The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

Ooh, betrayal fics! I've always wondered why they're so common across so many different canons, haha. Anyways, welcome aboard! Hope you enjoy the stay. We're not as active perhaps as we were ten years ago or so, but we're still around for sure.

I think it’s important to note right off the gate that the Ao3 fic is a crosspost from Tumblr, where the original mission was published in October, and I think the Shifter interlude was finished earlier - just to clear up any mistaken takeaway that this was some kind of ‘revenge’ piece for the ban, because I don't think it possibly could be. It's two months of seperation.

Maybe this is just me, but I’m not sure I see too much of an issue with them existing anyways. It’s there, it doesn’t affect the community all that much, and at the end of the day Permission was just a quality and tone check, yeah? At least, it’s not some kind of hard boundary where we’ll go Anne Rice on anyone who writes without it, y’know? It's just 'unofficial.' I actually do remember reading this a while ago and really liking them, they felt like they fit tonally even with their unconventional angles and meta sections. The writing’s nice, the characters are neat, and I think it legitimately uses the setting better than anything i’ve written, so there’s that.

The ‘mission’ itself does kind of draw interesting attention to one of the implications of the in-universe PPC’s vow to protect All Canon, since that would apply to places like Gor as well. It raises questions I’ve tossed around myself every now and then, and i think at some point i might want to take an angle at it in one of my own spinoffs. I kind of like the idea that what the PPC does and what’s considered the morally better choice just isn’t always the same thing. Judgements being subjective and all that. Was never one for the 'we're Heroes fighting against the hordes of fanfic authors' tilt of a few older spinoffs anyway.

Also, the Shifter interlude’s ‘Hogwarts castle gets graffiti’d in trans flag colors’ bit is funny since I remember mentioning it in the Discord (i think possibly because I read the interlude when it first was drafted) and the idea was received positively, including a concept that a lot of agents would refuse to kill it or even consider it goodfic that strengthens the canon. (Something about it going against JKR’s terf-ish tendencies was also mentioned as an upside). Not as relevant as some other bits, but noteworthy enough, I feel.

And iirc the incident that got owosphere banned was an argument with a mod + a half dozen other server members at once around the Israel/Palestine war’s start. It felt heated and fast and the ban was rather sudden (it seemed to start with misunderstandings and end with a kick for not backing down?) so I’m not sure I can confidently say it was resolved perfectly.

(And on a related note, was it ever 100% confirmed in the setting what happens when a malicious Suvian sticks around canon for too long, or the consequences of it, or the exact reasoning the Flowers focus so much on preserving every canon’s purity in the first place? Was thinking about poking a bit at this myself but i never felt like i could find the sources i was looking for - the Original Series doesn’t go into infrastructure all that much)

Sorry for all the words haha, started drafting this way too far past midnight and I had a lot of thoughts about it.

-OrangeFox (trying to get another mission/interlude combo done before the new year because i finally have the time for it)

In my defense, I’ve been staying at my parents’ house, so it’s harder to be juggling tags on my phone than it would be on my desktop, and I’m just not as motivated to go searching for things as a result! But yeah, I guess I knew Nea’s surname, and just didn’t recognize it by itself . . . “Loki Trixter,” heh heh!

Agh, forgot Blessie’s mom was in the Musical! Still, though, she and Smaug? Like?

—doctorlit, not %100 yet

It's a unique gift I thought of, pretty cool huh?

Hi, hello, everyone and I'm sorry to bring this to your attention. So, this October, on the 9th, the user "owosphere" was banned from the PPC Discord for, and I quote, "terrorist apologia". I was not involved in this, and I do not remember seeing the messages owospehere was banned for.

Five days after this, on the 14th of October, owosphere completed this mission. She did not mention this mission, ever, on the board. She did not have Permission, (which the mission itself mentions) and AFAIK this was never mentioned in any official community space (no hits for the mission name on the Discord). The linked Permission attempt was posted a few days before this mission was initially posted to AO3 (it was initially on Tumblr? I guess?), in October of 2021.

So, uh, in conclusion, a former community member has posted a Permission-less mission. I don't know that we need to take any action, but, um, this exists, and I found it by searching the PPC tag on AO3. I figured this is something we should be aware of.

--Ls

EDIT: Oh, and I missed this piece, too.

EDIT AGAIN: I guess the first, Harry Potter piece was mentioned on the Discord? Very briefly. And never on the Board.

It's been a nice reprieve at the end of a very long workday; something about your writing has always felt relaxing, even when it's dealing with deep or dangerous subjects.

To echo what many others have said: I know nothing about Psychonauts, and that wasn't a problem in the slightest. ^_^

hS

The ABSOLUTE disrespect on Blessie's mother, the icon, the legend: Ms. Annabelle Dragonwing. XD XD XD (Twenty years later she's my favourite character in the whole thing. She definitely got the funniest lines.)

If you really want to solve the mystery, go to the list of RCs on the Wiki and check out 696. It's been there the whole time! ;)

/Ekwy, late for work

Do you think Kaguya has more chemistry with Momoka or with Urato?

