#what happened with Raz wasn't cool

[thenecropolix]

After playing through Hollis's Hotstreak, finishing Boss 1, and getting through the Casino Mission, I just want to applaud all the fanfic writers that did one-shots of Hollis apologizing to Raz because oh my god

At the beginning, I was quickly having a hard time liking Hollis cause of how dismissive she was, but then actually playing through the level and hearing her speech? Perfection

It makes me appreciate those fics where she acknowledges she was in the wrong, especially when the writers throw the interns into the mix... speaking of which, I can definitely see why people like the interns, but also god it was hard to see them egg Raz on and then only doing shit last second and acting all buddy buddy cause like HE'S JUST A LITTLE BOY LEAVE HIM ALONE—

Props to the voice actors and designers because I do adore their voices and character designs, but as I stated before, playing through that level makes me happy their are people who've written fics where they own up to their shenanigans

Which also reminds me: I would love to see someone explore how some of the interns mentors talk to them about what happened with the casino mission; I specifically have the idea of Compton and Sam or even Morris and Milla talking about what happened with Raz and seeing how much of an impact the little guy has had (consider the conversation with either one where they're not mad but disappointed at the two respectively)

This also relates to another idea I thought of specifically with Nona: more specifically, consider a fic where she hears about the hazing and then invites herself to give Hollis's class a demo on hydrokinesis or just honing ones powers in general and just absolutely fucks with all the interns as a lesson for messing with her pootie (bonus if she shamelessly shows favoritism for Raz); let the little old lady put the fear of God into those teenagers who are all too aware now that they hazed the grandson of a war criminal (alternatively, just consider the interns getting more work from their respective mentors as a form of punishment for doing that)

[barrenclan]

the panel of nightberry with a skeleton in issue 32 has her in the exact same pose as she's holding cypressfoot's body in this issue........... i hope you're happy with yourself raz........

that aside ourgh. ouuurghg this issue is so good... i read it yesterday but i reread it again now and i NEED to ramble. i loooove the cover image what a cool choice for the artstyle. i adore poinsettia she has such a cool way of talking!!! and OAIUGRUH THE PINECORM MOMENT... GODDD... and POOR PINEPAW AURGH his face nooo :( that's gotta hurt yikes. and HE MATCHES RAINHAZE NOW.,,,, hacksaw getting just Obliterated was sooo satisfying also . and last but certainly not least EUUEUEGRH IT'S HAPPENING... THE RAINHAZE... THE VERY VERY UNWELL MAN HIMSELF. i am so scared for what is gonna happen next issue ahhahahahaaaa,.... (although thats true of every issue... literally the past 2 or 3 issues i've genuinely gotten like. a sick feeling in my stomach from the Fear when i see a new issue's out before reading it, that's how invested i am in this comic,,,,,,)

Yay, I'm glad you liked the issue! This is a very intense part of the story and I'm so happy it's been well received.

Lol, there have truly been some incredible Effects this comic has inflicted on people. Before posting Issue 36, I got locked out of my house for about half an hour, and when I came back the Discord was going absolutely apeshit because I had passed the rough time when I post issues and wasn't saying anything. It is wildness like no other.

[crystal-master-raz]

⚰️

[...] He was alone, in a small secluded area of the map. He couldn't tell where though, he was too dazed to tell. He just saw lots of purples blues and teals in the area around. Eventually he came to his mind and looked nearby.. he saw a figure and in his daze he came towards it. "Raz? RAZ- Oh my god are you okay? Hey- talk to me-" "Huh..?" Raz looked up at the figure and realized it was.. her. "I said talk to me dumbass, not 'huh.' What's wrong? Why do you look like that?" "Look like.. what? Why are you- how are you even here? I'm more concerned about..-" Raz stuttered in confusion. How could Nadia even be alive if he did what he did? "You're bleeding man, and you got strange like.. cuffs on your wrists. You look like you've been through hell and back, love," She grabbed his wrists and examined them, glancing at them and the wounds on his chest, then back to his hands, fidgeting with a pretty ring on his finger, the same ring present on her hand as well. "And why am I here? Well.. I've been looking for you, Raz. It's been months since we've even seen each other. What happened?" "Nadia, I- is this even..." He paused to think and sighed. He finally realized what was happening, this had to not be real cause.. He shook his head, he should just play along, maybe appreciate the fact that he can at least.. pretend she's here. "I.. Just IO? Things and stuff, it's a lot, really." "IO? ...I.. huh. I see. Interesting.." She stepped away, deep in thought. "Nadia? What are you thinking about?" "Nothing, I'm just confused why the IO would do that.. I could swear they were goo-" "CAUSE THEY'RE EVIL NADIA!! What don't you understand?" "But they were.. good- er- Yeah yeah.. Okay.." "..." "We should get you some medical attention." She spoke with a turned back, still obviously thinking. "I.. I don't get it.." Raz mumbled to himself with flattened ears, wondering why she was suddenly so distant, even if she wasn't real.. this doesn't make sense, surely? "Yeah.. but where are we even?" "I'm not sure, I remember some people were figuring out it's name. Things like 'the Life Tree' 'The Saving Bloom' and my personal favorite, 'the Reality Tree' so I guess if you want a name, there. Point is, it's a big tree." She spoke with a smile, disintegrating Razs concerns. "Oh! It's very nice then." He spoke with a smile as well. He remembered what actually happened when he finally escaped in real life. He was so injured he could barely talk, which is still true in this case.. maybe he should ask to get some assistance.. but he remembered collapsing near the tree. It was the most beautiful thing he ever saw. Still is. He asked for some help, to which she quickly went and helped, and they walked for a little it until Raz felt his eyelids close slower and slower, until when he blinked and looked to his side for a moment.. She was gone, and he had fallen to the ground. The world around him was grey and cold. He looked around in terror and saw the same bloodied walls he grew so used to at this time. He glanced to the ground of the stained room and saw a small piece of what appeared to be chromium like from the Spire. It was a shard of her armor. The same shard he had used to pick his locks all those times ago. The same shard he remembered seeing that vision of her pointing out to. Except no vision was to be seen, instead nothing but grey and the cool nights light. [...] *He blinked again and suddenly he was back on Avas couch, the world warming up again and color coming back to his vision. He was visibly shaking and scared but he managed to shake himself calm again.* Nadia- ...I'm so sorry.

