a monster.”

I tried to think of a way to convince her, but I wasn’t sure how. I got the sense she wouldn’t be willing to listen to my insistence that everything would turn out fine, and I wasn’t 100% sure myself of what the future held for us.

“I don’t know if it means anything, but I don’t think you’re a monster. Besides, it wasn’t her powers that made her become Maligula. Your Nona was manipulated and pushed to her breaking point. She was alone and vulnerable, and Gzar Theodore took advantage of that. But we can still help her. Things won’t go back to the way they were before, but maybe that’s a good thing. We’ll all get a second chance to start over. To be better.”

She smiled, holding her hand out for me to climb on.

“I’d like that.”

We returned to the group, and Donatello immediately pulled Frazie aside.

“Ah, there you are! There isn’t much time, we need you for the Devil’s Firehose!”

“What? Now?”

“Of course! How else are we supposed to get your brother to Nona?”

I leapt from Frazie’s hand onto Raz’s shoulder, and for a solid minute, he looked back and forth between the two of us.

“Why were you with my sister?”

“Not the main issue right now, let’s go!”

We headed to the edge of the cliff, and from there, Donatella took charge. I was surprised to see the youngest child, Queepie, was the strongman of the group. He easily held up the entire family as they stacked on top of each other.

Raz secured me in his pocket and began his climb up the tower of acrobats. On the way up, Augustus briefly smiled at me.

“Thank you for bringing her back, Flint.”

I gave him a quick nod, and Raz continued to climb, meeting Mirtala at the top.

“You ready?”

Raz and I exchanged a glance. The entire time we’d known each other, we knew we could never truly be ready. Neither of us expected to get to where we were back when he first showed up at camp. And yet, despite all of that, despite how unready we were, I knew we could handle it. We’d come so far, and there wasn’t a thing in the world that could stop us.

“As we’ll ever be.”

With that, Mirtala launched us straight into the storm, and with a swift throw of the psycho-portal, we went headfirst into Lucrecia’s mind.

Right away, I could see that her mental world looked very different in comparison to when we were in it before. The whole place was flooded, and there wasn’t a trace of the quilted forest or flea circus. Instead, we stood in a memory of Grulovia, destroyed in the flood. And in the center of it all was a statue of Maligula.

Raz panicked upon seeing it and PSI-Blasted it, releasing some stray thoughts. He used Mental Connection to pull us along the trail, and we witnessed the memory of his grandparents’ death.

“I really wish I could’ve met them…”

“I saw them in my Mom’s mind. I mean, I know it’s just a memory and it’s not really them, but, maybe she’ll let you see them too.”

He smiled. “I’d appreciate that. But first we need to save the family that’s still here.”

We returned to the main plaza, where Maligula’s massive glowing eyes glared down at us from behind the watery curtain. Taking a deep breath, Raz approached her.

“Um… Hi. I’m Razputin, your great nephew. Ah, I’m not saying I’m ‘great’ or anything, just… My grandma was your sister, and she wouldn’t want you to be evil anymore. I don’t either… because you’re still family.”

She went into a fit of maniacal laughter in response.

“Family? You’re just another unruly peasant that needs to be WASHED AWAY!!!”

This was it. The fight was on. I shifted to human form and stood beside Raz, taking on a defensive stance. I wasn’t sure how, but we had to beat her somehow. Everyone was counting on us. Our families, our friends, the world itself was at stake.

But whatever it took, we were gonna make sure the reign of Maligula would end once and for all.

[whorelyyy]

Drunk crying at the bar is totally a normal & well adjusted thing to do, right?

Raz, fueled by a caffeine-induced buzz from unpacking well past midnight, found herself wide awake. She thought all her hard work deserved a reward, so she ventured to one of Oasis's only bars, The Watering Hole. The bar was walking distance from her new place, so she figured she could treat herself to a few drinks and not have to worry about driving. When she reached the bar, it was quiet. She ordered a vodka soda, a simple yet satisfying reward for her hard work.

Sipping her drink, she scanned the bar, taking in its plain, lackluster atmosphere. Was this a typical Wednesday night here? With only a handful of patrons, including herself and the bartender, the place felt lonely. As someone tinkered with the jukebox, she braced herself for the predictable twang of a pro-USA country anthem. To her surprise, the familiar chords of The Mountain Goats' "Up the Wolves" filled the air.

“How depressed do you have to be to play The Mountain Goats at the bar?” she whispered to herself, her irritation mounting with every note. The sheer absurdity of it made her angry, prompting her to question the sanity—or lack thereof—of whoever dared to play such an offbeat choice. “What a cry for help…” she whispered to herself, finishing her drink.

As the song played on she unconsciously found herself singing along, muscle memory from playing the song on repeat when she was younger and much more depressed.

“There's gonna come a day when you'll feel better, you'll rise up free and easy on that day and float from branch to branch, lighter than the air. Just when that day is coming, who can say? Who can say?”