A funny little conversation. What a coincidence, that Momoka’s name would fit with the naming convention that Kaguya’s grandmother had tried to establish!

—the families doctorlit was born to don’t have any naming themes

Fair point about anchors! I’m not much of a boat guy, so I was thinking of anchors more as a hindrance than a tool, but you’re right: the ice is the much bigger threat to a boat’s progress than the anchor. You out-metaphored me for sure!

Blast, I do remember the “Smaugsdottir” surname now! It is a very cool surname, despite the mental image of what Smaug must have done with some middle-Earth lady . . . Glad to hear Blessie and Vidja will appear eventually, but that (and Neshomeh’s comment, taunting me!) only makes the mysterious “Forrest and Trixter” even more mysterious!

Thank you for replying!
—doctorlit has more experience with roller blades than with boats

In which the lowkey aestheticist author can't resist the urge to describe something pretty, as always.

This was, in his opinion, nothing short of the best Taishō lolita attire he had, and he'd been waiting for a chance to wear it again since that one Christmas event at his university. It was one immaculate bespoke ensemble: a brocade kimono top of long sleeves, striped in rouge and sappanwood red, worn over a white shirt; a white cravat at his throat; a pine green skirt reaching his calves, its shape held by a petticoat. A veiled fascinator, red lipstick and green eyeshadow, his dark hair draping loose down his back. Dolled up and confident, he was ready to party.

His mood was partially doused as he ended up ankle-deep in sand, feeling the coarse grains through his socks as they snuck into his Mary Janes.

Welcome! Have an antigravity snowglobe.

--Ls

Prior to his arrival, he had simply thrown together a "costume" from the first articles of clothing he could get his hands on: a red tracksuit top and a pair of swim trunks, nothing more – not even footwear. This turned out to be a perfect decision, as he could at once put his sculpted legs on display and not have to worry as much about sand getting into shoes.

looking round at other party-goers. He had arrived to the party barefoot – much less sand-based irritation to worry about.

Jiwon was complaining quietly the entire way to the party. “I thought there’d be actual snow. Didn’t one of the tech people say on the forums they were working on weather devices a few months ago?”

“Maybe it’s not done yet,” suggested Charlie with a grin. They weren’t from anywhere World One-adjacent and knew little about its holiday traditions, but what they did know was the music. Their most recent fixation had been a particular cover of a particularly infamous song, which was why they were dressed in a solid red dress, trimmed with white fur at its neck and sleeves, along with a black belt to complete the look. Jiwon had convinced them not to go with the wig.

Jiwon hauled up his oversized tail, gave it a single shake, and watched as what looked like enough sand to fill a bucket drizzled out of the fur. He hadn’t felt like paying too much for his costume, so he’d settled for tying three belts along his tail, each one lined with cheap ornaments, bells, or small figurines of smiling elves (the last one was Charlie’s suggestion). He jangled as he walked. “This’ll take forever to clean, you know. Remind me why I agreed to come with you again?”

“I forgot.” Charlie took him by the hand and guided him to the snacks table. “Hey, let’s get some good times to balance it all, how ‘bout?”

"At this point, I couldn't care less what you wear, but you could have bothered to wash all that paint off."

Fáelán was not much of a party person, but the choices were not many when his quirky pixie friends were attending. Without him to keep them in check, who knew what sort of Pixie-Dust-coated disaster the party would become?

Harry goes to Diagon Alley and makes some startling discoveries.

BL11 warning for Emily Caulder's situation at Ollivanders, plus the ongoing implications of what's happening to Draco.

Not gonna lie, I knew that you were the most likely person to fully appreciate the details. XD (Is it wrong to write a 20K words introspective story about the mental state of one of your main characters, knowing that the target audience is likely to be just one person? I don't care, I did it anway. I had fun.)

Psychonauts is so fun, all the levels are unique and represent the minds of characters that are working through something. Some minds are more stable than others, but there's always such creativity and imagination with every level. I really wanted to capture that!

Clearing something up: Zit was Blank's anchor, but an anchor does not stop a ship from moving forward. An anchor stops a ship from drifting. That's a necessary thing for a ship to have. (The Yankee flag at the top of the ship is actually signalling this when Moira's talking to Yellow; this pattern means that the ship is dragging its anchor. The anchor is not attached to the seafloor, so the ship is a danger to itself and to others.) In my mind, the ice represents Zit's death. The crewmembers (Pink, Yellow and Blue, but also including the Figurehead as an extension of the ship itself) represent different stages of grief directly relating to his death. Blank's mental world was always the pirate ship, it just looked a little different before he died... Obviously it wasn't frozen in ice, but I also imagine it looked more like a proper seafaring vessel, y'know?