*Raz got up and went to make tea. Maybe it would stop himself from thinking about things. But he glanced behind himself to see the same vision he's used to now. It wasn't the real Nadia, it wasn't possible. So like always, he just ignored it until it fades away.. like always.*

[razputin-vodello-au-archives]

Hmm.... hey, interns? Did you have any secret talents you never found out, other than your psychic abilities?

[Norma] That sentence ...doesn't make sense. How can we know if we have any secret talents if we never found out about them? It's just-

[Lizzie] Norma, stop being a pill about semantics and answer the question.

(Inters chuckle)

[Norma] Ugh ...secret talents ...do I have any? (Frazie leans over and whispers a suggestion in her ear) (Gives Frazie a playful push) (hushed voice) I am not telling them that.

[Frazie] Oh, c'mon, it's cute!

[Lizzie] Okay, now I'm curious.

[Norma] And you're gonna keep being curious.

[Lizzie] Compromise! How about we all start and you get the last word?

[Norma] (Pause) (Blushes as Frazie nudges her) Okay, fine. Hey, where's Raz, by the way? I just noticed he's not here.

[Frazie] He's helping Milla and Mom making dinner for tonight. By the way, you're invited too.

[Norma] Thanks.

[Lizzie] Are we done being wholesome? Let's get on with it! Oh, and Raz's hidden talent is hair styling and fashion, just gonna call that out.

[Adam] (Chuckles) I'll start. Turns out that playing around with my yo-yo's all the time made me realize that I'm actually ambidextrous.

[Sam] (Jokingly) I thought you were straight?

(Everyone chuckles)

[Adam] Har-har. No, seriously though, I didn't realize it was happening at first. I was writing something down, dropped something, switched over my pen to my other hand, grabbed the thing that had fallen on the ground and while I was checking if it wasn't broken or something; I just kept writing.

[Gisu] That's cool. When I was home for the summer, I helped out in a neighbours workshop, who is a professional woodworker. I got curious, he showed me some techniques and it seems I got a knack for woodworking. I'm thinking of making my own boards.

[Sam] I know how to do Mongolian throat singing. (Clears throat)

[Morris] Sam! Window accident? Remember?

[Sam] Oh yeah! I forgotten about that. Nevermind then.

[Morris] I know how to make mixtapes. I started making my own since last Summer, when we were in Brazil, after Espen showed me how.

[Adam] How are they, by the way?

[Morris] They're doing fine. They are thinking of coming over to America to learn business management, since they want to open a Music Label after they graduated.

[Lizzie] You guys know needle felting? That art thing where you stab at felt a million times until it becomes something? Me and Millie started doing that and I am apparently a natural at it.

[Norma] (Scoffs) Right...

[Lizzie] You don't believe me? Who do you think made that Cthulhu plushy that's menacingly looming in the corner of my room?

[Gisu] For real?

[Lizzie] For real! Okay, that leaves Frazie and Norma. Spill the beans, you two.

[Norma] (Groans)

[Frazie] (Giggling) You want me to tell them? (giggles as Norma just nods with an expression of defeat) Me and Norma have taken up a new hobby in secret a couple of months ago.

[Gisu] Hang on, is this about why you two disappear for hours sometimes?

[Adam] We just figured you two got somewhere private and ...well, got funky with each other.

[Norma] Don't ...ever use 'getting funky with each other' ever again, Adam. And it's not that!

[Gisu] Stop dancing around the issue and just tell us.

[Frazie] (Laughs) You guessed it!

[Gisu] What?

[Frazie] Dancing! Me and Norma have taken up Swing Dancing a couple of months ago and she's a natural pro at it.

[Morris] No!?

[Lizzie] For real!? Norma's got two left feet!

[Sam] Seeing is believing!

[Adam] Yeah, now you gotta show us!

[Norma] (Groans and tries to burry her face in her knees) Please stop...

[Frazie] Oh, don't be like that. You're amazing at it and we have so much fun during lessons. Our teacher says that Norma learned so quickly, she thought that Norma lied about being a total amateur.

[Norma] And she asked Frazie - pleaded, more accurately - to keep the extreme flexibility and contortionistic moves to a minimum, because she really freaked out some of the other people.

[Sam] Oh, now I gotta see this.

[Morris] I'm getting the music! (Hovers off to his room) I'm sure I got something in my collection.

[Gisu] Adam, Sam, help me clear the room. And get the camera, Raz will surely wanna see this. (Uses TK to clear the couch and table)

[Norma] Guys ...

[Frazie] (Gently takes hold of Norma's hand, looking pleadingly into her eyes) Norma, will you please dance with me? It would mean so much to me... I'll make it worth your while.