As she choked out the last line, tears welled in her eyes. Damn it, this was the last thing she needed. No dredging up the past, just forward, always forward.

She angrily brushed away her tears, refusing to let some damn goat band ruin her night. Hell-bent on making the most of her hard-earned celebration, she ordered another vodka soda, this time a double. The bartender, with her generous pour, swiftly complied, and Raz welcomed the extra dose of liquid comfort. Yet, as she sipped her drink, her mood soured further when the same guy rose to select another song, this time he chose "No Children" by the Mountain Goats.

“You’re fucking kidding me.” She fussed loudly.

The guy who played the song glanced her way, his eyes carrying a haunting emptiness. He offered no emotion, no acknowledgment, just drank his beer and crooned along to what can only be described as the epitome of despair. He kept his gaze locked on Raz before exchanging words with the bartender. Behind the counter, the woman swiftly filled four shot glasses with vodka. Uninterested in witnessing a man drown his sorrows, Raz turned her attention to her phone. No new messages. Not that she should be surprised; he had made sure she was alone right until the end.

“Can’t have you running off and telling someone our business, my business.” echoed in her head.

She shuddered, forcefully suppressing the memory. Before Raz could grasp the situation, two shots materialized before her. The bartender gestured toward the man orchestrating tonight's gloomy playlist as she darted off to serve another patron. Locking eyes with the man, he raised his glass, nodded, and downed the first shot in one swift motion, followed by the second. His gaze bore into her, waiting for her to join in.

She knew better and was well aware of the risks of accepting drinks from strange, depressing men in bars, but in that moment, she couldn't summon the energy to care. Offering the man a faint, uneasy smile, she knocked back both shots. Appearing somewhat satisfied, he returned a sad smile before turning his attention back to his beer.

“And I hope when you think of me years down the line you can't find one good thing to say and I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out, you'd stay the hell out of my way.”

The lyrics slammed into her like a freight train, shaking her to her very core. Unable to hold back, she crumbled under the weight of her emotions, tears streaming down her cheeks. Wonderful. What a fantastic first impression she was making. Hastily, she fled to the solitary bathroom in the bar. She refused to let this moment define her introduction to anyone in Oasis, not even some depressed weirdo at the bar.

Struggling to regain control, she attempted to calm her racing thoughts, grasping for stability. Counting five things she could see, smell, touch, and taste, she fought to ground herself. Just as she started to catch her breath amid her broken sobs, a knock reverberated through the door, shattering the peace she had managed to build.

"Hey, everything okay in there?" A low, gentle voice drifted through the door.

"I'm fine," she snapped back, her tone sharp with irritation.

"Doesn't sound fine," the voice persisted.

"I said I'm fine!" she practically yelled. "These songs are just fucking awful."

"Apologies for the tunes," the voice admitted. "I chose those songs. Looks like we're both drowning in the same melancholy. Let me grab you another drink? Misery loves company."

“No.” she said firmly, “please leave me alone.”

No response. Thank god he understood. She was in no place to make new friends, no matter how desperately she craved them. The longing to rely on someone other than herself was strong, but this wasn't the place, and she wouldn’t find that here and certainly not in some pathetic man singing sad songs at the bar on a Wednesday night.

She collected herself, giving her reflection a quick once-over in the mirror. It was hard to tell she'd just been a mess of tears, but why did the room feel like it was spinning? Exiting the bathroom, her vision blurred intermittently, not from tears this time, but from the bartender's generous pours. It was time to call it a night; crying and blacking out her first time out in Oasis was not the reputation she wanted. With unsteady steps, she made her way to the bar to settle her tab. Noticing the man from earlier was gone, she shrugged it off, too dazed to dwell on it. The bartender informed her that her drinks had been paid for. Strange, but she lacked the focus or energy to inquire further. All she wanted was to get home.

She stumbled her way home, unlocking the door to her beautiful new space. Unpacking had been a nightmare, but she couldn't deny her adoration for what she’d created here. Collapsing onto her bed, exhaustion didn't quite claim her yet. Opting for distraction, she reached for her phone, mindlessly scrolling through TikTok. What felt like a only 15 minutes turned into an hour of aimless consumption—reviews of eye cream, teasers for her favorite band's new album, snippets from her favorite TV shows, and insane nonsensical memes. The mindlessness was a welcome escape until a video of three childhood best friends, set to Alex Olsen's "someday i’ll get it" triggered tears for the third time that night. The crushing weight of loneliness consumed her, leaving her feeling utterly isolated. No friends, no family, no one to love, support, or uplift her. She was strong, but she was exhausted. Yearning for tenderness, for affection, for rest, she sobbed, drowning in her sadness and intoxication. She had to get these feeling out of her head, and Raz found the best way for her to do that was journaling. She reached for her laptop where she kept an anonymous personal blog, desperately needing to get this aching feeling out. In her depressed and inebriated state, she failed to realize she'd opened the wrong page…

PREVIOUS│NEXT

The songs mentioned throughout the update:

[who-is-shades]

raz dnd 22

spooky themed dnd for late halloween joy!

spingledorf goes up to senna and says he fucking dug up methods to soothe her blood. '...soothe how?' oh no. he taps his staff on the ground and makes a magic circle. senna gives teya a glance and walks into the circle. no one else thinks its a good idea oh no. wheatley says he shouldnt do this while super charged, but it doesnt require his magic, just hers.

senna gets into a meditative position. wheatley steps closer but says nothing. teya is frantically taking notes (kay is eating pizza lol) senna focuses on the magic power flowing within her. the circle is glowing more. she can feel the draconic power surge. shes really hot rn! she imagines this power is a mighty dragon she must tame and equalize with. dont retaliate too hard itll fight back equally hard.

parsley fucking walks away the fucker. the dragon charges but senna wakes up before it hits. she has to meditatite like this more often. spingledorf gives her a rug of the magic circle to use. he suddenly clutches his chest oh no! he coughs up blood oh no! mortals shouldnt NOT have that shit. he expels the rest of the energy and it has some blood on it. its also a bit smaller. wheatley pokes the ball lol. senna messages parsley that he coughed up the god ball. she also uses cure wounds on dorf. senna says if you make the energy pill sized maybe that will work better. wheatley wants the orb dorf says no lol.

he puts a little barrier around the orb and lets wheatley observe it. SP calls it a tiny star. wheatley uses a magnifying glass! hes gonna share his observations with teya. android calls us all morons lol. hes not exactly wrong. senna still goes with splitting the orb into small pieces for efficiency and safety. dorf is gigabraining about making a storage device for a body. dorf tells wheatley what the orb. wheatley wonders if it can be used to make other things and wants a small amount if dorf can ever split it. wheatley really wants to use it and study it.

dorf offers to tell us info while he studies this. dorf doesnt want us risking our lives on his behalf. he needs to stay safe too. dorf tells wheatley he isnt expendable and he should see his own value. he goes to look for parsley. 'may the wind be at your back spingledorf.' dorf fights to come up with a comeback xD senna uses presti on him to clean him up a bit. he just flies away lol.

parsley sees a big old house on the side of the path in a clearing. sus. he hears someone tapping on a window? a lights on. banging on a door. a sign asking for help. he goes to listen to the window on the second floor. he hears a bunch of footsteps and struggling and dragging and stuff. he smashes the window open. the house goes still. he fucking leaves! the lights all go on and the house is alive.

MONSTER HOUSE! carpet tongue grabs parsley and tries to drag him in! its a giant fucking mimic! failed, he gets pulled in through the door. its gonna eat his dumbass.

wheatley also finds the house. it looks normal. he can hear parsley screaming lol. parsley just flies above its mouth since the house is stupid. parsley yells out to wheatley the house is evil. the house goes to normal. parsley comments the wallpaper is nice lol. front door is locked. wheatley lets us know while parsley looks for a way out.

teya "are you fucking kidding me?" evil how? parsley finds a bunch of mannequins. he stabs one lol then goes upstairs. parsley tells wheatley it tried to eat him. teya tells us and senna comments she didnt know mimics could get that big.

parsley sees lots of doors. he goes to open a door. its stuck. its also a mimic. parsley is so fucking mad. wheatley tells us lol. android says of course parsley would get eaten by a giant mimic. parsley gets bit cool. we uh havent long rested yet. so uh. yeah.

wheatley is trying to break down the door as we arrive. teya firebolts the door. the home is mad again lol. wheatley and teya are stuck to the porch the idiots. the doors stop chewing parsley and spit him out and hide. rug grabs teya! senna firebolts it and it screams and lets go. the floor starts moving teya closer inside, cheater. senna tells parsley the house is eating teya. a big eye looks at parsley on the stairs and it turns into a slope. he starts flying lol. the tongue smacks parsley! senna keeps firebolting the house.

parsley flies out and tries to pull teya off while teya fireballs into the house. it lets teya go as it screams and coughs in pain. teya gets the fuck out of there. android is just annoyed lol. senna keeps launching attacks on the house. IT STANDS TF UP. wheatley shoots it in the leg! we back up after SP and teya attack lol. stupid fuckin house. wheatley tries to get behind it to shoot it in the knee, barely avoiding the tongue. senna firebolts the tongue again cause fuck you. wheatley failed.

its still chasing us. it stomps senna the bitch. teya firebolts again. some of the house melts a bit ew. wheatley shocks it. and now his hands are stuck great. hes gonna keep shocking it lol. a giant acid hurls at teya! half damage. wheatley is gonna get bit wtf. parsley tries to fly in and pull wheatley off. bad fail. he moved out of the way. wheatley zaps again. it tries to bite him! teya is using her weird wand! it passed the con save fuck. wheatley gets chomped. he shocks it again.

it spits acid at senna! half damage. fuck you house. firebolt fucker. android finally joins in and shoots it. its on fire nice. wheatley keeps on shocking! the tongue tries to grab parsley again. senna crits the tongue again get tf out of here. parsley tries to free wheatley again. fail. it starts piling acid in front of wheatley fuck. fuck this house fuck you raz. he shocks it on reflex.

