#thinkerprints

[jnixz]

If I may ask, how do Thinkerprints actually work? And what is so special about Truman's that the scanners didn't recognize you know who?

The simple answer I could think of starts off with the thought that ThinkerPrints scans work like a barcode scanner whenever it scans a person, detecting the brain/brainwaves (or other ThinkerPrints), which is then used to identify the person and their identity as recorded in the system. 

Instances of ThinkerPrint usage

Motherlobe Receptionist - taking a picture of Raz and giving him new intern access to the building

Hollis - giving Raz access to the Mailroom

'Truman' -  giving Raz ‘full access’ to the Motherlobe (exception to ‘Senior-staff only’ mailroom, which is funny considering you know who)

[technically not thinkerprint but the amulet seem to have a similar function in it] Otto - Checking for the brain in Nick’s body

The ThinkerPrints seem to respond after a slight prompt on it by the person, likely detecting brainwaves so that even non-psychic can use it to do all sort of stuff with whatever specific task they had in mind.

Thinking back on these descriptions by our local old nerds...

Psychonauts 1: Description of Psitanium

“Psitanium is a very rare, psychoreactive mineral that crashed here on a meteorite hundreds of years ago. It responds to psychic waves. Focuses them, amplifies them.

It can make psychics more psychic, but it can also make unstable people more unstable. Not everyone can handle that much activity in that part of their brain. It can drive them completely out of their gourd.” - Ford Cruller

Psitanium affects both psychic and non-psychic, even normal person got something going on in that part of their brain. So the ThinkerPrints probably isn’t limited to psychic waves to activate, likely modified for brainwaves to allow non-psychics to use it. I mean, there has to be a way to detect them since this kind of tech is put on doorways.

So really it is a fancy brain ID that gives off some signal to do all kind of stuff.

It is possible that it also a record of the brain-print of the person who is suppose to own it. If so then that may be how Gristol disguised himself from scans, if they bothered to check the brain like that (though doubt it, but anyway). I had a similar musing on another post that is somewhat related how it might’ve disguised Gristol.

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

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

Meanwhile, whatever is used to check up on Truman’s body had to be some different tool that most likely be something along the lines of detecting levels of psilirium waves/energy instead. Of course this is only speculation, since we never really got to see how they did the Medical check-up. 

We have not seen the effects of having both psitanium and psilirium nearby at the same time. They probably give off different readings or something and do something funky with psi-tech results. 

Anyway, I think it would be a different tool of detection specifically for psilirium, or something for psilirium poisoning. It could be like the opposite of what reads for psitanium or brainwaves, kinda like the difference of infrared to ultraviolet from the visual spectrum and how we see those except this time its for psychic energy. Probably something of the opposite to the Security Cameras we see detecting psychics. Or like a pn1 dowsing rod but for psilirium.

We don’t really know how non-psychics are affected by psilirium. We see it causing delirium and constrict the psychic abilities for psychics. We don’t really know how exactly it affects plants and animals, but the most I can point out is the RoR Jellyfish having Brains. (The Fishes are Dr. Loboto’s experiments so we don’t really know the extent his work vs bring affected by psilirium.)

Psilirium probably dampens brainwaves, or maybe just psychic energies. Maybe it absorbs it or slows it down like molasses. The after effects of it could be like waiting for something pressed down to stretch back to its original size. So recovering from it would probably be leaving the lingering psilirium to wave off and let the person rest and gather their strength back.

Really if they did a brain scan or if the entire time of pn2 didn’t happen within a single day, then this part of the plan could’ve easily fallen apart. Like one would wonder how ‘Truman’ is still down and probably would’ve notice how off he is behaving if he acted more than a minute and says the stuff he says to people who would know Truman better. He could’ve gotten more tests or even a brain dive -- and poof goes that facade.

---------

Apologies if this post is a bit confusing. Due to the amount of time between the beginning of thinking of a response to this to actually writing this entire post, it got a bit muddled.

BUT point is, ThinkerPrints is like a fingerprint that is specifically to scan identity VS a medical examination, which is to check ailments and status. It isn’t really the same thing being looked at. 

Test results don’t always give off every piece of information, sometimes it just gives off the specific thing that is being asked. It’s like asking a person to count all the squares on collection of things, then asking another person to look for reds on a collection of things, they’d focus on that specific thing instead of anything else. If you suddenly asked the person anything else other than what you asked them to focus on, then they’d probably didn’t notice it since they were looking for something specific and ignored/gave less attention to everything else.

#psychonauts 2 #psychonauts 2 spoilers #thinkerprints #speculation #analysis #headcanon #man this ask is OLD and only got to it now ahaha sorry #psi-tech #my brain is currently empty for proper analogy for waves scanning and machine shit that would do those things #tag-rambling #youareshauni #asks #ask

[anonymouspuzzler]

awright who let puzz play psychonauts again and start Thinking

It Never Ends! I am once again thinking about Psychonauts and specifically thinking about Loboto. Even More Specifically, I replayed the first game Yet Again recently and on hitting the scene where Loboto removes Dogen’s brain, had a moment of “huh, he’s like, way more measured and composed than I remembered,” and God Help Me that sent me on a horrible unending spiral of Revisiting and Thinking About and Theorizing On Things. And Now You Must All Read My Discoveries As Well. (placed under readmore because 1) this is gonna get long and 2) my god there will be major spoilers for Every Psychonauts Game.)

Welcome To The Thunderdome. Let’s Begin. In particular I am going to present to and discuss with you Three Distinct Things I Am Thinking About Loboto Based On In-Game Evidence That I Will Extrapolate, Present, and Argue To You All:

Cal’s childhood lobotomy did not, in fact, remove his psychic powers, only cut off his ability to consciously access and utilize them. He is still unconsciously using psychic abilities at the point that we see him in the games.

One of the most prominent impacts of the lobotomy on Cal appears to be his inability to recognize when he is doing harm, and to a certain related degree, how to interpret other peoples’ responses to him. When Raz helps recover his “moral compass”, Loboto actually becomes significantly more unstable as he struggles to process this, having likely gone most of his life without these capabilities.

Both of the above are causing some variant of Mental Projection to occur in Loboto’s mind, creating multiple conflicting archetypes/personas similar to what’s happening in Cassie’s mind.

So let’s go through each of these one by one! In excruciating detail!!

1) Cal’s childhood lobotomy did not, in fact, remove his psychic powers, only cut off his ability to consciously access and utilize them. He is still unconsciously using psychic abilities at the point that we see him in the games.

So for this one, we’re going to go through my evidence from “most textual” to “a little more speculative” in roughly that order. Obviously, none of this is explicit, but I’m doing my damndest to use things that can be fairly reasonably cited from Actual In Game rather than too deep in fanon/speculation.

The most textual example of Loboto having lingering psychic abilities despite his lobotomy is, in fact, his mental world in Psychonauts 2! This is something that’s a little more obvious on a rewatch/replay.

When you’re going through the game/level the first time, Sasha especially spends a lot of time discussing how Loboto’s mind must have been booby-trapped and messed with by his employer, because otherwise Loboto wouldn’t be able to resist the construct and otherwise give the agents the degree of run-around he’s putting them through. On a first playthrough, that makes perfect sense, especially when this plus additional evidence leads the agents to conclude Loboto’s employer was a mole within the Psychonauts itself. Obviously, a psychic from the agency messed with Loboto’s head and left all these psychic booby-traps for their coworkers!

But once you reach the end of the game and go back and look at this again, you realize, hey, wait. Loboto’s boss wasn’t a psychic at all! Quite explicitly!