[Norma] (Blushing) Okay, fine. (Grins) But if we're gonna do this ...let's do it properly. You ...gotta wear the dress.

[Frazie] Yes! As long as you wear the suit. Let's get changed! (Grabs Norma and Drags her towards her room.)

[Norma] Be right back, guys! You better get the music ready.

[Lizzie] (Laughs) Oh, she's excited now. (Pause) Hmmm, swing dancing ...didn't Millie say she wanted to try that? (Shrugs) Oh well, you only live once. I'll text Mills about that later. (Grins) Right now, we've got a show to prepare for.

[doodle17]

Oh, I want to talk about your future Psychonauts AU......

What happened during the time Lili was away from the Psychonauts? And when Raz was working during the time Lili was away?

This'll be a loooong post teehee

Lili was kind of off doing her own thing. She kind of went back into the whole mindset of not wanting anything to do with the Psychonauts for a little bit. She tried interning at Whispering Rock for a little when she was around 16-17 but kind of lost interest. I think for a bit, the only interaction she really had with anything Psychonauts related was when she went to visit her uncle for singing practice. She was going through, something, and she just didn't feel like interacting much at all. She just enjoyed staying at home with her mom and other family members. She'd visit her uncles tattoo shop that was in town, and she thought it was cool, so he taught her how to do it, and that's how she got into tattooing! Which was great, because she actually interacted with people at the shop, and she was finally doing something other than sitting in her moms greenhouse for hours. She had tried to date other people when she was younger, around 14-ish. She dated Kitty, Elton, even Bobby, at some point! But, she never really felt that strong of a connection with them, and preferred to stay friends instead. And they all seemed to want something to do with the Psychonauts. Of course they did. And they would always say the same thing, "What happened to you and Raz? You guys used to be so inseparable!" Her responses was usually the same. She'd just shrug or roll her eyes and say that things change, their interests were different, Yaada yaada yaada. It probably wasn't until she was around 18-19 when one of her younger cousins was talking about interning for the Psychonauts, and she had a little bit of that childlike excitement return. But if course, with a little skepticism, because if she did return, then she'd most likely have the title of Grand Head looming in her future. And the newest agent who has been rumored to be the next Sasha Nein just so happens to be her Ex. Aaaawkwaaardd. When she eventually does join the Psychonauts again, she's still technically an agent, but she actually grows a fascination with Lizzie and Adam's side job that they invented called the Brainiacs! They're basically journalists for the Psychonauts and Lili is their photographer! Which is good because Adam is not good with a camera, Lizzie says.

Raz was out trying to do as much work as he could. He was running around helping with whatever he could find. Which could vary from organizing paperwork, to deactivating a literal bomb. Needless to say, he was definitely making a name for himself from such a young age! Although to some, it felt he was doing a little too much work for his age. But he was so focused on becoming an agent, he was just itching to ditch the "junior" title. But he did miss having a social life, so he started interning at Whispering Rock. He actually met some of his old buddies, like Mikhail and JT! It was around then that he started loosening up a bit more. Maybe the camp was bringing back some memories, but he started doing less work. Not in a bad way! He just started to actually sleep at night again instead of sit hunched over at a desk doing paperwork all night long. When he was around 16 his mom said it was about time he have someone special to keep him company, he, begrudgingly, tried to date again. He'd went on a few dates with Elka, but she would NOT stop talking about Nils... That was definitely a No. He tried to ask D'art out a couple times, and while he was flattered, he didn't really see Raz that way. He eventually decided that he was just going to give up on romance because his main focus was ranking up and officially becoming a Psychonaut. Even though, he was pretty lonely... But there was no way he was going to let anyone else know that, especially his peers! He needed to be focused. He needed to work harder.

Its not like they completely forgot the other existed. They still had some kind of communication with eachother, but it was just complicated. Whenever they tried to talk through email, Raz would either be working or Lili would be away in her greenhouse. It's obvious, each still had some kind of affection for eachother. But teenage awkwardness and overall bad communication skills just made things difficult.

[idioticsky]

Here's the product of me being sleep deprived

It was a cool summer night, a nice one for sure. The Jr. agents were having a fun night in, full of card games a movies. Everyone one was having a good time, well, everyone except for Vivian. Today was the day she finally became a jr. agent. That should be great right? Well, not for her, she promised the others that she would do a full backstory dump to them the day she became a jr. agent.

"So, about that bit of backstory Vi-" Adam said while picking up a few cards from the deck, trying to find a yellow card. "Are you finally comfortable with sharing?"

"Nope, but I promised you guys I would the day I became a jr. agent and here we are." Vivian said while placing down 4 skips in a row.

"Then spill the beans already." Lizzie said, adding a wild card to the discarded pile. "Changing the color to green."

"Or you could wait until you're comfortable-" Raz threw down 4 reverse cards. "Uno."

Vivian sighed and took a moment to think before starting to speak.

"If y'all want a backstory dump, then y'all better be in a distance where you can at least hear me, I ain't repeating myself."

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

After everyone got comfy, Vivian started to explain.

"I was born into a home that wasn't that great. I was the oldest out of 3 kids, I had a younger brother, he was 2 years younger. I also had my baby sister, she was 4 years younger than me. My brother was the only child my parents planned to have, or even wanted. They wanted all boys but of course that wasn't gonna happen, they found that out after I was born. I could never figure out why they wanted all boys though.

"Other than the 'only wanting boys' thing, my parents also loved my brother more than my sister and I for another reason. You see, my family is full of government workers. We're used as spies because of how well we can read minds, unlucky for me though, I wasn't born with that power, my sister was but was never taken seriously about it though. My brother also had this power, but since he was the golden child, everyone worshiped him for having it.

