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bcdrawsandwrites · 1 month

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Day 9: Scar reveal / Interrogation / Presumed Dead Characters: Sheegor, Truman Warnings: References to abusive relationships, depictions of anxiety Summary: Sasha, it turns out, was not strictly allowed to hire people on the spot, and Sheegor realizes her employment must be cleared with the Grand Head of the Psychonauts. Which is... fine. She's not worried or anything. Or missing Mr. Pokeylope. It's fine.

Sheegor wished Mr. Pokeylope were here.

She also wished she could have done her hair better.

She hadn't exactly had the luxury of being able to do anything with her hair in a long while—it wasn't like they had a lot of usable hair products in the asylum, and it was a miracle she managed to keep it clean at all. Miss Vodello had offered to style her hair for her, but she'd refused—Miss Vodello had been more than kind enough to take her out shopping before they'd arrived (much too kind, and she didn't want to wear out that kindness so quickly), so she could get a nice, clean outfit and new gloves. (The gloves felt so nice—she loved her mittens, but she could move her hands more freely in these, and they felt so comfortable.)

Suddenly realizing she had been wiggling her fingers in her gloves again, she put her hands down firmly in her lap, sitting up as straight as she was able.

Meanwhile, Mr. Zanotto took a seat on the other side of the table, and straightened up some papers. "Soooo Miss... Delucca, is it?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, only to cover he mouth when Mr. Zanotto leaned back in surprise. "I-I mean, yes, Mr. Zanotto! Um..." She wrung her hands anxiously, her gloves squeaking in the process. "Um... you can call me Penelope if you want, or... or Sheegor."

"Sheegor?" he repeated, brow knitting.

Feeling her stomach beginning to tie into knots, she shook her head. "I mean! You don't have to call me that! I mean—c-call me whatever you want!"

Mr. Zanotto frowned at her, and she winced. But he went on: "Well, Miss Delucca, as you know, Agent Nein is not technically supposed to hire people on the spot."

Sheegor shivered, nodding. Oh yes, Sasha had admitted such to her before they'd left, and she hadn't stopped thinking about it since.

"We're fortunate that I have to be the one conducting this interview rather than Hollis." The man chuckled, and Sheegor wasn't sure what that meant. "I'm sure she'd love this situation if she heard about it first."

"U-um..." Sheegor swallowed. "Wh... what did you need to know?"

Mr. Zanotto chuckled again, shaking his head. "Of course, I'm sure you don't want to waste too much time with this."

Wait—did she hear that right? Did he... think this was a waste of time? That she was a waste of time?

"So, let's get right into it!" Settling back into his chair, Mr. Zanotto held up the short stack of papers in front of him. "Let's see... So you're applying—or, well, Sasha offered you the job—for lab assistant." He looked up at her with a raised brow. "Why do you think you're qualified for this job?"

Sheegor gave a start—was that an interview question, or was he really questioning her? (Why couldn't Mr. Pokeylope be here...?! He would know what to do!) "I-I... I am qualified, sir! I really am!" she replied, gripping the edge of the table. "I can work really, really hard!"

"I'm... certain you can," Mr. Zanotto said, leaning back. "But could you give me some specifics?"

"Um—I—uh... I-I did a lot of work before! I'm really, really good with brains!" She tried to smile at the man, but quickly took note of his shocked look. "I-I mean—I don't have to do anything with brains! I'm not going to steal any! Oh—I mean, not that I've stolen brains before, that was just Dr. Loboto, but I don't work for him anymore, and um—I mean—!" The blood drained from her face, and she clamped her mouth shut.

"It's all right, Miss Delucca.” Though Mr. Zanotto's expression seemed to be very clear that it was not all right. "Perhaps you can tell me about some of your other previous work history?"

"Um... uh..." She wrung her hands, looking left and right as she tried to remember. Work history—she worked for Loboto for so long, but before that she'd worked... at the Asylum? But should she say that? Maybe he wouldn't want to know she'd worked at Thorney Towers—there was a reason it had closed down, after all. And before that she'd... been a patient there, and before that... she... she didn't remember, but she'd worked somewhere, probably, right?

It took her a moment to realize she was staring down at the floor, her hands gripping her head. Frantically she sat back up in her seat, looking Mr. Zanotto in the eyes, but he looked so horrified—of course he was, she couldn't even tell him her work history. This was a disaster—

"...Miss Delucca," Mr. Zanotto said slowly. "You should know that this is just a formality."

Sheegor took a shaky breath, trying to fight back the sobs that choked her throat. "Y-yes..." she squeaked with a little nod. "I understand..."

"There's no need to be—"

"I know, I know!" she cried. "There's no need for this..." Sniffling, she backed away from the table. "I'll tell Mr. Nein that I wasn't hired."

To her surprise, Mr. Zanotto stepped out from around the table, holding up a hand to stop her. "Wait," he said, and she stepped back. "Miss Delucca—or, would you prefer I call you a different name?"

Looking away, Sheegor wrung her hands. "I... um... you can call me whatever you like."

"But is there one you would like to be called?"

She couldn't wrap her head around why he was asking this, and the question itself made her head hurt. "I-I don't know. I think... I like..." Her voice went quiet. "...Sheegor?"

"Then that's what I'll call you." Mr. Zanotto went on: "Sheegor, when I say that this is just a formality, I mean you've already got the job. I trust Sasha's judgment—most of the time, anyway—and I just wanted to make sure we have all the paperwork, and that I can tell Hollis that we've conducted an interview so she'll be happy."