Now I’m going to take a moment to argue against my own argument here, because there is evidence that Gristol would have been able to psychically fuck with Loboto despite not having psychic abilities himself.

[Image ID: A screenshot from a cutscene in Psychonauts 2, showing the receptionist at the Motherlobe levitating a ThinkerPrint Reader (a small brain-shaped disc with a blue glowing eye symbol in the middle). End ID.]

We see in-game that these little brain-disc-things - which Gristol would have had access to via Truman, since Truman has one on his person - are able to provide some limited degree of psychic power even to people who don’t otherwise have those abilities. Namely, the front desk receptionist is able to telekinetically lift one and scan Raz with it when he arrives, despite dialogue later on suggesting she isn’t a psychic herself. It’s entirely possible Gristol used that to fuck with Loboto’s head and place all those psychic booby traps.

But ho ho!! Now I’m going to counter-argue this counter-argument, to get you all back on board with my original argument!! Because despite this possibility, it’s also pretty textual that Gristol is a fuck-up who’s not very good at planning. The entirety of Psychonauts 2 is a display of him not really having any back-up plans for any possible hiccups in his original plan (as soon as Lili reveals a boyfriend he didn’t know about, his response is Fake A Coma), and of said plan being undone mostly by his own sloppy work (shipping his own body back to the base in a poorly-taped box with a key to his former residence in his pockets). The thought of this same man having the capability and foresight to set up numerous highly effetive psychic booby-traps in the brain of his hired help, just in case that hired help got captured and psychically interrogated… it doesn’t feel likely.

(Now that I write it all out, in a lot of ways it feels like Gristol just… forgot about-slash-disregarded Loboto after he did the dirty work of kidnapping Truman and swapping the brains. Like, he only appears once in Gristol’s Big Special Mind-Ride of his Brilliant Plan, at the very end, in a barely-held-together-backroom type of area, and Gristol never so much as brings him up by name. Heck, in retrospect, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gristol deciding to Play Coma was equally as prompted by Guy Who Knows Everything, Who He Completely Disregarded and Left For Dead, falling out of a luggage rack unexpectedly right in front of him and Five Guys He's Trying To Fool Into Thinking He's Normal All The Time Truman. This is all totally off the topic at hand, though.)

Anyway! So Gristol being able to do anything significant and sophisticated vis-a-vis “psychic traps in Loboto’s mindscape” is wildly unlikely. While there’s still other possible explanations - Gristol maybe having other psychics in his employ in the Delugianaries or secret police, for example - that’s purely speculative and not supported by the text in any kind of reasonably-explicit way, which is what I’m trying to focus on for the purposes of this argument. Hey, you know what is explicit in the text, though? Loboto once having psychic powers, to a degree that he was using telekinesis Very Capably as a Literal Infant. That, combined with all the above evidence (plus other circumstantial stuff we’ll get into in a second), means the most likely answer to “how is Loboto resisting the agents and the mental construct?” is “his psychic powers are still There, and acting subconsciously to protect Loboto in this situation, even though he’s no longer able to access and use those powers by conscious effort”.

Now let’s get to evidence of a “still textual, but not as compelling” flavor. For this, we’re going to go back to the original Psychonauts, and also touch on Rhombus of Ruin a bit.

As some of y’all probably remember from messing around in the original game, because there’s still some of that point-and-click inventory flavor, you can try to use the psycho-portal on characters that don’t have mental worlds, and you’ll get some flavor text explaining in some form or another why you can’t do that. This includes Crispin (you get a note from Loboto saying he’s protected “his patient” from psychic procedures, Haha Hey Man Uhhh How Did Y), Sheegor, and most pressingly for this line of argument, Loboto himself, who claims his shower cap is protecting his mind from being entered.

This Is All Well and Good until Literally The Next Day In-Universe when his mind is able to be entered. Twice, in fact. Please recall that the start of Psychonauts 2 is, at a stretch, maybe a few hours after Rhombus of Ruin. (“Haha well Puzz clearly they just retconned it so they could do a Loboto mental world–” no. That’s not Fun and it’s not Text. This overthinking-ass essay is about Engaging With The Text As It Stands.)

So what’s different about the first time Raz (et all) attempts to enter Loboto’s mind (in the original game) and the second-slash-third time (during and after Rhombus of Ruin)? Nothing that would particularly have an impact, except for one big thing: in the latter cases, Loboto is either “immediately in the presence of” or “has just barely left the immediate presence of” Like A Lot Of Psilirium. You Know. The Rock That Dampens Psychic Powers. Which leads me to believe Loboto’s psychic powers are still active, just in an unconscious way (protecting him from psychic invasion without him even realizing it) instead of in a way he has to consciously act on.

Now, why am I categorizing this as less compelling evidence than Loboto resisting the mental construct later on? Because unlike that case, there actually is a reasonable, textual alternative to the answer of “yeah Loboto’s still unconsciously psychic”. The answer is named Coach Morceau Oleander.

Unlike Gristol, Oleander has a lot going for him on the level of “could fuck with Loboto’s mind a bit to put up some psychic defenses”. For one, Oleander is a psychic, and despite everything, a highly trained and very powerful one. (Like, much as he’s kind of a goofy fuck-up, Oleander’s also implied to have been an agent for at least as long as Sasha and Milla, and he’s able to hold his own in a fight against both of them at once - it literally takes Ford flying in and de-braining him to win that confrontation.) Two, we already have textual evidence of Oleander messing with people’s brains to his own ends, in the form of both Linda (though in some ways that could loop back around to supporting Loboto Is Still Psychic, since he seems to have had some degree of a hand in that) and more prominently, poor ol’ Boyd. If he was able to do that much involuntarily with Boyd, it doesn’t seem out of the question for him to hop in and put up some psychic defenses for more voluntary subjects like Crispin and Loboto. It would also make sense for those defenses to either wear down or wear off once Loboto was in the presence of Psilirium, thus continuing to explain why Loboto’s protected in the first game but not in any of the games following.

So - taken on its own, not particularly decisive evidence. In combination with the much-stronger “resisting the mental construct” example, though, I’d say it presents a pretty strong case.

Now comes my most tenuous and speculative example. This is about as much as a stretch I’m going to let myself go with any of these - a case of “well you can extrapolate this from the text provided, I guess, even if it never says it explicitly to any kind of degree”.

Ladies, gentlemen, and those rightfully opting out. It is time to talk about Loboto’s Fucking Prosthetic.

[Image ID: A full rotation of Loboto’s “Monstroboto” character model, which shows him shirtless with the full prosthetic right arm visible. It is attached to his torso with several straps and has a single visible hinge at the elbow.]

Look at this thing. This is a fucking mannequin arm with a pepper grinder on it. How Is This Thing Able To Operate With Any Kind of Sophistication Without Telekinesis. Like, the man is gesticulating and grabbing objects and tapping his little knife fingers, how in the Hell.

There’s a lot of reasons this is tenuous evidence at best. For one, we only get this super clear view of the entire prosthetic construction inside Loboto’s mind, which means it’s extremely possible it’s abstracted, metaphorical, or an abstracted metaphor in one form or another. (I don’t interpret Loboto’s exposed brain as textual in the “real world” for this reason - we only ever see it exposed in his mental worlds, and in both cases in a scenario where him having an exposed brain under the cap serves some kind of symbolic/metaphorical purpose - but for several reasons, the prosthetic feels more grounded in reality despite this. Anyway, that’s all a tangent regardless.) There could also be hidden mechanics that allow it to move the way it does, or it could just be an abstraction of the art style (though again, I’m trying not to let out-of-story things like that be answers to these questions). But it’s really hard to imagine the Hinged Peppermill With Claws having the range of movement it does without Loboto unconsciously moving it with telekinesis.