"Moving on. My sister and I worked around the house and had to earn our own money, we got pretty close because of that and trained our abilities together as well. But, once I turned 8, my family finally had eniught of me and my sister and set us up in the foster system. I never saw her again after that... I still hope to find her, but we'll have to see."

Vivian started to get more nervous as she thought about what to say next. Hell, even where the story went next.

"Everything past that starts to blur, but this is what I can remember.

"The first foster home I was in I stayed at for a few months, they were kind to me. I felt wanted for a bit.. but before long I had to leave, I still don't know why. The next house I stayed at for 2 and a half years. I hated them, they neglected me a lot, they thought of me as a paycheck, I wasn't welcome there. They had a biological child as well. She was a little other than me so I always got the things she didn't want, like old clothes. I wasn't aloud to do much there, I had to either work on chores or school work, I didn't get to play games, I didn't even get to properly wash my hair. I had to pick the lock on my door in the middle of the night so u could go grab something to eat or find something to do because.

"I never had one person care for me, until the family went to go take a family photo at some old store. I had to wait until they were done because 'foster kids don't belong in these' is what they said. That day, for whatever reason. Agents Forsythe and Vodello were there. They helped me, saved me even. They found out I was a psychic and brought me here. And that's about all that happened before I met you guys."

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

"I.. that is a good bit to take in." Gisu said while taking a sip of her soda

"Wonder why Milla and Agent Forsythe where doing in that photo store.." Raz mumbled trying to figure out why they would be there.

"Well, that's an emo backstory if I ever heard one-" Lizzie said while patting Vivian's shoulder. "Now let's get to bed, it's almost 12." The others agreed with Lizzie and started to get ready for bed. Vivian sighed a bit and went to get ready with the others.

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

After most of the others went to bed, Lizzie went to check on Vivian.

"Feeling ok? You did just take about a lot so we don't want you sleep walking again." She started while standing in the doorway.

Vivian nodded.

"I'm good, just a bit worried"

"Worried?"

"Yeah.. I hope my sister is doing well, wherever she ended up."

"Understandable you are siblings after all."

"Yeah, do you worry about Norma like that?"

"Not too much, she can handle herself well enough."

Vivian smiled a bit and yawned.

"It was nice of you to check on me."

Lizzie smirked.

"Yeah yeah, don't tell anyone about this though."

Vivian nodded and laid in bed, Lizzie retreating back to her own room for the night. That night had been a good night, despite the story that was told earlier.

[asilcorner]

As someone who knew nothing about the Psychonauts series, watching a summery video of the first two games was. . . An experience.

I hope you mean the little narration Raz does at the beginning of the second game, because I was squealing so hard at that cutscene. Just... his tiny drawings. The almost all over the place but still coherent way he's telling it. It all had me gushing, his just a child trying his best to explain what happened the last few days and it's-

A lot. Like wow.

[citricacidprince]

Psychonauts 2 AU idea time bby!!

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR PN2'S ENDING

Okay so, we don't really know what happened to Loboto after PN2. All we know is that he escaped to go get his kid (which tbh we don't even know is an actual kid; they could be a fish for all we know) and that's it. So, I came up with a little idea.

The Aquato's bring their family circus on the road again (promising to visit Raz every once and a while of course) when they run into a man while traveling. You see, I like to imagine the Aquato's are very kind and welcoming to other travelers like them, like inviting them over for dinner and such. Wanders gotta stick together after all! And since they were already planning on stopping for the night they invite the stranger to dinner.

Donatella and Augustus start talking to the stranger, figuring out his name is Loboto, and ask him where he's going. They get concerned when he says he doesn't know. They ask about his family and they get even more concerned when he says he doesn't have one. The parents talk a bit and come to a conclusion. Since Nona isn't traveling with them and won't be there to run the ticket stand anymore, it would be nice to have an extra set of hands to help around the circus. Even if just for a bit, until he can get back on his feet. They offer to help Loboto for a while until he can support himself, but the longer he stayed the became more and more apparent he wasn't going to be leaving.

Not that Augustus and Donatella minded. He was a great help around the circus, and was surprisingly proficient in metalwork, and Donatella found herself liking the scarred man more than she initially anticipated. She didn't worry and fear for Loboto as she did with her children, but she did feel warmth and love like how she does for her family. He became a weird uncle of sorts to the Aquato's.

Little things about this AU that aren't important but I desperately want you to know:

While Loboto may be bad at taking care of normal kids, the Aquato children are NOT normal children. He can casually say that he's going to turn his metal arm into an confetti canon and that the kids are going to help, and Augustus would be like 'Cool, don't blow up anything important!' (This is not a joke, he turned his previously pepper grinder arm into an confetti canon. He uses it during shows as a grand finale!)

Cal has 100% tried to make a prosthetic arm that also works as a t-shirt canon. He would pelt a kid in the face with one and that is a FACT.

He dulled the claws on his hands so that they wouldn't accidentally cut one of the kids, they are now as sharp as butter knives. So not sharp enough to cut someone but sharp enough to cut an apple. (He also has a secret compartment in his arm that has candy in it and he uses it to bribe the little ones sometimes)

Loboto's metal arm is now COVERED in stickers because of the little ones, not that he minds, they're cute!