Sheegor blinked, looking back at Mr. Zanotto, who was staring at her with a look that was still definitely not happy—a look of... concern?

He sighed, glancing out the window and down at the atrium. "Sasha told me that you've been working for Dr. Loboto—"

"Not anymore!" she cried, shaking her head. "I never want to work for him ever again! I-I can't, anyway... now that—"

Mr. Zanotto held up his hands. "I know, I know. He told me about the hostage situation and that you'd had... a rough time under his employment."

"Y-yeah..." Sheegor admitted, looking down, only to stomp her foot. "He was so mean to Mr. Pokeylope! And to the patients, and to the brains, and—"

"And to you," Mr. Zanotto finished.

The rage Sheegor felt quickly drained, and she looked down at the floor. "I... um..."

"This will take some getting used to, I know, but here, you won't be treated the same way you were under his employment. We want you to be happy, as well as safe."

She looked at him again, and he looked so... serious. Like he really meant what he was saying. It was like... Mr. Pokeylope.

Were there really that many other people... like that?

Sheegor stared at Mr. Zanotto for another long moment before slowly nodding. "...Okay, Mr. Zanotto. I hope you're right."

He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Welcome to the Psychonauts, Sheegor."

#sheegor #truman zanotto #psychonauts #my writing #fanfic #have another one of these #(it's an interview rather than an interrogation)#(but poor Sheegor FEELS like it's an interrogation)#i still have like 17 more of these to post #plus multiple more polished oneshots

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gay-otlc · 2 years

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Hello! I have many nice things to say today, (Long ask coming up, I’m so sorry if you‘re annoyed by it. I just want to give as much happiness as I can, if that’s alright. But if long asks stress you out, feel free to just skip it. Nothing I say here is urgent or anything like that.) but I apologize if they sound weird at all. I’ve been told that when I say nice things sometimes it comes off as creepy so if any part of this sounds creepy I am so sorry and I promise it’s not intentional. I just have a lot of thoughts in my head. Moving on, Saturn is such a beautiful name. (Granted, all your names are quite beautiful.)It’s actually a name I’ve considered myself, it’s just so joy-inducing. When I hear “Saturn” used as a name, I just want to jump up and down and wave my hands and smile, that sounds extremely weird but I don’t know a better way to describe the feeling. I wonder if you feel this way too when people call you Saturn? Or maybe something different? I‘d be happy to hear what led to you choosing that name, if you’d be willing to share. If not, that‘s okay too.

Have you ever looked at pictures of hedgehogs before? Or just looked at them in real life? I think they’re a “love it or hate it” animal, but I think they’re absolutely adorable. They’re just so small and squishy-looking, like they‘re little rubber balls or something. The excessive amount of quills they have only adds to their cuteness, in my opinion. As if they’re little balls of death. Destroyers of the universe.

Am I making this about me? I hope it doesn’t come off like that, I’d just like to try to relate with you about something. But just in case, let’s talk about you more! You have such a nice blog! So much attention to detail to the book series that brought us all here, along with some lovely and creative ideas/headcanons for it too! Also, you’re username- it’s so clever, I have no clue how you came up with it. Also also, you’re a writer! I have endless respect and awe for writers- writing can be so much more difficult than it seems. What do you enjoy most about writing? You’re definitely a household name within this fandom, I think I found your posts within the first few minutes of joining the fandom.

Who are your top five Kotlc characters? They don’t have to be main characters, they can even be characters who are only mentioned in passing if that’s who you choose. I’ll go first- (In order from favorite to fifth favorite) Tiergan, Tam, Elwin, Wylie, and Linh. Oh! How many books were there when you first started reading the series? I’m not asking this gatekeep-y, in case you’re worried about that. A fan’s a fan!

I’m going to stop here because this is almost an essay-length ask already. If you want me to continue talking, I can (I have too many thoughts and my brain is much too excited right now, like I said earlier.) but if you don’t want me to, that’s alright as well. Either way, I hope you have a great day/night.

Hi! This has been sitting in my askbox for over a week, lol, I was saving it for when I needed it and you know what? Now I need it. Thank you for your service.

Saturn IS a beautiful name, thank you! I chose the name back in May, I think? I'd recently written a poem about gender and Saturn/ring metaphors, and then a mutual of mine started going by Venus, and I went "space name? space name!" and added it. And yeah, I get kind of a dopey smile on my face when people call me Saturn :)

I haven't, but at your suggestion... HOLY SHIT LOOK AT HIM

Nah, you're good! The username... I was making puns about how everyone in KOTLC was queer, this was one of the puns, and I thought it would make a fantastic username. I was right. What's my favorite part of writing? That's tough. I would have to say the best feeling is when you hit a wall in your writing, but then the moment you break through it feels so good. It's also really good to hear that I qualify as a household name in the fandom, cause when I got started it felt like everyone was super close knit and I wouldn't really fit in.

Top five? Fuck, I'm genderfluid and in capable of making decisions /j. Marella and Biana are my top two, Della is absolutely wonderful, I agree with you that Tiergan is fantastic, and... yeah, Elwin too. I will declare those my top five before I can overthink that. I started reading the series when... Nightfall was out? But Flashback came out before I'd finished the first six.

You seem really nice and you made me pretty happy, so if you want to come back, that would be cool!

#long post #save for later #nice anon

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