For that matter, I feel similarly about his eye lenses - we see them moving around independently, zooming in and out without him touching them, and so on, and like… how? How?? Maybe it’s just that I’m not biomechanically minded-slash-informed, but “yeah he’s just moving them psychically without realizing” does feel like a more viable answer than any alternatives, if not one with a ton of super obvious and textual evidence behind it. Once again, though, in combination with other evidence, it does have more weight behind it.

In summary: Loboto’s able to resist psychic interference, actively fight back against trained Psychonauts in his own mind, and move his various prosthetics and augments in highly refined ways. All these things, especially taken all together, make the most sense if you assume his psychic powers are still acting subconsciously, and he’s just not able to consciously access and use them in the ways he did pre-lobotomy.

2) One of the most prominent impacts of the lobotomy on Cal appears to be his inability to recognize when he is doing harm, and to a certain related degree, how to interpret other peoples’ responses to him. When Raz helps recover his “moral compass”, Loboto actually becomes significantly more unstable as he struggles to process this, having likely gone most of his life without these capabilities.

This is going to be a little less “I cite direct evidence in support of my argument” and more “I point out specific scenes and instances of behavior, how I’m interpreting them, and why I’m interpreting that way”. Hopefully you will stick with me here.

So, as I stated waaaay back at the start of this, what set me off on this whole journey was going back through some of the original Psychonauts cutscenes, seeing Loboto in action, and going, “Woah, hey, he’s like way more measured than I remembered him being”. So let’s go into more detail on that and unpack it a bit!!

There’s a consistent and distinct pattern of behavior Loboto exhibits in his scenes in the first game: screeching, in-your-face Mad Scientist rambling, and then suddenly, these dips into like… oddly quiet, composed, weirdly Professional (if decidedly eccentric) behavior. The cutscenes with Dogen are a really good example - he has his big INSANITY OF A MANATEE THIS WILL ONLY HURT TILL YOUR BRAIN COMES FLYING OUT speech, but in-between and especially after that, he kind of quiets down and starts acting like an Actual Slightly Eccentric Dentist. (In fact, here’s the full transcript of the scene that sent me down this whole rabbit-hole, for context:

Dr. Loboto: Oh, good boy! There's that pesky brain. Here's a tissue. Now don't you feel better, my dear lad? Dogen: [Now brainless] TV..? Dr. Loboto: Of course! Right here. [Loboto picks up Dogen's brain off the floor.] And THIS bad tooth, we'll just drop it in the ol' garbage chute. Now don't chew solid foods for the next six hours!

It really knocked me off balance seeing it, so I made a point of going and watching the full Lili’s bracelet clairvoyance cutscene in full, to see if he behaved similarly there. And he didn’t! He’s full Mad Scientist Haha Crazy there, the entire time!! I had to think on it for a while, and I realized there was one major difference - Lili continues to be defiant and difficult in conversation the entire time, while Dogen responds pretty calmly and doesn’t start freaking out until it’s clear His Brain Will Be Removed, which is also when Loboto starts going more Mad Scientist again. (Again, below’s the full transcript of the Lili scene for context.)

Dr. Loboto: Well, I've reviewed your chart, little girl. The bad news is, we're going to have to remove your brain... strap it into an armored battle tank, and have it shoot down innocent civilians with its concentrated psychic death beam! Lili: I'm gonna kill you so much. Dr. Loboto: The good news is that your insurance is going to cover the whole thing. So! ... Hey, is it getting warm in here? Lili: No, I'm trying to set you on fire through this stupid hat! Dr. Loboto: What a delightfully mean little brain you have! Just what we want! Here, do me a favor. Tell me if this smells like... YOUR DOOM! Heh heh! Lili: I-I can't smell anything. Dr. Loboto: Curses! [Lili laughs at him] You're a stubborn little ball of phlegm, ain't ya? Well, that head cold won't protect you forever, little girl, and when it's gone you'll be sneezing a different tune. A tune in the key of... brains! HAAA HA HA!

His last big cutscene with Sheegor really hammers everything home. He’s full Mad Scientist again, he’s screaming and experimenting and Actively Threatening and Tormenting Her the entire time. Then Sheegor leaves and just, measured and nonchalant as anything: “When you're a dentist, you have to learn to have a sense of humor, you know. It helps to calm the patient down.” (It’s also worth noting a lot of the torment, at least to me, comes off as kinda “dipshit older sibling who commits to the bit of teasing Way Way Past where it’s all in good fun for the younger sibling”. Like he just keeps Going and Playfully Backing Off and then Actually Still Going. It’s so awful it loops around to being funny again. I'm so so sorry Sheegor I love you and you don't deserve this but I am laughing)

I think Loboto really, unironically, genuinely thinks this is what he’s doing in all these situations. He’s a dentist, he’s got all these difficult patients around, so he’s going to joke with them! A bit of friendly teasing and playing up his eccentric behavior to get them to calm down for the procedure! At the point where all this is happening, I think he’s genuinely incapable of comprehending-slash-accepting that he’s actually doing harm and that they’re actually, rightfully scared of him. Not in a like “oh uwu he didn’t know he did anything bad he’s just a nice guyyyy” way, but in a “his brain is literally, textually, physically damaged in such a way that he cannot comprehend this” way. As far as he can tell, he’s doing some freelance dentistry (plus or minus a few things, you know how it is when you’re doing work-for-hire type stuff, you never know what the client’s gonna ask you for) and sometimes he’s gotta joke around when he gets a patient that’s nervous or difficult. All in good fun!

Then, of course, we get Rhombus of Ruin and the mental compass. If you’ve played or watched that game, you know all this already. Raz recovers the mental compass from the vault and Loboto’s demeanor completely shifts again. He recognizes aloud, for the first time since we’ve been introduced to him, that he has done Horrible Things. (We will see him continuing to do this in his level in Psychonauts 2, but we’ll get to that.) He seems, very genuinely, saddened and horrified with himself as he says all this. Raz has very literally reintroduced Physical-Slash-Psychic Capacity To Recognize Harm to Loboto’s brain. Given what we learn about Loboto’s past here, it is very much possible that this is the first time he has had this capability since he was a very young child.

Another thing that happens is, in rapid succession, Loboto chooses to Immediately Make Reconciliatory Actions (releasing the Psychonauts, telling the fish henchmen to leave), and then also Blow The Building Up Right Now. For No Clear Reason. For Zero Benefit, In Fact, The Opposite Of Benefit, He Also Has to Frantically Escape This Now. It’s completely illogical, erratic behavior that’s in conflict with itself. And that pattern… kind of stays consistent from that point out, actually! Almost his entire appearance in 2 is him very literally arguing with himself, acting in erratic and conflicting ways - pretty much going to the Psychonauts for protection and redemption yet also actively giving them the run-around and preventing them from finding his boss; alternately trying to connect with or get pity from the agents, then being aggressive or insulting towards them, then being kind of playfully, teasingly antagonistic at worst. While Raz reintroducing his moral compass is probably objectively a good thing for Loboto in the long run, in the short-term having that level of major, major change in his damaged brain seems to have significantly destabilized his behavior and sense of identity (we’ll get into that in just a moment) in ways that make him much less predictable and more erratic compared to how he was pre-RoR.