He would probably tell Donatella and Augustus how he got his scars if they asked (and promptly would become the leaders of the 'I'm going to kick your parent's ass' club) but he would never tell the kids, especially Mirtala and Queepie. Instead, Loboto comes up with elaborate stories for how he got them, and the story changes every single time

At first Loboto was just supposed to be working at the ticket stand and helping with the kids, but Frazie offered to teach him some circus tricks and seeing that he was struggling, Dion, who previously was unsure how to feel about Cal, decided to help him out with Frazie. 'That is the most helpless and pathetic man I've ever seen, I'm gonna help that dipshit so he doesn't kill himself.'

Dion grows to like Cal. After all he's the oldest and whenever his parents were too busy (which was often because they run a circus and have 5 kids) he had to watch his siblings. Not that he minded, he liked being the responsible older brother, also anything that stressed his parents out less was a win in his book. With Loboto here, he absolutely insists that he can watch the youngest two while Dion can go have fun.

Loboto is practically a muppet, there are no bones in his body, therefore, he is very flexible

Mirtala and Queepie like their weird Uncle Loboto. They like to climb up him like he's a jungle gym, Mirtala especially, and Queepie would probably sleep under Cal's shower cap when he's tired of interacting with people for the day and wants a nap.

When Nona sees him for the first time she's like "Mmmm new grandchild" and sits him down to feed him. She also tells him embarrassing stories of all the kids which he ABSOLUTELY is going to use to pick on them.

Loboto gets to have a nickname like most of the other family members. For example: Cal, Cali, Boto, and Gosto. (I personally really like Gosto kwdjwbdj)

After a while they notice Loboto doesn't have many clothes. So they decide to all pitch in and go through bunches of their old clothes and fabrics to make Loboto an official 'Aquato Family Circus™' uniform like the rest of them have. Sure it's very mismashed but Loboto absolutely loves it regardless. (He totally doesn't tear up what are you talking about-)

Frazie gives Loboto her other earring for his Aquato outfit, come to find out Loboto doesn't have pierced ears. Hard cut to the ear-piercing scene in the Parent Trap. Screaming and all.

Had this idea stuck in my head for a while and glad I could finally get it in paper. Thinking about calling this concept the 'Loboto Aquato AU' cause it rhymes and that's very cute janxjsjx 💛💛💛

Also! Here's some quick doodles I did of this silly lil AU!

[itsthemysterykids]

Please dont say im the only one who thinks Wybie is Autistic

But say in the Miraculous au lili was secretly bullying Wybie about being autistic. What are the Mks reactions when he finally builds up the courage to tell them?

I also headcanon him as autistic. And I assume you meant Lila because Lili is way too cool to be picking on someone for something like that.

“Coraline, I found him,” Raz whispered into his phone. “Go and get the others.” He hung up before he could get a response and turned back to the fidgeting boy in front of him who looked like he was trying to rip his hands off by how much he was wringing them.

Raz never had much interaction with autistic people, only learning about them from health websites and Netflix documentaries, but he wasn't sure if those were staged or not, so he had no idea how to help his friend in this situation right now.

Hesitantly, he asked, "D-do you need anything, Wybes? I-I can find the nurse, or-"

"Don't leave, don't leave, don't leave," he rambled over and over a few more times, only concerning Raz even more.

"It's alright," he reassured. "I'm not leaving." Wybie seemed to calm down, but he was still wringing his hands. And even though he was wearing his skeleton gloves, Raz could tell they were probably a little reddened and bruised. "Um... Do you want a stress ball instead?" He shook his head. "Okay, that's fine. Is... Is that like your stim- Can I ask that?"

Wybie just blinked, said nothing, and went back to wringing his hands.

"... Okay..."

"Knock knock."

Raz turned to see his friends standing just outside the janitor's closet, all with worried looks, especially Coraline. The blue-haired girl took a few steps towards her friends a sat next to him. Raz took this as his cue to join the others, knowing Wybie was in good hands.

"... So, how was your day?" She simply asked.

Not even a second, and Wybie was retelling everything that happened, "Lila cornered me in the locker room the first five minutes of study hall, grabbed the front of my shirt, and slammed my back against one of the lockers. Before I could say anything, she threatened to ruin my life and told me you all would hate me by next week, and never wanna talk to me because I'm so fucking annoying, broken, others can't get through a sentence without me going on about something they don't care about for hours, and then she grabbed my wrist while she was wearing this really sharp ring, and I hated it!"

Lili and Norman were fuming from where they stood. But the feeling washed away when tears began to stream down their friend's face. Recalling how Coraline helped to calm him down during one of his sensory overloads, Lili approached while removing her hair ties. The thing with Wybie is he needed to be doing something with his hands, constantly, whether it was working on a new project, drawing, or just tapping his fingers against something. "Wanna braid my hair?"

Wybie looked at her for a moment before quickly darting his eyes to the left and nodding. He takes three strands of hair and quickly gets to work before moving on to the next braid.

Coraline waved her hand in front of his face to grab his attention, knowing better not to touch him while in this state. "Hey, I'll be right back. Okay?" Of his nod, she got up and walked the others out of the closet. "Alright, let's go hunt down a bitch."

Mabel nodded as she whipped out her knitting needles from her messenger bag. "I'm with you."

[veryspecialfungus]

oooh i just noticed those tags abt the next arc being more morris-focused (+raz) that sounds cool!!! we need more morris content in the world (which i say about every junior agent but especially him)

i'm curious now (but feel free to ignore this bit if its spoilers) will each arc focus on a different junior agent/pov or will it be more focused on a few specific ones/the general intern group?

Hope you have a great day!!!

