leonisloresmith

[leonisloresmith]

(Wip) I’ve been so busy guys, you have no idea. Working on more concrete designs for future Dion’s kids

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #wip #seraphina aquato #tallulah aquato #I love these kids they’re so fun #aquato family cowlick strikes again

[leonisloresmith]

loosely colored these tigers i doodled a while back, for fun

[leonisloresmith]

Wishing I could have my booping badges on this blog but… alas.. side blog

[leonisloresmith]

Two fast doodles for that au I’ve got, just playing with ideas

#morning boost

[leonisloresmith]

@thenecropolix Yup, Milla is smiling at Sasha! It’s safe to assume that any star I draw will be Sasha unless clearly indicated otherwise. He’s the only infant star on Earth after all.

…at least… he was.

He’s not much of a fan of the other guys, though. Especially in the future timeframe when their recruitment tactics have been getting shadier and shadier.

Two fast doodles for that au I’ve got, just playing with ideas

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #psychonauts au #stars #edit: only the two people in the front are stars #the person in back is something objectively way more intimidating

[leonisloresmith]

Two fast doodles for that au I’ve got, just playing with ideas

#psychonauts au #sasha nein #milla vodello #second one has slightly more context #just imagine finding out you aren’t human by half disintegrating into stardust #probably worst day ever tbh #he gets better so it’s fine

[leonisloresmith]

FUCK YOU, WATERLOO WORLD!!

If you're dumb enough to do a 100% run this weekend you're a big enough schmuck to come to FRED BONAPARTE'S WATERLOO WORLD!!! Bad tightropes! Figments slightly off the descent path of levitation! CANNONS! If you think you're going to find a PB at Waterloo World you can KISS MY ASS!! It's our belief that you're such a STUPID MOTHERFUCKER you'll still go for rank 101 - GUARANTEED! If you find a better category SHOVE IT UP YOUR UGLY ASS!! You heard us right! SHOVE IT UP YOUR UGLY ASS!!! Bring your PSI-palms! Bring your flight glitch! Bring your figment guide! We'll FUCK IT! That's right! We'll FUCK your figment guide! Because at Fred Bonaparte's Waterloo World you're FUCKED six ways from Sunday!! Take a hike - to Fred Bonaparte's Home Of Challenge Levitation! That's right, Challenge Levitation! How's it work? If you can hover six feet in the air straight up and not get shot by a cannon, you get NO MISSED FIGMENTS!! Don't wait! Don't delay! Don't FUCK WITH US! Or we'll ruin your PB! Only at FRED BONAPARTE'S WATERLOO WORLD!! The only mental world that tells you to FUCK OFF!!! Hurry up, asshole!! This event ends the minute after you break out that Hearty Knight and he better not miss or you're a DEAD MOTHERFUCKER!! Go to hell - FRED BONAPARTE'S WATERLOO WORLD!! France's Filthiest and EXCLUSIVE home of the meanest sons of bitches in Thorney Towers - GUARANTEED!!!

[leonisloresmith]

Somebody liked the old post about my monster high au which made me remember how I redrew the theoretical fic cover picture

#monster high #jackson jekyll #crescent moon high #it’s probably abandoned but I come back to it once a year lol

[leonisloresmith]

Count how many snow is here, Ford

[leonisloresmith]

if anybody knows where or if there might be an image like this / know how to make one of green needle gulch or the quarry, PLEEEASE let me know I would absolutely adore to get my hands on a full birdseye for those areas!!!!

[leonisloresmith]

Working through designing not just the non-human forms of different characters, but the older version of them too.

I got the farthest with Benny and Bobby.

I was surprised at how quick I decided on what to do with Benny. He doesn’t become a Psychonaut, just ages out of camp and drops most of the psychic world. He lives a lot like most teenagers for a while. Except, he wasn’t born human. From day one, he’s always been right in the middle of the non-human world. He lived with a lot of his family in the closest non-human sanctum city several hours away from the Psychonauts. Eventually, somewhere around his mid teens, he reunites with Bobby during the latter’s internship. They’ve both mellowed out a lot at that point and manage to put together a pretty solid friendship.

For Bobby, he’s had a harder time with things. He ages out of camp and is kind of bounced around between places, often getting mixed up with older kids that don’t have his best interests in mind. Eventually, he is offered an internship back with the Psychonauts that his family more or less forces him into. Immediately, he’s seen as the organization’s charity case. The rumors, most from his fellow interns, get to him really bad initially, until he gets that one life changing conversation all teens need and decides to put his genuine all into it. He thrives, surprisingly. He even gets invited back to intern the next year. He becomes friends with Benny again…. And then he finds out he’s not human…

It realistically could have gone a lot worse. But Benny had been there, and Benny was like him apparently. Luckily, they had been alone in the questionable area at the time, so they were able to try and fail dramatically at figuring out how to get Bobby walking on his weird new legs. They were found out later that day and ended up in Otto’s lab. It certainly was an experience watching that old man walk around his desk with a near matching set of his own hooves. Very weird day. Otto did get Bobby walking again though. After that, Bobby gets involved with the deeper secret department of the Psychonauts that works directly with the non-human world. A couple years into being an agent he lands himself the role of “official babysitter” to a certain alien enthusiast, just to make sure she doesn’t look too deep into things.