In summary: Loboto at the time of the original Psychonauts is eccentric and dangerous, but he’s also consistent and stable in his behavior and identity, acting consistently as a freelance dentist who plays up his eccentricity, teasing or otherwise joking around in an effort to “calm down” his “patients”. It’s likely he’s physically unable to comprehend that he’s doing harm and scaring people, due to the brain damage from his childhood lobotomy. Raz reintroducing his moral compass in Rhombus of Ruin fixes this, but makes Loboto much more unstable and unpredictable as he grapples both with the harm he’s done over the years, and with trying to suddenly live with a brain function he hasn’t had for most of his life.

3) Both of the above are causing some variant of Mental Projection to occur in Loboto’s mind, creating multiple conflicting archetypes/personas similar to what’s happening in Cassie’s mind.

In connection with the above, It’s Time To Talk About the Multiple Lobotos.

[Image ID: A screenshot from Psychonauts 2, showing two Lobotos in his mental world - one in bright light sitting in a dentist chair on the right side, the other standing in the shadows on the left. End ID.]

Every time we see Loboto’s mental world, there are multiple distinct, individual, and simultaneous versions of Loboto Himself in operation. Not different and distinctly individual personalities, like Fred and Napoleon. Not separated alter-egos representing a part of oneself, like Edgar and El Odio, or Bob and Turnip-Bob. Not even fragmented personalities that appear one at a time, like the different versions of Ford. There are multiple versions of Loboto that are Just A Loboto - literally the most different they get is “one time one of them pretended to be a whaler” - operating at the same time as each other, in the same scenes as each other, interacting with each other, sometimes in direct opposition to each other. There is only one other place in the entire series where we see this happening.

[Image ID: A screenshot from Psychonauts 2, showing the “librarian” Archetype of Cassie O’Pia tearing up a book with Raz on the left side and her three other Archetypes on the right. End ID.]

THAT’S RIGHT BABY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS I FINALLY RETROACTIVELY FOUND AN EXPLANATION FOR THE CALLY O’PIA AU anyway where was I. Yeah.

The way the different versions of Cal operate in his mind and interact with each other is more similar to Cassie’s Archetypes than anything else we see in anyone else’s minds. The only major differences are “Loboto’s Archetypes aren’t flat paper illustrations” (and I think it’s remarkably easy, even reasonable, to assume that’s a Cassie-specific stylization that Raz only retains because Cassie directly teaches him and he’s thus using her Archetypes as a reference point - Cassie’s a writer; what reason would everyone else in the world have to render their Archetypes as if they were illustrations in a book?) and “Loboto doesn’t refer to or treat the other versions of himself as Archetypes” (of course he doesn’t, I don’t see any reason or scenario where he could have reasonably learned about Archetypes, in either a psychological or psychic sense - he literally does not have the knowledge or the language to do this). Honestly, interpreting the different Lobotos as different Archetypes explains a lot about how they act, what they’re doing in Loboto’s mind and why they’re in the parts of the story they are. I am going to talk about each individual version of Loboto and what I think they’re doing Archetype-wise based on the text now, because none of you can stop me.

Psychonauts 2 Loboto #1, AKA Patient Loboto: This guy, and Psychonauts 2 Loboto #2, tie in the most to the above discussion on Loboto becoming more outwardly unstable after recovering his mental compass, and so I’m going to refer back to and expand on that with the both of them. This Loboto is explicitly the one we see in the patient chair during those cutscenes in his level, the one we see speaking to Raz directly in the poster hall section, and I would argue he’s likely the version we see at the very start of the level in the office construct (or at the very least, he's the one "running" Loboto at that point, in the same way the Librarian is "running" Cassie when we first meet her). He’s the version of Loboto we see most blatantly grappling with the return of his mental compass - he regrets the things he’s done in the past, he’s seems to be vying to connect with the agents on some level, he’s genuinely upset about being tricked and about being unable to tell Raz what’s up with his boss. This puts him in direct conflict with…

Psychonauts 2 Loboto #2, AKA Doctor Loboto: This guy is also the result of Loboto’s Newfound Ability To Recognize Morals, but in the opposite direction. He’s the one who’s fully embracing the identity he’s built as an amoral mad-scientist-for-hire, figuring he’s better off just continuing the path he’s already on and disregarding the new knowledge that It’s Wrong, rather than go through all the trouble and misery and Active Risk To Self of trying to Be Redeemed. Basically, he’s the one looking at OG Psychonauts version of Loboto and going What If We Just Went Back To That Actually. Fuck Character Development. He is, obviously, the one we see as the dentist in the cutscenes in Loboto’s level, as well as pretty textually the one who grabs Raz from behind the painting in Lili’s section.

Monstroboto: Back to RoR now! This one’s pretty textual as well - this the uncontrolled, untethered, don’t-know-or-care-if-it-hurts-someone version of Loboto. (As I type this, I realize it’s worth noting, this version of Loboto is very obviously “playing” as he attacks, in the same way I observed Psychonauts 1 Loboto having a playful tone to his antagonism, as if he’s not recognizing that he’s actively hurting and terrifying people while doing so. All his attacks are either that, or actively retaliatory. I'm Simply Saying I Can Read Some Subtext.) Between that and the exposed brain, it’s pretty obvious this is representing the post-lobotomy Loboto (how he sees himself? How he thinks others see him? All that’s speculation, mine friends…) - wreaking havoc on Loboto’s ability to engage with other parts of himself and develop a fully fledged mindscape.

First Mate Loboto: This one’s a little more speculative and could mean a lot of things, but bear with me. As above, this could well be the part of Loboto that wants to distance himself from what he became after the lobotomy - whether that means ignoring it entirely and trying to go back to how things were “before”, or more likely, based on his dialogue, trying to move on and grow past it; “sail for new waters”, in his own words. It’s also possible he’s something of Loboto’s idealized self - he’s just as eccentric and dramatic as the real deal, but at least more theoretically heroic and adventurous - and/or, tying into a lot of the themes of the RoR version of Loboto’s mind, kind of a childish “what I want to be when I grow up” version of himself. (We see lots of nautical themes in Loboto’s childhood, after all, with the sea life toys and the little sailor boy outfit and all; while it’s certainly speculative, it’s not a huge leap to think little Loboto might have wanted to grow up to be like, a sailor or something of that ilk.)

Young Loboto: This one’s pretty obvious; he’s very literally the Inner Child. (You Know. Like Psychology.) Just like Li’l Oly in Oleander’s mind, this is the part of Cal who was Very Hurt when he was Very Young and has never had the means or opportunity to process it - he’s just stuck in that mental vault, buried away, playing out what he’s experienced over and over and over again as a helpless, outside observer. (I think it’s Very telling that Raz releasing the vault and, in essence, establishing a connection between Inner Child Loboto and the other parts of himself is what restores Loboto’s ability to use his moral compass.)

So, in total, we’ve got five distinct Lobotos in play through what we see: Inner Child, First Mate, Monstroboto, Patient and Doctor. And, in a case very similar to what we see of Cassie’s Archetypes, each of these versions of him are a result of a Very Specific Point in his life and a subsequent need to fulfill a Very Specific Purpose for his continued functioning and survival. The Inner Child is, well, Loboto As A Child (and less literally, the version of him that’s kind of holding on to his trauma so the rest of the versions of him don’t necessarily have to reckon with it); Monstroboto is what’s taken over post-lobotomy; First Mate is what he either Wanted or Wants to be and isn’t because of said lobotomy; and Patient and Doctor are the two options he has post-recovering his moral compass, either continuing on the path he’s already on, or abandoning it for the hard road of Trying To Be Better.