parsley fails again goddamn. teya firebolts the leg again. zen goes to try and save wheatley. yay he freed him! burnt handprint nice. wheatley takes out his gun. teya dodges getting stomped. then gets his on the second. senna and android are doing nice damage and the fucker buckles to its knees. teya also shoots it! parsley starts stabbing it in the roof lol. wheatley shoots!

it collapses fucking finally! the other mimics fucking flee. wheatley kicks it and parsley is just laughing. wheatley gets sent to eeby deeby goddamn. were just confused about the house lol. teya calls parsley a dumbass lol. senna asks why he went, its cause he thought someone was in danger. zen jars wheatley lol. senna is very against camping in the mimics corpse lol. parsley says too bad and goes in ew. teya also agrees. sigh. senna will meditiate after doing her dragon training. parsley makes a hole for SP to see stars lol. theres a tiny jewerly box outside? teya uses detect magic. parsley opens it lol. tiny mimic. he slams it closed and yeets it into a wall. it screams and runs away. parsley says its kinda cute. he manages to catch it! pet baby mimic!

he names it rouge lol. he tries to feed it, but its scared. he apologizes for hitting it into the wall. it finally eats.

sennas once more face to face with the dragon. she tries to mentally get the ground to raise her. the dragon keeps its distance and swirls around her. she follows its flight path. she dodges a fireball and keeps moving toward the dragon. it dives! she dives right back at it! headon! shes woken up again dammit. her scales have shrunk a little. she examines them wondering whats happening.

she puts the rug away. zen and android are just sitting at the fire. she slowly approaches the fire and says she has something to say. "I...really didnt like it. when your voices were disappearing." shes pacing really hard rn lol. "I would say im sorry but that feels condescending." why is senna so hard to write lol. "I um ill do my best to um prevent that from happening again. And i want to say that i...i would be sad if you disappeared. I know that doesnt mean much but...please try not to." she bows and quickly whips around and heads into the house, red faced. she curls up by teya.

teya wakes up but pretends to still be asleep when she sees senna there. she doesnt notice anything xD parsley wakes up and grumbles its too early. he looks for rouge. he smirks and teya and tells them to wake up. android aims his gun at rouge lol. parsley says hes keeping it its his daughter now.

senna and teya get up and senna shows what happaned to her scales. "its not like spingledorf gave me instructions." he fucking messages her lol. the circle should help and soothe her mood swings. nice. she just blinks and tells teya. "maybe its correlated?" senna shrugs and braids teya's hair. SP calls rouge a baby lol.

teya happily tells teya parsley is keeping a mimic. senna is fucking exasperated. "did he hit his head?" senna follows teya to get some soup! rouge shivers whenever parsley picks it up its traumatized good job. senna is just so flummoxed at this tiny mimic. daddy parsley! were trying to give him parenting advice!

we hear teya's message! sunnie says something wrong with smierc. senna says maybe its cirmes? senna and parsley both comment that smierc and cirmes have the same letters. senna offers to write some letters to doctors and see if someone will go visit. teya is quite worried. senna reminds her about the apothecary guy. teya says he might need some rest.

senna goes to exercise, teya writes, and parsley sunbathes. the calm. teya goes to bother parsley. sennas exercise slowly turns from normal exercise into a waltz lol. (dumbass fey siblings are unsupervised)

zen calls out to senna saying they wouldnt have disappeared like wheatley. she skids to a halt. zen says as long as their souls remain they would still be alive. so she wont worry so much. "of course im going to worry." android snarks she should look out for herself first. senna says everyone else needs her help first, she takes care of herself just fine. zen warns her not to put everyones needs before her own. "I guess thats the thing, i dont have any needs. Sorry to disappoint you." "I think its you think your needs are less important. So you ignore them." "I simply prioritize. Thats all."

"I feel as if your friends would disagree with your priorities." they still appreciate the concern and they will be fine. senna faces them with a tear running down her face. "My friends are dead because of my priorities, that will not happen again." she turns and starts leaving. "I thought that was the case." Senna freezes for a moment, then hurries away faster.