Here’s some fun stuff on their species:

There’s a species of hapries that are all bird except for their human heads, and Benny’s one of them. To get more specific, he’s also part of a subspecies called gamayun harpies. They specifically have magic that can only be used to grant general luck when they sing, pretty restrictive unless you learn how to play it. Benny sounds like a dying whale though so singing tends to be pretty subjective.

Fauns and saytrs are interchangeable terms in the non-human world. A lot of scientific fields will use faun more often, though. Fauns are a very diverse group of species and one of the largest non-human populations on Earth. Bobby is a bó faun (casual term is cow saytr but Bobby hates it). They’re one of the few Earth exclusive subspecies of fauns.

[leonisloresmith]

Working through designing not just the non-human forms of different characters, but the older version of them too.

I got the farthest with Benny and Bobby.

I was surprised at how quick I decided on what to do with Benny. He doesn’t become a Psychonaut, just ages out of camp and drops most of the psychic world. He lives a lot like most teenagers for a while. Except, he wasn’t born human. From day one, he’s always been right in the middle of the non-human world. He lived with a lot of his family in the closest non-human sanctum city several hours away from the Psychonauts. Eventually, somewhere around his mid teens, he reunites with Bobby during the latter’s internship. They’ve both mellowed out a lot at that point and manage to put together a pretty solid friendship.

For Bobby, he’s had a harder time with things. He ages out of camp and is kind of bounced around between places, often getting mixed up with older kids that don’t have his best interests in mind. Eventually, he is offered an internship back with the Psychonauts that his family more or less forces him into. Immediately, he’s seen as the organization’s charity case. The rumors, most from his fellow interns, get to him really bad initially, until he gets that one life changing conversation all teens need and decides to put his genuine all into it. He thrives, surprisingly. He even gets invited back to intern the next year. He becomes friends with Benny again…. And then he finds out he’s not human…

It realistically could have gone a lot worse. But Benny had been there, and Benny was like him apparently. Luckily, they had been alone in the questionable area at the time, so they were able to try and fail dramatically at figuring out how to get Bobby walking on his weird new legs. They were found out later that day and ended up in Otto’s lab. It certainly was an experience watching that old man walk around his desk with a near matching set of his own hooves. Very weird day. Otto did get Bobby walking again though. After that, Bobby gets involved with the deeper secret department of the Psychonauts that works directly with the non-human world. A couple years into being an agent he lands himself the role of “official babysitter” to a certain alien enthusiast, just to make sure she doesn’t look too deep into things.

Here’s some fun stuff on their species:

There’s a species of hapries that are all bird except for their human heads, and Benny’s one of them. To get more specific, he’s also part of a subspecies called gamayun harpies. They specifically have magic that can only be used to grant general luck when they sing, pretty restrictive unless you learn how to play it. Benny sounds like a dying whale though so singing tends to be pretty subjective.

Fauns and saytrs are interchangeable terms in the non-human world. A lot of scientific fields will use faun more often, though. Fauns are a very diverse group of species and one of the largest non-human populations on Earth. Bobby is a bó faun (casual term is cow saytr but Bobby hates it). They’re one of the few Earth exclusive subspecies of fauns.

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #psychonauts au #benny fideleo #bobby zilch #me art #at the point that this drawing takes place Bobby takes stuff way too serious but looks like he doesn’t care at all #it’s a weird combination #benny hasn’t changed much tbh he just has a spine now #they both live in the sanctum city that got built in green needle gulch a few years ago #they’re probably roomies #also if you can guess what sports team jersey bobby is wearing you get a cookie #my one clue is that it’s for a sport where the jerseys aren’t cut like that

[leonisloresmith]

Not me realizing all this time later that there’s literally a model of young Augustus in the Maligula level…

Dion looks so much like him that’s crazy

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #augustus aquato

[leonisloresmith]

ITS HAPPENING

Working on older Aquato kids designs

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #mirtala aquato #wip #me art

[leonisloresmith]

@thenecropolix I do have a list of characters that aren’t or find out they aren’t human. It’s a short list though, because in truth being psychic is a very human trait. Very very few non-human species develop psychic powers normally, and many on Earth who do develop them have some human in their family somewhere.

Here’s some of my beginning ideas in art form (they’re a little rough, sorry)

Going past your question, most of the characters on my list get found out first by Otto of all people. It’s honestly a good thing. For a long long time, the human and psychic worlds were not safe places for non-human species, no matter how long those species have been on Earth. It’s the reason the non-human world is hidden away. It’s safer when they pretend not to exist at all.

That does cause some setbacks though. Whenever there’s cases of people finding out they aren’t human by surprise, their family has usually been without another non-human for quite some time. There’s no connection to the non-human world around to escape to or get support from.

Thankfully for people associated with the psychonauts, Otto has that in. It’s part of the reason he appears so stable through the years after Grulovia, he’s been keeping watch in case stuff like this happens.