And again, much like Cassie, none of those Archetypes on their own are getting the job done on their own. Doctor and Monstroboto are extremely destructive and don’t seem much able to form meaningful relationships because of it, Patient is an erratic coward who’s constantly miserable and collapsing under the weight of What He’s Done, Inner Child is a Child, and First Mate is a cartoon character. It’s very likely that a theoretical healthier, more functional version of Loboto would have to reconcile these different Archetypes the same way we eventually see Cassie do, or at the very least get them on terms where they’re not Actively Opposing Each Other At All Times.

In summary: Loboto has multiple Archetypes active in his mind the same way Cassie does, and much like Cassie, the Archetypes being in conflict with each other plays a major role in his instability, especially post-RoR. Again like Cassie, it’s likely Loboto would have to reconcile his different archetypes - especially the ones in direct conflict, as we see in his mind in Psychonauts 2 - in some form or another to become more mentally stable.

SO IN CONCLUSION, I hope this Rambling Essay and Cited Evidence has convinced you all that:

Loboto is still psychic, but his powers only manifest unconsciously, and he isn’t able to use them by conscious choice as when he was a child. (Whether or not it’s possible for him to eventually re-access those powers consciously is very much a “your guess is as good as mine” situation - Loboto's the only lobotomized psychic we see in the series, and no other in-game sources on the history or results of the practice.)

Regaining his moral compass for the first time since childhood makes Loboto behave significantly more erratically and unpredictably, in no small part because–

Loboto has several mental Archetypes in direct conflict with each other, especially after regaining his moral compass.

What does all this mean? I’m gonna be honest. I don’t know. I just wanted to get all this out of my head. Now it lives in yours instead. Have fun!!

#anonymous puzzler writes #long post #like really long. like REALLY long. i'm so sorry I hope tumblr cuts it properly for all your sakes. #psychonauts #caligosto loboto #psychonauts spoilers #psychonauts 2 spoilers #rhombus of ruin spoilers #tw medical abuse #ask if you need anything else tagged y'all ty! #god help me i just needed this all Out Of My Head. This Is How I Live Out Here

[technovillain]

OH HIS NECKLACE IS A THINKERPRINT SCANNER. how did i miss this before

#this. makes so much sense actually i kept theorizing #still think my theories r fun tho #also look at gristol i hope he explodes #pn2 spoilers #.txt

[sxrrandomfanfics]

Being on a stream where I played Psychonauts 1 someone who is just exposed to Razputin for the first time and hearing them say "Yo, he has rizz." makes me think of @doodle88 bringing up how much of a wet cat that Raz is in PN2.

So a few scenes I would probably change are some scenes with my favorite girl.

First scene in the Atrium, where Lili is yelling at Jared to let her through to let her see her dad, The inflection of the Intern program would probably be less dejected to curious, to more angered, then excited as he realizes Lili might be in program. I also think that since Raz was fine mentioning making out with Lili in front of brainless Superstar Agents Nein and Vodello, and some strange woman crying about her turtle, as well as kissing her in front of his dad, I would have him be more snarky about it. Oh, you mean to tell me that EVERYONE in the Motherlobe is like your surrogate aunt/uncle/older sibling figure? Do they know you've kissed someone yet, Miss Zanotto? And Lili every time he brings it up is like super embarrassed cause she hates PDA like she saw back at Whispering Rock, but to Raz seeing his siblings and kids his age do a lot of PDA at camp, that's normal. The scene where Raz asks Lili about helping her, instead of making him nervous, make him hopeful. But the heartbeat is still there and his smile starts getting wider as he's expecting a kiss. Still get that fakeout though, leading to the same outcome.

The scene where Lili is in Truman's office, but before the casino mission (aka, after you go to the mailroom but before you go to class) I'd probably add in a few more details to the conversation. A lot of it is the same cause Raz knows it's a delicate situation when Lili's around her unconscious dad. However things like "did your dad have any enemies" would result in more Lili and Raz being comic nerds together (WE WERE ROBBED OF MORE TPT TALK BETWEEN THESE TWO) mentioning villains that may brianwash, but they're ruled out by Lili cause she mentions either kidnapping styles or their usual plans, in a little too much detail... almost like she'd been kidnapped before. Bringing up the kiss again would either lead to Lili playfully telling Raz: "That's what made my dad's Psilirium sickness worse in the first place, you jerk!" or "Moments, Raz. Geez." Lili bringing up how Truman fought with her Uncle Bob and her shrugging it off as "family stuff" would earn a nod from Raz, as well as something said in solidarity to it. Considering how he acted about his family and the underlying tension about psychics, I could see Raz seeing the arguments as something familiar. When Lili mentions that she wants to be told so real justice can be served, I think Raz would more so giggle and tell her "I'll keep that in mind."

Thinkerprint scene is SO good and will receive no changes. Same with the scene with "Truman" revealing he's awake.

For the multiple choices leading up to getting Lili's sidequest, I think the only one changed is "I guess I better take you into custody then" as it would be said with more exaggeration, and when Lili admonishes him, he gives her a more sad smile. The Interns would be mentioned about the same, as much as I think that Raz dislikes Norma around the same amount as Bobby Zilch, and can get irritated with Adam as much as he did with Clem and Crystal, overall he thinks of them as friends. This time if Raz brings up the kiss, I think it'd be more interesting to play into how he flubs the "That time we kissed was pretty cool and I was wondering-" to instead be "So I was cool back at Whispering Rock/The Rhombus of Ruin, enough to be an agent, in your eyes?" which would lead to Lili telling Raz that if she's not an agent yet, it seems a bit unfair, for him to be considered one. This could lead to an extended dialogue about Raz telling Lili "we should talk to your dad about it. When he's awake, I mean. If he doesn't bring up the kiss, I think it'd be funny to bring up the idea of how Lili saw Raz as a prince, considering he could use that power and see Lili's clairvoyance of Raz as a prince when she's tied up. Have him mention that specifically when they're alone, cause it's something just between each other and he's trying to rile her up a bit, get more energy in her. Said energy is matched and drained from Raz, when Lili brings up "I don't see you like that anymore. I don't think I could after seeing you shimmying outside of Milla's window in your circus uniform." Raz's expressions would go from surprised, to looking away bashfully, then back up with a bit of a smirk, considering Lili now sees Raz as a more cleaned up version of himself. When Raz wants to bring up the casino mission, Lili claims she'll read the debrief later. Raz once again mentions True Psychic Tales and "are you sure you want to spoil yourself with some boring mission debrief?" Lili would smile and say: "Then no spoilers from you, mister!" When Lili thanks Raz for getting the mushroom, she would instead say. "You have no idea how much this means to me. Here, I've got something to give you too." Raz turns his cheek smiling a bit, and is given the rank up with a simple "Oh. Right. Thanks!" Same thing happens if you do this side quest after Lili gets her dad back.

The "Girlfriend reveal" is the same because HOLY SHIT THE PN1 VS PN2 KNEE SHAKE IS GREAT.

If you try to leave the Heptadome and Lili is in there, where she asks Raz to stay with her, Raz will smile and then walk back saying "yeah, alright."

Gristol's mind stays the same. When Raz and Lili are ejected out, it remains the same.

The hug at the end of two is nearly the same, but after separating just a tad Lili still has her arms around Raz, giving him a kiss. The scene then plays out with Gristol trying to escape, only for the other agents to grab him, and Lili grabbing the box, with the same "Do you have a funnel?" line to Raz as he smiles and puts on his goggles, ready to work.