Morris never gets any love, it's honestly extremely sad. And not just because he's my favorite of the interns, he's just a really fun character with a fun gimmick that gets no development (why are you even in the Psychonauts if you just want to run a radio station all day, sir? Sir? Answer me sir.)

...I guess fun gimmick with no development is actually true of all the interns, but, y'know, mustn't dwell. That's what fanfic is, right? If the powers that be won't feed you, feed yourself.

As for the second part of the question, it might help if I go into my creative process a little: Generally when I start, I write down every single idea I have in the moment: This could be broad concepts, certain images, scenes that I want to have happen, vital plot points, themes and even some phrases that I'd like to have as runners through the story, and what characters I need to fill what narrative roles and if I need to make an OC for something that a canon character won't work for, and then I start putting them into a rough chronological order and that becomes the rough outline for the entire story. I don't really outline too strictly though, because a lot of the story comes out through the writing of it.

As my old writing teacher used to say: "Only writing is writing." I always took that to have two meanings: 1. outlining and planning and plotting have their place, but the only way to actually write is to do the mechanical action of putting words into sentences and 2. You have no idea what's going to come out as you actually start to put things into concrete words. As a fer'instance I never actually planned to have Linda involved in the first arc, until I realized that she could probably rumble the psitanium thieves just by sticking her head out of the lake, and that changed the tone of the fic considerably in a way that I think is better (Linda's just so friendly she softens things considerably.)

So basically my answer is...I sure wanted each intern to have their own story, but I'm not sure that's in the cards. The fanfic has a plot, but it's not directly told, exactly? Pieces of it will come out as the characters just do things in episodic chunks, which gives me some freedom and is restricting in others; It lets me go explore fun tangents but also risks meandering. I think Norma's character arc may just end up threaded through the entire thing rather than having her own chapter because she has a unique role in the group? And I was never confident in the idea I had for a Lizzie-centric story, and eventually I just had to kill that darling when I realized I wasn't enthusiastic about it, and right now I don't have anything to replace it with. Even this upcoming Morris arc was supposed to be two stories that ended up being too similar, so I merged them into one. And I never came up with anything for Sam.

But then I may end up changing my plans entirely depending on how things develop. It's also part of the funny nature of fanfic that the audience gets to watch it written in real time, so if you notice something that looks like me changing gears in the middle of something...that's probably what happened. I'm not perfect as a writer and this format lends itself to some challenges, but I think I've got enough pieces to make this fic fun anyway.

[sxrrandomfanfics]

All the Pieces Are On the Ground (PN Family Swap AU)

In the little plant area that no one took care of, Lili watched the call time flash on her flip phone before closing it with a sigh. The place was like an alcove, making places where the sun didn't shine through erupt into goosebumps at the change of temperature.

Everything she had told her father and great uncle Hellebore- Call him by his real name. Helmut's words chimed.

Bob. Bob Zanotto. Her Uncle Bob. Hellebore. HER. UNCLE. BOB. Psychic Seven. Not Six. Seven. Psychic Seven. Call them by their real names.

There was the sound of someone landing on the dirt and the plants welcoming a familiar face to them. Lili was face to face with Raz's younger sister. She recognized her from the video call.

"Aww, you found my secret hiding place."

Lili moved to stand up. "Sorry, I can leave."

"Wait, you're Raz's girlfriend, right?"

Lili sighed. "Not anymore. I said something to Raz that made him really upset and he... He said as his girlfriend I should have trusted him more, but I didn't so..."

"So, you're saying you're not dating my brother?"

"Yeah."

Mirtala still kept her smile. Maybe it got even wider.

Not that Lili blamed her. Everyone suspected her of being the mole. But once Lili fixed Helmut... once Lili got him to explain how Bob couldn't hurt people... once Uncle Bob got help for his condition... There wouldn't be a need to worry about Hellebore returning. And maybe she and her dad and Great Uncle Bob could all learn about the good ways to use herbophony and phytokinesis.

"So... do you have time for something?"

Lili huffed out a breath. She couldn't tell Mirtala about the mission. If anything happened to the young girl, Augustus would be devastated.

Augustus was the only one who believed in Lili right now, and she wasn't going to throw that away.

"I... yeah I have time for something."

"Cool! I... lost some things in the Questionable Area?"

"Questionable Area?"

"Yeah! We have to go through the mines to get to it, but my family and I play there all the time! It's where we practice our acrobatics! We even got a really old circus tent there!"

Lili kept down a giggle. "Circus tent?"

"Mhmm! We're good acrobats! And Psychics! Well, Raz is a better psychic, but he isn't as flexible as the rest of us."

"Alright, what did you lose?"

"A doll of mine, a very pretty flower, and a bag of my candies."

"And what did this 'pretty flower' look like?"

"It's really pretty! It's pretty and wonderful and is like... like... like one dad would give momma!"

Ah, so the flower was a reminder of the dad. "I'll see what I can do for you." Lili stood up, preparing to go to the Questionable Area?

"Thanks!" Mirtala said as she waved goodbye.

[britishsass]

One day I will get off my ass and create on OC who's a writer, if only for the sole excuse for their mental world to be based entirely on the "monkey's on typewriters" thing. When that day comes, you will all be sorry.

congrats! you activated my trap card! I wanna discuss my own oc who's also a writer because i have 0 self-control even though your idea is likely a lot cooler.

Just a warning, I'm going to go so far off, so that's why there's a cut: I have so, SO much to say. Because I've wanted to talk about Loren and ideas there. So unfortunately, here I am.