MEANWHILE parsley and teya had snuck behind the house. they didnt hear anything thank god. we see smoke behind the house? zen sighs and goes to check. teya is currently hurling firebolts at the house. parsley is using a torch on it. why.... teya fucking scattered xD parsley keeps torching the mimic. zen tells him the fire could spread to the forest. 'fuck the forest!' thank you teya. parsley goes inside and continues to set fires. dammit parsley. teya comments she wants to set 1 tree on fire. parsley says no stupid. zen sighs and heads back.

teya wants to make fun of sunnies book with parsley lol. parsley says to subject everyone else too it too. they head back to camp and forcibly read the book outloud to the bots lol. parsley is dying of laughter. 'it lived in the feywilds.' teya starts breaking down the chapter lol. android grumbles them to read quietly. nope its specifically to annoy them! he grabs it and tosses it into the fire. "hey! i wanted to do that. i memorized the first passage!" parsley mumbles hes gonna get senna and walks away. weird.

senna is just. standing in a field. her back is to him. he calls out to her. she doesnt respond. he calls again. no response. and again. he pokes her. she slowy turns around and looks....empty inside. he awkwardly asks if shes ok. she says yes and just heads back. he awkwardly follows. teya definitely notices somethings wrong. she tries to hold her hand. shes not stopped, but not reciprocated either. SP plants itself right on her foot lol.

zen walks over and asks if shes ok. no response. he grabs her shoulder and tells her this isnt the right way to do these things. no response. rouge is awkwardly standing there with rouge. he speaks up and asks if she needs space. no response. (senna wtf is wrong with you) parsley starts shaking her like a ragdoll. "senna wake tf up!" teya asks who broke her. android sighs and smacks senna in the back of the head. theres a pause and she curls over "fuck why did you hit me?!" she looks normal now lol just confused how she got back here. she just doesnt remember and asks to get moving. android asks if its gonna happen again. "i guess well see." for a split second he sees her eyes go dead, but only for a second. teya says thats enough acting weird for 1 day. now their arguing about the burning mimic lol.

android threatens to hug them if they shove him into a fire xD sennas just enjoying them talking. no ones been shot yet! teya misses her book copy lol. senna suddenly remembers and gives parsley a bunch of random clothes she grabbed from silk and velvets. hes a bit overwhelmed lol. parsley comments if they should stop the house fire. senna starts using frost on the house. continuing onward!

senna carries SP. parsley uses magic to predict the weather. 'ok weather boy.' teya wants to play ispy nice. SP asks what ispy is. watch and learn buddy. parsley spies something with a B. teya says bitch and points at android. yep xD SP spies something yellow. "is it the sun?" "YES!" good job teya. teya spies another b! SP points at parsley and says bastard? close, it was bottom! "whats a bottom?" "ill tell you when your older." SP spies an S. "the sky?" "YES!" good job parsley. they remind android hes not playing and cant have an opinion. parsley spies a D. SP says dirt good job. SP spies T. nope not teya. its trees good job teya. teya spies C. clouds? good job parsley.

teya asks senna to come play. senna says shes never played before. shes never heard of it lol. she didnt 'play' as a child. 'could make up for lost time?' 'i might be too old for that.' 'never too old!' tori also did arson lol. their trying to make SP into an arsonist lol. parsley asks zen if he wants to play. yay! parsley spies an r. senna says a raccoon cause she sees one but nope. its robot good job zen.

zen spies an m. senna just keeps guessing. "I dont have to see it. He has to." no hints dammit. parsley flies into the air lol. not the map either lol. teya gives parsley a hint its a mushroom xD senna goes! she sees a b! she says it has to do with plants. its bark good job teya! teya also spies a b! we get the hint of 'hard'. senna got boulder good job!

senna tried to pass it to parsley but he refused so she spies an a. acorn good job zen. he takes out his lute and just plays. senna goes to play but changes her mind. parsley stares at the lute and gets quiet. zens lute glows with magic and he fuckin flies wtf. he DID get it from spingledorf. he tries to get parsley to fly up and dance lol. senna secretly messaging teya lol. parsley is a bit insulted by zen.

zen says he once visited a city in the clouds. senna opens her mouth to say something but stops. she still feels awkward. parsley asks how a city was up there. he didnt ask, fucker. lots of windmills. somehow they grew lots of plants up there, just very little land. he offers to take us when we kill zorbolt. parsleys eye is twitching because of teya.

zen asks android to come explore with him. maybe yay! zen asks teya what her plan is after zorbolt and flies right by her. she came looking for adventure so she doesnt know. he offers to take her with him. teya says after zorbolt then they can decide. now he asks senna. she goes where shes needed. to help. "make sure to take some me time." her face darkens for a second. "ive had enough me time." he sighs and goes to parsley. hes gonna just explore the material plane, wont travel with zen. 'lone wolf type?' senna comments lone wolves die alone. zen says he runs into people in his journey, eventually they go their own paths. zen comments parsley is always running from something. sennas head whips around and stares at him. 'maybe i just like my privacy.' he says he wasnt trying to dig and says it feels like that for all of us, the fucker. not teya shes an open book lol.

teya asks what he notices. perhaps best to leave parsley alone he says lol. hes used to paying attention to people since the other bots dont know social etiquette in the godspace. he teaches them. studies cultures. teya calls that people watching. zen interacts though. this was when bots still wandered outside. teya messages zen oooo. she wants to know what he notices about her. shrugging lol. he also wont say about the others lol. sometimes he fails to think before he speaks. she goes back to bothering parsley lol.