#lili zanotto #razputin aquato #razlili

[blazichu]

The biggest clue re: Truman really should have been that he pretended to wake up right after Lili ran out exclaiming that she knew she was a "terrible daughter".

In hindsight, it's easy to pick up on the psychic plants dying, his using the word "fix" right after we're told that Psychonauts don't fix people, and not knowing what a Thinkerprint is, but I feel like that should go on the list, too.

#blazy blathers pn edition #i'm still... really confused by Gristol's behavior re: Raz though #like yeah i get that he saw him as a puppet #but why the feigned concern after pulling him out of lucy's mind? the ruse was up thirty seconds later

[daisyhooves]

@/syensy​ walked into chat and said ‘what if raz was evil’ and then we proceeded to go ‘what if he wasn't evil evil though what if he was just funny sorta evil but not evil ‘i want to destroy everyone’ evil.’ and anyway more notes on Frazie and Raz under the cut ig.

Frazie - Ended up at the camp instead  - Specializes in Levitation and Teleportation  - Helped Re-brain the kids ofc, didn’t know Raz was at Thorney Towers, became pretty good friends with Lili though.   - Helps Raz find Loboto’s moral compass because he practically begged her to - Within the plot of Psychonauts 2, she starts with Milla as her mentor and is then switched to Helmut as her mentor later on. She keeps with learning things from Helmut even after the events of everything just because she wants to!  - Chews Raz out after he fucked up Hollis’ mind because he “Thought it would be funny.” - Has a decent relationship with her family, just wanted to do her own thing  - Her mind, much like Raz’s own, is the circus. Because in the case of the au they both end up in the tank the circus level isn’t the meat circus but Circus², with most dangerous things in it spawning from Raz’s mind rather than Frazie’s own.  - Best Friends with Norma, despite the fact that Norma took her clothe  - Got her new clothe from Sasha and then her original clothe back promptly after this and decided ‘what if I combine these’  - Doesn’t particularly favor Otto at all  - Has Raz help her with exploring the minds of the Psychic Six in order to get the items to fix Ford (and later help with Nona) - Not nearly as skilled with most abilities as Raz is, but still pretty damn good with a nice handful of them herself. She favors Levitation and Teleportation because she combines them with the use of her own acrobatic skill  - Doesn’t go against Norma saying Raz is the mole because for all she knows Raz could be a mole with the way he acts hes constnatly causing trouble just for the fun of it and honestly if he decided he was going to be evil and take over the motherlobe she wouldn’t be surprised.  - It is important to note she is not insistent that Raz return home. If he wants to be wild and do something else with himself, thats fine. Shes just insistent that he stay safe and use his abilities for good rather than for anything bad. Raz being rebellious as he is just thinks shes being overbearing, but he kinda gets what shes trying to say.  Raz - Hes Raz! Just a bit more unhinged, think of him as a mini mad scientist   - Got caught by Linda on the way to camp and was taken to Thorney Towers  - Befriended Loboto (and the other residents) and decided “Actually Loboto is my new dad now.” - Thinks Augustus wants him dead, and unlike in the first game, this isn’t really resolved after Circus². While Augustus saves both Frazie and Raz, Raz runs away soon as hes awake.  - This is later fixed after the events of the second game. They’re still on shakey ground, but Raz is trying to feel safe again, and his family is trying to help him with that. However Raz doesn’t stick around and instead runs away again with Loboto - Has Frazie help him find Loboto’s moral compass because he likes Loboto he wants to help Loboto he knows he’ll still be goofy evil after but its okay hes fine with this  - Still Very Much looks up to Sasha. Is constantly in Sasha’s lab at the Motherlobe. Partially because he wants to keep an eye on Sasha and make sure he doesn’t hurt Loboto and partially because he just genuinely looks up to Sasha - Instead of ending up in Sasha’s lab after getting his own clothe stolen, he ended up in Otto’s lab, and Otto offered him clothe instead as well as a proper thinkerprint to get around  - Knows whats wrong with Truman, but is he going to say anything about it? No. He, again, thinks its a little funny. He’ll constantly bring up the box though. Between conversations, during explorations of others minds, he knows Frazie’s smart and he doesn’t want anyone unwanted to catch on, so he’ll keep telling her about the box.  - Frazie doesn’t ever catch onto this but he tried, he really did - Specializes in Clairvoyance and Blastokinesis, he learned the Blastokinesis from Sam! - Good friends with Sam and Lili ! He just gest along with them, I feel this should always be a constant.  - Purposefully will cause problems sometimes just because he thinks its funny. Raz voice “Hey Agent Nein if someone died in their mind would they die in real life? No? Cool cool so if I blew someone up-” 

#crow scribbles stuff #Psychonauts 2 #Psychonauts #circus squared au

[true-autistic-tales]

the thinkerprints look like that one time i drew alan

#axl talkz #psychonaughts 2 #smiling friends #my art #meme

[nochi-quinn]

WIP Wednesday

Proving I'm still working on Never Limited and Never Complete even with Fallout's vice-grip on my soul

Frazie trailed behind Lizzie down the hallway, flexing her hands at her sides and trying to control her breathing. She’d already been wound up over the Wall, and then Norma showed up. She’d at least refrained from insulting her family this time, but seemed to have replaced it with being a know-it-all.

Unless the book was a jab in and of itself. Our family followed us when yours won’t. She knew Lizzie hadn’t knowingly poked the exposed nerve that was her family, but that hadn’t stopped it from hurting. Everything about this place seemed determined to stomp right on it, bringing up her brother or grandmother every time she introduced herself, or plastering her name on their breeding registry – after Lizzie’s explanation it was difficult to think of it as anything else – before she’d even moved in properly.

She was pulled between two worlds, one that revered her family for being psychic and the other trying to pretend they weren’t, and it was fucking exhausting.

But that wasn’t Lizzie’s fault. She shouldn’t be mad at her for having a supportive family just because hers was complicated and difficult. So she took a deep breath, closed her fists to stop her fingers twitching, and breathed out her frustration in a long, slow sigh. “Hey,” she called ahead, taking a couple of long strides to catch up with Lizzie. “Sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” Lizzie said. “I should have thought before opening my fat mouth.”

“Your mouth’s not fat,” Frazie said. “None of my shit is your fault, don’t feel bad about it.”

“I feel bad for you,” Lizzie said, and Frazie just looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “Not like, in a pity party way,” she added quickly. “Just like. You don’t deserve that.” She shoved her hands deep into her pockets. “No one does.”

Frazie had just opened her mouth to respond when they approached a set of double-doors. “Look, the gym!” Lizzie announced with what could only be described as relief.

Frazie pressed her lips together tightly. She didn’t know Lizzie well enough to argue with her, which was a small shock to realize. They’d spent so much of the past two days and Lizzie knew so much about her, but she knew relatively little about Lizzie in return.

Only time would rectify that, as much as it grated on her nerves. So she followed after Lizzie with her fingers back to flexing at her sides, continuing the tour of what was apparently her new home, at least for a while.

Her irritation was shoved to the back of her mind when they passed the double doors (and Thinkerprint scan) into the gym. It was huge, at least as big as the library, but much more open. Tumbling mats and parallel bars and an honest-to-god trapeze, with actual cables like her father had always wanted to replace their ropes with.

“Go on,” Lizzie said, and when Frazie looked over she had a fond smile on her face. “You know you wanna.”

“What, did my brother start cartwheeling all over the place?”

“I dunno.” Lizzie shrugged. “But you look like a kid in a candy store.”