So, Loren! Loren Musee is a young writer who definitely is not just there to fix the timeline, thank you very much. All pictures are from my friend, @so-no-original-names-left aka Ace. He sketched and had the cool art ideas; I digitized/colored/whatever.

Loren was an average kid in Shaky Claim who had a rough time with xir friends. Xe used to have three close friends, but over time, all three left xem behind, leaving xem as a nervous wreck. When there was a pep rally at xir school, xe had a mental breakdown over seeing those three happy, and ran off to the library. From there, xe was sent to Thorney Towers for sitting in the library for hours on end, talking to imaginary friends and barely moving.

From there, xe grew worse, mostly hiding in a room, avoiding all others. When the Towers closed, xe had a run-in with Crispin, and... accidentally froze time at Thorney Towers for a couple decades, until the time bubble was broken by someone else arriving. No one there knows it happened, they just know that time is very strange.

Loren's mind is called "Manuscript Museum", and it's built around the idea of past stories and a museum, mixed with the three ex-friends.

(This is a version of them from a Meat Circus style mixup between Loren and Ace's oc Paris, called Patchwork Exhibition, since Paris's mind is built around a large quilt, and these three are what the ex-friends would look like in a much more patchy and ruined version.)

Left: Pyrite. Pyrite is a pirate, and the top dog of the trio. She was a childhood best friend who turned cruel towards Loren, and ditched xem in 7th grade. She's the captain of the ship, and the cruelest of the bunch, but she's actually named Peony in real life. She's the brain of the trio, and also the most dangerous.

Middle: Heidi. Heidi is a corrupted superhero, built around ideas like Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, where the hero is actually a horrible person with good press. She was a young friend who drifted away in 3rd grade over personality differences, and was named Hailey. Now, she's the most childish of the trio, and tends to pout a lot after she loses. Think like Kochamera. She's the brawn of the trio, and lots less dangerous than the others.

Right: Ophelia. Ophelia is a princess, akin to the fairytales that Loren used to love. She's quite cold, and comes across as an ice queen. She was a preschool friend in Rainbow Squirts who drifted away over time, and her name was Olivia. She's the least dangerous of the trio, as Olivia wasn't as close to Loren and the two didn't have much with each other to begin with. She's the skill, but also very bossy towards Raz.

I don't actually have many pictures of how I'd want Manuscript Museum to look, but I do have a sketch I made of the trio usually-- It's not outlined, but it is there.

aAfter the story of Psychonauts 1, Loren follows after the Wanna Split a Cab quartet, being very attached to them and viewing them as xir parents. Xe's still very anxious, but xe loves those four (and Napoleon too) and latches on tightly. When the group goes to Whispering Rock for some quick check-up stuff, xe follows, and it's found out that xe has untapped psychic powers that xe can't really control. Therefore, xe gets asked to stay there for awhile so that xe can be taught how to control it.

Xe has a bad habit of hiding behind others/things, and can usually be found in places xe shouldn't be able to access or half-hidden.

Eventually, xe goes to the Motherlobe as an intern, where xe meets the rest of xir new friend group. AKA: My friends' ocs.

From left to right:

Evan Semble (He/him) ( @clockworkjunkie ) a sonokinetic theatre kid who honestly is here for a good time. Mentor: Helmut (And Bob joins in to help out a lot) Additionally: he's the great-nephew of Boyd, but neither knows it.

Terri Secrate (They/them) ( @legallymean ) an electrokinetic with a habit of self-villainizing and likely the most mature of the group. Mentor: Otto.

Paris Cardwell (he/him) ( @so-no-original-names-left ) a pathokinetic who can't really control his emotions, also known for being interested in knowing everything about different abilities. Mentor: Compton.

Loren Musee (xe/them) (me) a chronokinetic who's still working out how to handle all these people, and who still loves the Thorney Towers gang as xir family. Mentor: Ford.

They're all complete nerds, and this is what the relationship chart looks like for now. It's totally messy, and no we don't know what Evan and Paris are like with each other just yet.

Together, they make a great team. Though they are all kinda stupid, I love them nonetheless because of that stupidity.

There are some other characters in their story, ranging from the villains to the good guys, but out of them all, these four are the main quartet to know. And I love them so, so much.

A quick rundown of other characters includes:

An ex-Psychonaut turned extremely bitter

Paris's cousin, aka The Worst

A gay nurse who's just trying to find love

A very anxious mute guy who loves said nurse but can't say it

A squad of villains who have very little info so far

Overall? It's just us having fun with making up ideas, hehe.

Hope you enjoyed this massive infodump! I'm only a bit sorry.

[whisperingrockandroll]

My Thoughts on Psychonauts 2

Speaking candidly about Psychonauts 2, overall I love this game and think it's a great experience, but I have a surprising amount of cons alongside my huge list of pros. I'll talk about them under the cut to avoid potential spoilers. Once again, below the cut you may see spoilers. Reader discretion advised.

Full Disclosure: I haven't yet beaten the entire game myself, but I know everything that happens from watching streams, gameplay videos and listening to people talk about it. As of this writing I'm nearly done with Compton's Cookout.

I'm a little put off but how hostile, aggressive and dismissive everyone is of Raz. Given the circumstances it makes sense but it really does feel extremely offputting to see a character we've known and loved for over a decade now get shit on by so many people around him, even if they're just misguided or at the beginning of their character arcs. The interns are particularly bad about this because they do something really mean to Raz at the beginning and never really apologize or learn from it. Adam apologizes but still justifies the hazing as something that "had to be done." They never really seem to learn a lesson and it seems like Raz forgives them too easily after he saves their sorry asses. In a lot of ways this mirrors the campers' from Psychonauts 1, but for the most part they were just in their own little bubbles doing other stuff, not being rude to you. I get that pathos is an important thing for a protagonist but they really hammer it in here. Yeesh.