he tells teya to stfu lol. shes so nosy. android tells them to shut up. senna sets SP down and it starts wandering around. zen tells teya to let things rest for now. 'a better person might.' 'i think you can be the better person.' nope. parsley is so mad lol. 'i thought fey didnt lie?' hes ignoring her. something about the book. senna comments wheatley has his book. zen says the book must not be very good.

teya threatens to go into the feywilds. parsley says she wont last a day. oh no. challenge accepted. fuck. senna and zen also say no. too dangerous. parsley remarks teya stole zens name once lol. he didnt recognize her as a fey lol. senna tells teya maybe it was a name in the book and she fucking says it too. he grits his teeth and storms off. 'thats not a no.' theres only 1 name in the book. zen and senna ponder dorf being in the feywilds. teya says she didnt get to the feywilds. the fire happaned and tori and sunnie said no.

perhaps something is drawing her to the feywilds. maybe her mom made a deal. oh yeah she did lol. teya definitely shouldnt go. what if teya is a means to an end? zen asks why shes not too worried. teya there are worser things that can and will happen. zen says she has a bad imagination. shes too young and hasnt seen the world. she needs to be worried.

parsley is just being quiet lol. senna quietly mumbles under her breath 'a means to an end...' parsley says when he was a kid his sister was gifted a pet. it was a kid. they didnt even understand he was a kid. they didnt speak much since he didnt speak much common. he was scared and parsley didnt know why. then he grew up and died. quickly by his standards. thats why parsley hates it. then he clams back up.

zen stares at him. parsley just keeps walking. teya is also shut up. at that moment, a glowing cube comes to teya! theres an item and a note. it fucking speaks. its from spingledorf. its an item lets her directly message dorf or summon him if needed. a magical stone with 2 buttons on it. nice.

zen comments that teya wants to be dorfs apprentice. go for it teya! adventure! teya accidentally presses the summon but its an answering machine lol.

[am-i-sans]

dnd adventure 15

dans is out of eeby deeby!

"im talking to god give me a second" -undyne

god told undyne we gotta kill her pet goldfish? (moss wtf)

going to nintendofield....were gonna get sued.

the goldfish is a dragon...and we all split up. oh no.

cam is at the bar avoiding everything lol.

dans came across a funeral. interesting. 2 kids got eaten.

frog is going shopping and bonecrusher says she recognizes this place and she was here with her parents!

dans finds undyne and tells her its a sea serpent.

cam comes over drunk and asks undyne to toss them into the water. dans has the pleasure of telling them its a children eating dragon.

undyne grabs them to stop them from fleeing lol.

we find tori and go "gotta fight a dragon we gotta get bait."

frog was having fun at the tavern so we cheered pog.

frog got undyne non magic playing cards ;-; got bonecrusher some chalk.

someone saw us and ran! its jim the cultist! high speed chase! hes not evil anymore tho so thats good!

we spent a LONG time insulting tori for being a flat earther. (lol it might affect soriel endgame lol)

gotta get some chum and a boat! got a boat! lets a go!

undyne cast Aid before the fight. cam gave undyne bardic inspiration.

SEA SERPENT BATTLE!

"were gonna need a bigger boat" -Dans

undyne lost a javelin in the water. damn. she didnt go get it.

UNDYNE JUMPED AT IT?! AND STABS IT. jesus raz- AND SHES HANGING ON AS IT GOES UNDERWATER.

following soupnik on the boat poggers. dans is taking time to cast breathe underwater. undyne keeps...soloing it.

it slams into the bottom of the boat ouchies. I FELL OUT OF THE BOAT! back on though. need to finish this ritual.

time to breathe underwater! i got knocked prone the bastard.

tori cast lighting bolt....bitch dropped me below half health. dans will remember this. thank god frog healed us.

ANOTHER 25 DAMAGE MOSS YOU BITCH AND 2 COLD DAMAGE IM SO MAD-

undyne cast sanctuary on dans thanks.

tori uses flameblade in the creatures mouth.

bonecrusher stabs it pog.

eldrich blast underwater.

frog jumped in and healed me poggers

CONE OF COLD WTF

DEATH SAVING THROWS FOR ME WTF MOSS

i died. so...uhhh....moss gave me 1 free death...so uh

God Said No

undyne and soupnik attack thanks. im just...floating in the water...

it turned into a goldfish. undyne crushed it. good.

got xp. thanks moss. jerk.

undyne healed me thank fuckin god.

"god said no." the RETURN.

undyne yells at tori while dans comforts frog and cam.

dans has lighting scars up his arms poggers. and a bite wound.

dans holds frogs and cams hands as they get back to shore.

weapon rewards! (inferno wasnt here so he doesnt get uncurse lol)

cam went eepy so i dont remember what they got.

dans gets 2 things cause i died lol. i got hat of disguise and vicious warhammer.

undyne got sunblade. tori got a spear. frog got a cool dagger. (sus) bonecrusher got armor.

[mirchloe]

i haven't had access to wifi or data for most of the past week. so here's some camper headcanons i had written down in my phone.