Why that made her flush Frazie didn’t know, but she redirected it by slipping out of her shoes and heading for the tumbling mat. The shirt wasn’t the best for acrobatics, but at least she’d worn leggings instead of jeans. She picked up speed as she approached the mat, turning a cartwheel as soon as she reached the edge. She stumbled on the landing, not used to the give of a mat versus hard-packed earth, but managed a second flip regardless.

Lizzie applauded behind her, and she grinned as she turned and took a bow. “Surely that’s not the first cartwheel you’ve ever seen,” she laughed.

“First professional cartwheel,” Lizzie responded. “I mean yeah, your brother, but that’s usually in training or whatever. And usually off a lev ball.” Her eyes lit up. “Oh shit, you’re gonna be unstoppable with a lev ball.”

Frazie paused, caught between two reactions. The thought of being able to launch herself higher and with more control made a dozen possible routines jump to mind...followed swiftly by the fact that her mother would never allow any of them to use their abilities on the stage.

“Hey.” Lizzie’s voice shook her out of her thoughts, and she gave a quick, unconvincing smile.

“I’m fine,” she said, and went into a backbend to avoid seeing Lizzie’s reaction.

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #lizzie natividad #frazie aquato #wip wednesday #my writing #psytag #...it's. it's fucking thursday. #being sick has fucked with my entire sense of time #WIP WHENEVER I GUESS sdkfjsl

[ace-of-none]

So, I tried my hand at a little bit of writing which was inspired by this. I got some help with editing from @britishsass

I wanted to write a bit of a thing with Paris involving said situation. It does have references to thoughts of self-harm and such thought processes. It also contains a bit of swearing and self-destructing behavior.

‘This is my fault. I knew that from the start. If I had just said something about Markie.’

Paris lay back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, the conversation he caught wind of ringing through his head like a gunshot. 

"I don't think I really fit in here either. Maybe I should come back home?"

‘I’m sorry, Loren. I didn’t know what they were gonna do. I didn’t even know who she was working with. I didn-

I should’ve assumed. She kept telling me to keep my guard up. As soon as I learned my necklace was made with psilirium it should’ve been a red flag. She should have no reason to be working with psilirium.’

He choked back a sob, reaching for his bag, practically tearing it open, dumping it out on his bed. With shaking hands he picked up his mask, putting it on too tightly, making it hard to breathe. He palmed the roll of bandages and held the last object, bringing it up to his face, eyes fixed on it. 

‘No. Paris, you made a promise. You made a goddamn promise. What would you gain from breaking it? Put it down. Put it away.’

He rolled off his bed, dropping the object… his pocketknife… and sighed. Telekinetically, he picked it up, gingerly, and lifted up his mattress. He shoved the knife under the mattress and unceremoniously dropped it. It was safer to have it out of his hands, somewhere where it would be forgotten. He sat there a moment, his back to the bed, trying to forget the urge from a moment before.

Ultimately, he got up and left his room, finding a tall, thin package propped up against the wall next to the door. It was addressed to him, but had no return address. It had a familiar scent to it, something flowery, but now wasn’t the time to reflect on the scent of a package. He didn’t bother to use his hands, just his telekinesis. His hands were staying buried in his pockets, he didn’t want to look at the bandages on his wrists, what they stood for, what was under them. He dragged the box inside and began to open it, tearing the tape off without the aid of a k҉n҉i҉f҉e҉. Tucked inside the box, gently nestled in foam and bubble wrap, was a very familiar board.

‘She… She.. she has the Fucking nerve… She knows I can’t levitate.. She knows why I have this so of course she sent it back but… She was the one who took it when we were kidnapped. I… I can’t even believe her… I…’

Anger flared up, sending out a shockwave that would make anyone around him lose their cool, and he lifted the board up. Telekinetically, he took grip on either side of the board, and slammed it down on the headboard. With a splintering sound, I gave way, like a popsicle stick crushed between teeth. Fiberglass splintered, going everywhere, making a mess that would get embedded in the hands of anyone who tried to clean it up. Even with the resistance, he kept going, not stopping until the board was snapped in half.

He dropped it, in shock at what he had just done, staring at the broken treasure that had been a faithful companion through all of this as a wail built up in his chest. He shoved it back down, and fled from his room, almost running into several people and probably ruining their moods with his s҉t҉u҉p҉i҉d҉ pathokinesis. He forgot he couldn’t levitate and unfortunately fell through the floor after the thinkerprint in the main atrium scanned him. He hit the ground and crumpled, and he stayed there, finally letting out the sob that had been building.

He dragged himself outside and sat down on the stairs, ignoring the pain in his ankle and stared off into space as if somehow, maybe, there were answers there. But he only felt more lost, his anger draining away to nothing. The pain in his ankle returned with full force and he looked at it briefly. It seemed worse, but he wouldn’t admit it aloud. 

‘Hey.’ 

An unfamiliar voice rang out in his head and he heard footsteps approaching. The scent of cigarette smoke hung heavy in the air and someone sat down next to him, a man with a stockier build, very pale skin, and jet black hair.

‘Aren’t you one of the interns? What’s got you all the way out here?’ He asked, though his mouth didn’t move, making it evident that he was using telepathy. ‘I heard that someone took a nasty fall on their way out and wanted to make sure nobody got stuck. My name’s Casio.’

“Paris. Yeah… I am.” He really didn’t want to talk, just getting the words out was hard enough. “I’m fine.”

‘I know that’s a lie. I don’t usually make it my job to get involved in others’ business, but I’ve heard what’s been going on with you four. A mission went south and all of you got caught up with some nasty people.’

“...So?” He shifted, avoiding looking away from Casio. “What do you want?” 

‘To lend a hand. Once glance at your ankle and I can tell it’s been messed up. Now, let’s getcha to the infirmary. Here, lean on me.’

“Er, ok…” Paris carefully got up, the pain in his ankle shooting up his leg. “Agh..” He hissed. Casio carefully out Paris’s arm over his shoulder like he did this on the daily. He allowed Paris to use him as a support as he carefully guided the young man to the elevator and towards the infirmary. He didn’t seem to mind Paris’s lack of conversation, but, once they were there, he guided Paris to a chair.

‘Looks like Heath is out at the moment. Likely went out to lunch. Pretty typical.’ He looked back at Paris and met his eyes through the mask, looking a bit more serious. ‘Paris, I know what’s going on. You’re related to one of the people in the group that’s after Loren, right.’

This took him aback for a moment, and he took a second to generate a response. “Lemme guess, you’re also gonna tell me what I already know? That I should’ve told them already, or that I.. that I’m… that I’m..” He started to choke out sobs again, losing the little composure he had mustered up.

Casio shook his head. ‘No, no.. It’s okay kiddo. I… I know what you’re going through. You probably didn’t realize what was going on, did you? I know what that’s like.’

“Y-you do? How would you…?” He tried, and Casio pulled a chair over, putting his hand on Paris’s shoulder as an attempt to comfort. Paris pulled away from the touch and Casio withdrew his hand.

‘I know you don’t really know anything about me, but I might be able to offer some… solidarity. I,  before coming here, used to work in a casino-’

“Wait, isn’t it illegal for a psychic to…?”

‘Exactly, so I was in a position like yours. At the time, I wasn’t aware that the Casino’s owner was skirting the law and only learned that after it was busted. So, it’s not the same situation, but I came from a similar boat. At the moment, emotions are running a bit high, so it might not be the right time to apologize or try to explain yourself.’