Raz's family are all really likable but also suffer from this problem. Dion is an especially bad case because he's just a brooding, edgy jerk pretty much the entire time. Sure, he looks regretful when it seems like he actually hurt Raz's feelings, and the fact that he was the first one to hug Raz near the end made me straight up cry, but we don't get to see a lot of him being nice or trying to make up for the way he acted. It's a plot element that could have definitely been improved if say, Dion had a series of side quests that you could slowly complete and make him warm up to you.

The only side characters that don't seem to get either put on a backburned or act like total jerks are the Psychic 7, which makes sense since the main story centers around them. The only thing that really gives me pause is how heavily the game strains the relationship between Ford and Raz, and in a way that isn't really something you can repair with a talk and hug. Some dark shit went down and huge mistakes are mad, and I wouldn't exactly blame Raz if he never wanted to speak to Ford until his funeral. Which is really, really upsetting because the relationship between Raz and Ford and the way Ford believed in and supported him unconditionally was one of the most emotional parts of the original game.

Lili was great and got a lot of cool stuff to do throughout the game, but I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't a little unsatisfied with how their relationship was handled. They had a lot of cute moments together, sure, but from what I can tell they don't kiss again (though they do hug!) and at the end of the game you don't get to really chill with her or enjoy her company, because she's more preoccupied with hanging out with her dad. Which makes perfect sense narratively, given that he almost died and they both obviously need a minute to decompress and bond, but considering how the relationship between Raz and Lili is easily one of the best parts of the franchise, it felt a little disappointing. Truman seeing Raz as Lili's nervous prom date really made me feel better about all this, though. That's friggin' adorable.

The biggest problem with the side characters is they seem to have not a lot to do. While in the original game the characters were doing something new in the overworld every time you finished a level, the characters here just kind of find a comfortable place and just stay there until post-game. There was a lot of potential there for character arcs and expansions that I felt was a big miss.

Cutting you off from the rest of the overworld until you finish Green Needle Gulch was also a really bad design decision, IMO. I think it might've been done to keep players from thinking the overworld seemed to repetitive and empty? But it makes collecting stuff take longer and means you can't get changable costumes or the best power upgrades in the game until it's pretty much over, and all that's left to do is use them on whatever enemies respawn in whatever minds you can find. The addition of a New Game+ or an Arena mode would really help this. Could you imagine you awesome an Arena mode would be? You could even have the other characters there watching or fight them or whatever. It'd be pretty sweet.

Overall, it's a good experience and I'm really happy the game came out and I got to play it after all this time, and I'll definitely be incorporating stuff from the game into my comic moving forward, but it ultimately left me with some conflicting feelings here and there, and wanting more.

With all that in mind, there's absolutely nothing in this critique that couldn't be fixed with a followup. So basically the worst thing I can say about the game is "there needs to be more" which is very, VERY good. Make a DLC, sequel, show or comic where Raz beats down hordes of enemies, have all the interns go on a journey of self-discovery that ends with them all apologizing to Raz and baking him a cake, have Dion and Frazie hug the little guy and tell him he's a great little brother, let's him blow up the moon with a giant piss cannon and end it all with him and Lili smooching like greeting Italians and you'll have checkmated ever criticism I've had.

[thrilloffirstlove]

(images made with "lillycrew" on picrew, slight blood warning)

Hiii here is my Sammy macks + psychoknots insert. There's two images because they are the introduction (left, person with dark brown hair down to their shoulders mullet style, wearing a white and black button down with a blue blazer and black headphones) and psychoknots/vacation version(right, same person with a shorter mullet hair split dyed yellow left and pink right, wearing a purple shirt with a fish pattern over a black undergarment, with a mushroom necklace and chewy necklace of indescrimiate pattern).

When Simms/I is first found/introduced it's as a ominous observer of sorts, most people thinking that they go from lethargic/deadpan to way too nervous very quickly, and "it looks very suspicious". Sam and Max take way too much of a liking to this kid and they sort of steal adopt them, having their apartment right across from theirs. It's relationship with the geek is weird at first, cause it does know a lot of things, just can't ever seem to apply/talk about them, which isn't even a contrast it just.. is?? The two of them do end up doing sibling stuff because reasons and can talk towards each other for a while, it's mainly just that first hurdle of Simms being wishy washy with what it does or doesn't know. I haven't actually figured out how it meets with the computer Obsoletion Prevention Society but it does think they are all pretty cool most of the time and would like to give any of them a kiss

Vacation version is well... Vacation version! They and Geek managed to get dragged over to the questionable area, and while others they arrived with are busy doing things in the quarry, activities if you will, they're flip flopping between hanging out/talking to that small circus family or the cool interns that keep showing up. The really ended up taking to the 'goth' girl of the group Lizzie, though they consider themselves friends with everyone. Simms doesn't... Actually know anything about actual psychicness, like they know the intersections with mental health and some small, brief fads but the actual powers side of it is new and they like to think they're being pretty chill about it. They will end up psychoanalyzing Raz when they first meet him though, that's for sure.

Also in my weird timeline what is considered the devil's playhouse sort of happened, like some of the more general plot beats but it takes place before the other telltale stuff and before the cartoon. Simms wasn't around during whatever the devil playhouse time was and I don't think geek was either.