-to be a better writer/storyteller, you do have to read. this advice is not for vernon when he's a kid. he always thinks he can do better, and he feels offended if any criticism is given, no matter how gentle. i think it is telling that no one gives a testimonial on his campster, as not even *crystal* comments, who is arguably the nicest kid in camp. vernon does hold himself in a pretty good regard, but i think his attitude toward reading as studying for better storytelling does change when he's a little older, and his craft does improve.

-i've already mentioned i believe the kids who appeared in the recap video show up for the next summer session, but they attend because the fees were waived. it's stated that the camps are a primary source of income for hq, so these parents must have been paying incredible amounts of money to ensure their child (especially if they have more difficult powers/less ability to control them) receives the best care possible. (of course, for some, this isn't the case, as while there may be mandatory classes, there is a lax environment for older/more experienced kids coming and going as they please, such as the kids who don't attend basic braining, or in general, kitty and franke, who end up skipping both classes seen during raz's tenure.)

-i imagine, for some of them, their parents raised quite a stink. i like to believe chloe's parents are a little older, had trouble conceiving, and are protective of her, their only child. so, chloe's mom, as soon as she learns what happened and had her cry about chloe's experience and hugged her tight (chloe is just 'um. thank you for caring. i'm glad my cygnan parents sent me to live with you.'), she's on the phone. she doesn't care if the second head is on her vacation. get her somebody in charge of the camps! now! no, not oleander! someone else! (chloe's mom, to me, is usually never this upset, but her daughter had brain stolen, and that's warranting her stress and frustration) she ends up talking directly to truman, still recovering from his own experiences. they do have a civil conversation, and while keeping the notion of their financial woes in mind, offers to waive the fees for the next session. chloe wants to attend again, and her parents relent, though her mother is, understandably, incredibly worried that this could happen again, no matter how many cat scans chloe shows her.

-this patterns happens with a few other parents, too. i imagine kitty's dad is casually threatening to sue and manages to get kitty free attendance for the remaining time she has left in camp. he has that extended for franke (up until kitty leaves, then the funds are back in play).

-eventually, truman ends up (along with other officials) giving waived fees for at least one summer session to any camper who wants to return in exchange for dropping any lawsuits. some parents, such as maloof's and chops', take some time to think it over. it's a small gouge to what their budget plans, but truman insists it's best to assuage the concerns of the parents and fend off further financial and mitigate possible legal problems, in addition to the well-being of the cadets, should they continue training.

-thinking about an older headcanon of mine, where mirtala does know some legal jargon. she listens to her mom navigate legal troubles that hit the circus. she might not understand it all, but she gets the basic gist of it. so, when she accidentally bumps into kitty and smears her very expensive shirt with some sloppy meal, and kitty screams that she'll sue mirtala's family in front of pretty much the entire camp, mirtala starts giggling! it's a mortifying experience for kitty as mirtala casually explains that the lawsuit has no merit. it would be thrown out as frivolous.

-this leads to a small uprising from the other campers. kitty had been using threats of lawsuits to keep many down. particularly, mikhail, bobby, and phoebe are *quite* intrigued by the knowledge that kitty can't actually do much other than flaunt her dad's wealth, so long as there isn't any actual damage done to her. kitty had never felt so humiliated. (bobby and kitty have a long-standing feud, phoebe and kitty do *not* like each other, and mikhail is very wary of kitty's tricks, as i headcanon him as being prone to confusion since his confusion voice lines make him sound really out of it.)

-phoebe is really excited to be an intern, and she adores hollis. hollis is one of her idols! she aspires to be her intern one day, but getting saddled with norma is...not fun. both of them are very analytical, and norma has already been through the hoops. she sees phoebe trying to psychoanalyze people, sometimes her pointers being unhelpful as they don't touch upon the greater scope of someone's problem. phoebe insists she's doing it to help people. norma has to counter if she's doing to help others, or if she's doing it to avoid analyzing herself. (it's both, but mostly the latter as phoebe likes the present herself as poised, professional, ready to take on the world - she doesn't need help when she's the helper.) (norma sees someone who could very well follow in her mistaken teenage footsteps, though her intentions are different.) it's tense between them during her first summer at the motherlobe, to say the least.

-bobby and chloe go to evo. they're popping off. they're commentating on the air dash cancels. bobby visibly pogs and cheers the loudest when chloe wins the finals in (insert game here) (as a side note, he still likes carrying her as they grow up. she's like a football.)

-lili and raz are in a little bit of a weird place as far as "girlfriend and boyfriend" go as kids. lili does like him, but i remember her comment she makes about him getting that fungus out of friendship (i think? been a bit), so her feelings for him are a bit settled around the end of pn2. raz's feelings are in more of a tizzy with everything that happened. lili is his girlfriend! ...right? he wants clarity in their relationship, but most importantly, he's happy she's his friend.