Yeah, I also hate that Blank was right... I hate that this was how it happened. It was really nice writing Zit, even the memory of him was such a comforting presence. And yes, that wraith did seem familiar. Foreshadowing is a literary device--

Blessie and Vidja have not appeared yet, this is true! I have plans for them. Forrest and Trixter are last names, so who knows who they are! (I mean, I do. I know everything. Well, most things.) Fun fact: Blessie has a canonical last name, it's even mentioned in the Musical! She was Pyralis Smaugsdottir before she was an MSTW. =) This is not something I expect anyone to remember, I think she's the only one I gave a last name to back then... And "Blessie Smaugsdottir" kind of low-key rules, so I'm letting her keep it.

Thanks for catching the error, and for reading, and for the lovely comment! It pumps up the energy to write more. =D

/Ekwy, feeling festive

Greetings, salutations, and ahoy! :]]] How’ve you all been? I discovered this community a few years back, read a bunch of mission reports, and then promptly forgot about it… and I’ll probably do that again lol. But while I’m here, I thought I’d commemorate this blast from the past with a second, more embarrassing vector for nostalgia: this PJO trope I was legitimately obsessed with back in like fifth grade, which seems pretty much exemplified by this fanfic

But also, I think you can pretty much take your pick from this page lol

I got the timing a bit wrong for comments, but I'm glad people are reading it!

I think Psychonauts would be a good complement to a lot of universes; it's great fun to imagine inner worlds of people. I don't know anything about Omori, but a shallow Wikipedia look indicates that yeah, it could certainly work with that... Psychonauts has depicted a huge variety of mental issues, but there's always an underlying sense of hope. With the right approach you can work through anything. All mindscapes are unique to the person and it opens up to a lot of creative interpretations of mental concepts. (Also it's mostly extremely literal, the weeping hatbox in Blank's mind is literally a piece of Emotional Baggage.)

Thank you for your kind words! This story got long and experimental, but I'm so glad that the PPC is a universe where those things can work!

Thalia dragged her unenthusiastic partner into the Courtyard; a trail of red and green glitter following behind them from Thalia’s poofy glittery dress. Doom had vehemently objected to dressing in anything other than his usual black although Thalia had strung some tinsel around his hood when he hadn’t been looking. It was Christmas, she thought to herself, and Christmas involved shiny things and lights and eating way too much sugar all of which were awesome and fun! Only boring people didn’t like Christmas.

Okay, this was EXTREMELY interesting to read. I don’t know anything about Psychonauts other than the title existing, but you did an excellent job of making the game mechanics flow naturally with the narration style, so there’s no jarring transition between the game combat and puzzle-solving, and the dialogue and other actions. The entire pirate ship metaphor is amazing! I don’t tend to think in complex metaphors, but I love all the details on the ship so much: the Mary Sues That Weren’t as a crew that’s come apart with the loss of Zit; the ship being too narrow because the ice is slowly squeezing it, and Blank’s psychological state is unhealthy long-term; the masthead assuming the only way forward is blind revenge against all Suvians, representing Blank’s prejudice against Moira; the candle room being such an old mental haven because Blank needed it during the abuse in Sparklee; and Zit being a literal anchor that’s keeping Blank from moving forward. (Which is interesting, because at the surface level, the ice is serving that role; yet from the perspective of Blank’s loved ones, Zit’s death is the more obvious “surface” cause of her anger. I wonder what the ice represents, assuming it’s something separate from Zit?) I also love that in order to find Zit and the memory about him, Moira had to think outside the confines of the ship and the game mechanics. The whole scenario is constructed masterfully!

I was having some denial myself, hoping Blanks’s statement that she had killed Zit was wrong somehow, an accident, or weird circumstances that she falsely blamed herself for. Early on in this story, I was even hoping that the memory Blank was trying to retrieve was something else, and Zit had tried to get it from her mind and got hurt doing so. But yeah, I was clearly wrong, and Blank really did kill Zit. I know it wasn’t really her fault, but it’s still just so tragic and sad. Honestly, I hate it; why did you make me read this, Ekwy? : ( I do like the “tinted memories” as coping mechanisms, and I can completely understand the need to imagine how things might have gone differently that day. Also, that wraith seemed to recognize Blank and Zit. Was it someone they knew from Sparklee? Could it even be . . . She Herself? The Musical ends with Blank getting exorcised, but nothing on-page really indicates that She was destroyed . . .

So, an RC number, and “Forrest and Trixter.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think there are still two MSTWs who have yet to appear in your “rebooted” series? So those could be the surnames of Blessie and Vidja! (Sorry if I’m misremembering; I’ve just read so many things since you returned and started writing again, I can’t recall which characters have appeared on-page since the reboot began . . .) Anyway, very curious to learn what Zit was trying to communicate to Blank. Hopefully something that will soothe her guilt a bit, and help her move on!

The only error I noticed is that the quotation marks are missing in the paragraph that begins, “Mirrad appeared to consider it.”

—doctorlit apologizes for the long time it took him to respond to this, but he’s stuck at his parents’ house for a while, and is obligated to socialize instead of read sometimes

Her garb was excellent: not only was her dress sporting the most eye-burning shades of red and green, her skin was also riddled with paint splotches in the same colours.