Earth’s non-human world is this whole thing, but the overall issue with them is how bad they are at offering help (or even being friendly) to some very specific groups. It’s something a couple characters are striving to change.

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #psychonauts au #otto mentallis #bobby zilch #and then benny and franke #don’t feel like putting their main tags for this one #otto isn’t even bobby’s mentor when he’s an intern #unfortunately somebody just found out he’s a goat and can’t walk yet #otto gets stuck with him by the rule of you’re both the same thing

[leonisloresmith]

Just finished reading through your explanation of stars and I'm already hooked by what you've got so far. I understand what you were saying regarding the lifespan thing; not to fuel the fire, but have you thought about how that conversation goes between Sasha and Milla? How does Milla react to finding out what Sasha is? By all means feel free to ignore these questions if they're spoiling anything or you just haven't gotten to that point.

Honestly, it’s not really much of a conversation. They sort of tackle the issue by…sort of just agreeing not to let it worry them? There’s not much to do about the whole thing, nothing they can change. They’ve known each other for over a decade by the time this bombshell gets dropped, this isn’t going to be the thing that causes any fights between them. They know each other too well.

Eventually, when Milla is very old and Sasha is… not, he’ll try to bring it up again. She’ll reassure him, hold his hand and all that. Just one last time.

Anyway! How does Milla react to Sasha being a star? She actually takes it better than he does, funny enough. Sure, there’s panic and worry, but she’s afraid for Sasha most of all. His situation is a lot like Helmut’s at the end of the game, except there’s no body to return him to (unless he turns back). Though, she is happy she has an excuse to hold him in public now.

The whole thing probably would’ve gone smoother if there were any stars Sasha could’ve met to get advice. Unfortunately, adult stars usually aren’t good for conversation, and the last nearby infant star may or may not have been the ancestor that put Sasha in this mess in the first place.

#psychonauts au #you’ll see me be vague about if a relationship is romantic or not a lot #for these two it very much leans romantic #the important part is the dedication #they looked at each other and went “this is the person I dedicate my life to #they’ll hold that promise for forever #however long that forever may be #but yeah let’s just say that Sasha may or may not get jealous of other characters at times #he’s the only star around unless the sun decides to be social again #hell even dion used to have others like him around

[leonisloresmith]

@thenecropolix I’ll be tackling your questions in two parts because I have some long answers.

My earlier doodle with Sasha and Milla didn’t have a particular context but there’s two points of contention with their relationship that develops after they (yes both of them) find out he’s not human.

The first is that Sasha is near physically defenseless when he’s not in human form. His star body is a collection of hot gases and a soul. Anything he physically interacts with is due to either his magic or his psychic abilities. It worries Milla a lot, especially since time is taking those abilities away from him.

The second is (sorry for this bummer) the unspoken fact that Sasha is going to outlive Milla, by a lot. Sasha’s a newborn by star standards. He won’t even hit star adulthood for thousands of years yet. He doesn’t exactly want to do it without her. Unfortunately, even if she could be there, a star’s life is lonely. Kinda hard to hangout when your body burns up anything that gets close.

Now’s the fun part: how do stars work?!

The first notable thing about stars in this au is that they’re living creatures. Their general lifecycle is almost identical to real life but spun a bit.

Newborn/infant stars start in their birth nebulas. At this phase they’re like Sasha is now: some hot gases and a soul. They haven’t developed a gravitational field yet, which is the key defense mechanism of adult stars. Instead they’re able to move at relatively incredible speeds and have access to a large reservoir of magic to interact with things around them.

Many infant stars will just stay in their cosmic nurseries before heading for empty deep space in search of a good place to develop their gravitational fields, but some very adventurous ones will head for an adult star’s solar system. They’ll seek out planets either interesting or populated with life to spend their infancy around before heading to deep space.

A star’s gravitational field is the defensive tradeoff a star gets in exchange for their magic. Their magical prowess diminishes as they age, restricting their movement and ability to interact with things.

I keep mentioning defensive mechanisms, what’s with that? Well, stars as a species only have one predator: …I just call them star eaters. Simply, they’re a much much smaller and faster species that live up to their name. Adult stars use their gravitational fields to throw star eaters off their “scent” and to collect assorted debris like a shield.

So here’s another question: how’d Sasha end up on Earth without knowing he’s a star? He’s a very common case of human genes beating up everything else in the genetic lottery. He had a star relative very very far down his mostly human family tree somewhere and the stars aligned (hehe) just right for the star “genes” to win the metaphorical boxing match this time. The exact specifics I can get into later, but many of the characters who aren’t human were born with the residual magic that makes them appear as such. That kind of magic tends to stick until near adulthood for many, longer for other cases.

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #psychonauts au #stars #also thank you for your interest in this!!! #I’ve thought about a lot of this stuff so much I’m happy I get to share it #sorry again for how part of this is a bummer #there’s quite a few conversations ahead about having a longer lifespan than your loved ones #so beware of that #I try to skip over what I can because that’s not the part I want to focus on #sometimes it unavoidable though