-they definitely have that tumultuous bump in their teen years. lili is being more social, making connections again (like with bobby! or hanging out with lizzie!) but still feels bogged down about the agency. does she want to be an agent? people still expect her to follow in truman's footsteps. raz is having this issue, too, but he's also missing his family and wondering what he really wants to do with the rest of his life. he has what he *wants.* but there's an uncertainty brewing within him. their communication problems are bad because they keep making assumptions, too. lili's mind tends to go to the worst solutions when she's really worried (i.e. they cut off his head a la pitror) while raz stews in dread. they're off-and-on again, and those off periods are steadily becoming longer. (i think they definitely stay together when they're older, though! they're just going through a lot as teens and have to discover what they really want, which is something that even extends into early adulthood.)

[sheltershock]

I do think this is because of what you said in the tags about Riley’s personality not being baked into the world, but also because Inside Out seems to take a very surface level approach to psychology with its world. (At least the first one I haven’t seen the second). I’m not saying that a movie with kids in mind has to have deep psychological plot elements, but they could have used it for background details since that’s what Psychonauts does.

In the first game Raz wasn’t spouting technical terms to describe what was going on so the character (and the player) could fully understand what was happening, Raz just experienced the brief story of the mind and left. It’s up to the player to fully explore and take in all the details about the character. Worlds were shaped not just around a psychological concept (psychosis, BDP, smiling depression, etc.) but also incorporated elements of the characters’ childhoods, personality, interests and innermost beliefs(both true and false). Each mind’s architecture is unique and can actually sometimes allude to real life art styles and time periods based on a character’s nationality!

When I’m watching Inside Out and Joy and Sadness are going through the mental world I’m not learning anything about Riley. Even their interactions don’t exactly allude to how Riley views being sad or happy. If it wasn’t for Joy constantly talking about “saving Riley” I would have forgotten whose brain this is. And they had a really good opportunity to do a bit more with the emotions to flesh Riley out but not really.

Sander Sides the YouTube webseries also does a really good job of exploring a “mental world” with limited an environment. But that’s because different emotions and concepts act out the main character Thomas’ personality and beliefs for him. But it also helps that he’s there to interact as well.

Inside Out doesn’t explore Riley’s relationship with honesty. She steals her mom’s credit card and we don’t see any major reaction. This would be a great time for Disgust to get involved with her limited role in the film. We see Riley snap at her friend over video call and Friendship Island crumble but there’s no other character reaction to action to come of it.

There’s a really good point in one of the Sander Sides episode where it’s pointed out that there’s a lot of religious imagery and allusions specifically because Thomas was raised and grew up in a Catholic household. And that’s interesting! And you could have noticed that yourself! Yes, it means that some of the audience might be alienated by having not experienced it, but then it gives them the opportunity to think about what aspect might be affecting their own inner worlds. And that’s the other huge thing about Psychonauts, it’s unique, and it makes the player wonder the same thing. Both of these series push alienation to the question of “what color is the sky in your world?” And I think that’s why Inside Out isn’t very unique. It’s too bland to properly glean or reflect on anything else besides what are you feeling, rather why are you feeling?

inside out being relevant again makes me just sigh like.... i wish all these people knew about psychonauts.... inside out's brain world just doesnt hit the same

[doodle17]

During the time shortly after their birth, what were some "mistakes" that Lili and Raz made when trying to take care of the kiddos?

They've made plenty of mistakes, its so hard to pick just one. But I mean, suddenly becoming parents was just- so out of nowhere and they didn't really have any time to prepare.

They both have very different approaches to parenting, and they clash hard. Not in a good way either. During her pregnancy, Raz would pop in every once in a while when he could catch a quick break to check in on Lili before immediately having to go back to work. It was pretty easy since she was practically bed ridden (she loves the boys but HATED being pregnant it was ROUGH on her) it wasn't until after the boys were born when things got tense

Again, Raz couldn't really stick around for long, and Lili would be stuck with the twins almost all day by herself. It wasn't that he didn't want to be around more, but again, they weren't really expecting anything bug like this to happen so fast so he didn't have time to prepare or get a more flexible schedule.

Of course whenever he tries to tell Lili this she just still gets pissed anyways because she thinks it's unfair that she has to be stuck with them all by herself. And I mean, can't really blame her.

So you have Raz who wants to at least try and be more active with the boys, and try to take them out to do things, cause HEY they're his kids too. Then you have Lili who hovers and tries to keep the boys on a tight leash when Raz comes around because being around them all day stresses her tf out! She has anxiety!! And then this guy is trying to swing them around on the trapeze!!!

They're struggling a little. One time Lili accidentally bonked little Dmitry's head on the bed frame and just broke down into a puddle. He didn't even cry that much but she felt ruined. Then there's the time when Raz couldn't get Cecil to sleep and the poor kids sleep schedule was all out of wack. They've almost dropped them, they've forgotten them in places a few times, they're always trying to get the other to take the boys for a couple of minutes so the other can just breathe for a second.

Theres some nights where they look at the two little boys sleeping in between them peacefully and safely in Lilis dorm

"...Are we good at this?"

"... I dunno..."