“It’s still my fault for not-”

‘I know right now, you want to put all of the blame on yourself, but this isn’t a situation where you’re at fault. This isn’t something you were prepared for, and it shouldn’t be something you had to be prepared for. You didn’t know, but I think you probably need to give your teammates some space. I think all of you need time to work this out, ok?’

“I… get that.. But..”

‘No buts, kid. This isn’t a case where it’s your fault.’

“I… I need to think about this.” Paris mumbled, pulling on his hoodie’s strings. 

‘Do you need some space?’

“No… I can’t be alone right now. It feels weird to ask but… can you stay here?” He stuttered, to which Casio nodded, leaning back in his chair, waiting with Paris until Heath finally returned.

#Ace's writing #Paris Cardwell #Loren Musee #Casio Chip #heath maitasuna #Self harm tw #swearing tw #Self destruction tw #psychonauts oc #I felt like trying my hand at putting this out there #Markie Penn

[britishsass]

"Are you actually capable of not lying for ten seconds?" for like… maybe Scout and Spy? Vn or normal, your choice

You and I both know it's a VN kinda mood.

He knew the day would come when he'd have to face his family again. He just didn't expect it to be so soon.

Staring at the boy just outside of the isolation chamber, he could see the similarities between him and the woman he had left behind-- the bat, those green eyes, even the buckteeth. Before the boy could speak up and ask questions, Spy stood, straightened his tie and mask, and vanished.

Easier to avoid him for just a minute longer.

~

When he arrived at the Heptadome to find Sniper there, he expected the Australian to sling his usual insults. What he didn't expect was what so quickly followed.

"So this is where ya ran off t', huh? Got scared an' ran away here."

That boy from before was back, his arms crossed, tapping his foot.

"Mission first," Spy ordered, "mad later."

"Mad later?! What's that s'pposed t' mean?!"

"You saw Tavish back there-- if we don't get him help, everyone could die. Focus on that first."

The kid balled up his fists, his improperly wrapped hands barely covered enough to keep him from digging his nails into his skin. 

"Fine. But the next time, I got questions, and ya gotta sit there and answer me. No runnin' off, no ignorin' me, nothin'." 

Spy said nothing-- only ignored him.

~

While he worked to set up a new office, the familiar voice of the scanner told him all he needed to know.

"Scanning for Thinkerprint. Access granted. Welcome, Grand Head Doe."

He smiled slightly, and straightened up.

"Ah. Hello, Zhanna. I was just getting settled, but I'd have time to give a statement about the events of--"

As he turned around, he realized who truly stood there-- it wasn't Zhanna at all. There, once again, stood that same small boy, the one he had seen so long ago and then never again.

"I hope ya got time t' give a statement." The boy snapped his fingers, letting the door shut behind him as he walked closer. "I got questions, an' ya said ya'd answer. Mad later. It's frickin' later." He pulled his hat down, then glared at Spy, forming a levitation ball to reach his eye level. "You frickin' abandoned Ma. I get wantin' t' leave my brothers. I can even get it 'bout me. But Ma? Who… who do ya think you are? She's done nothin' but help me an' my brothers all my life. She ain't got a bad bone in her-- she still frickin' loves you, an' I don't get it. But she's my frickin' Ma. And-- An' if ya wanna hurt her like that, ya got a big storm comin'!"

He threw the first punch, slamming right into Spy's nose. It would be a lie to say he hadn't seen some sort of yelling coming, but the punch caught him off guard. He stumbled slightly, clutching his nose to check for blood as the boy's shoulders trembled with his shaking breaths.

"That's for my ma! And-- An' if ya think ya deserve another chance, she's-- she's the one ya gotta say sorry to." 

The levitation ball vanished under his feet, and the boy barely caught his footing. He took a loud, sniffling inhale, and he pointed his bat at Spy, even though he couldn't hold it straight with just one hand. 

"I ain't gonna take anythin' from ya-- Ya can't even stop lyin' for even ten seconds! Ya didn't tell me who ya were, ya didn't tell me cr-p! I just-- everyone says Uncle Finn was a monster, but-- But it's you. You-- you big jerk!"

Scout's voice broke a few times, but he took his bat with him as he fled from the room. Spy didn't try to follow.

Scout wouldn't listen anyways. No reason to chase after him. After all, as he had said, he wasn't the one that needed an apology. 

He reached into his pocket, finding the old charm with ease. It was time to get that back to its rightful owner, even as his nose dripped blood onto his perfectly polished floors. That could wait-- he had a true mission to carry out.

#queue #ask response #legallymean #valvonauts #valvonauts au #i think scout deserves a little anger :3

[sandsniffer]

I have been informed that the magnets in my debit card mess with the thinkerprints in my british day-railcard?? We've been using rail cards for over four decades now, how is there no other solution?

#just why the fuck #thats all i need to say #WHY IS THIS AN ACTUAL ISSUE

[jnixz]

A List of Psitanium & Psilirium related tech

for my own reference

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

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

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

Psi-cards & Psi-cores

Cobweb dusters

Merit badges & Pins

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

Brain Tumbler

Psycho-Portal

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

Floating security camera with eyeballs for detecting psychics

Floating Platforms and other fancy looking tech

The Pelican (psychonauts jet)

Devices psilirium-related

Psychoisolation chamber (especially the one by the motherlobe)

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

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

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #psychonauts 2 spoilers #psi-tech #psychonauts ror #psychonauts ror spoilers #feel free to add more if I miss em #psitanium #psilirium

[thinkerprint]

(via An apple a day keeps the doctor away iPhone Case by thinkerprint)

https://www.redbubble.com/i/iphone-case/An-apple-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away-by-thinkerprint/147321625.B3ZQH?asc=u

Check out more art printed products on Redbubble.

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#findyourthing #redbubble

[multiversal-pudding]

Something just occurred to me- I was wondering why nobody ever bothered to check whether Truman’s brain was actually, y’know, Truman’s brain, and why there was no system in place for checking that- except that’s basically what the thinkerprint is, isn’t it? Something that checks the identity of someone by their mind (as seen with it correctly identifying Helmut-in-Nick’s body)?

Except we also know Gristol had a way of tricking the thinkerprint into thinking someone’s Truman because that’s literally how he gave Raz full access

#as for why they didn’t use the brain door I could see there being health/ security related concerns there #Like he’s already p fucked up on Psilerium- don’t want to risk making things worse by sending someone in/ risking someone else’s health too #especially when the Thinkerprint isn’t showing anything that’s off #psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #psychonauts 2 spoilers

[raziraphale]

pn2 spoilers but one of my favourite things replaying it that I really notice is Hollis + Sasha really hammering home the lesson that you shouldn't try to ""fix"" people or change their minds to suit your own interests... and then Truman is immediately like "hey Raz can you fix Ford for me? We need him. Thanks" like not suspicious at all! I'll go and do that

#also dude does NOT know what the thinkerprint is called it's so funny #have this brain thing kid... go wherever #this is a normal man #reilly.txt #psychonauts #psychonauts 2 spoilers

[veryspecialfungus]

Now normally I hate that thing writers do now where they change the ending of stories because people guessed them.

But also as I'm writing this fic I'm afraid people are going to guess all my twists.

On the other hand, not to call anyone out, I am also genuinely surprised how many people didn't pick up on what I thought was a screamingly obvious clue in the actual game so maybe I'm worried for nothing.

#Talking to myself #Look this is kind of a mystery story and I've never written one of those before #Also I'm not super clever I think my strengths are more in character than in plot #It's uncharted territory #and it's fun that people are speculating about what I've written #I like that a lot #For those curious it's the fact that Truman didn't know what a Thinkerprint was called #I just thought that was really obvious