asktheoutside

[asktheoutside]

Omg, I read this fic at the very beginning of the pandemic! Over the past thirty minutes, I:

Went looking for it again

Discovered the fact that it's being rewritten

Lost my mind

Lost my mind even more when I saw the fact that you planned to incorporate the Hermits

(It's... been a wild roller coaster of emotions. /pos)

I've been side eyeing the Hermits and thinking to myself "There's a lot of potential to write their characters in the same style the JSE/Markiplier Ego community does," and I'm so glad to see someone else thought the same thing and took the ball and ran with it!

Also, in regards to you saying "I wasn’t sure what people would think because it Is a strange crossover to go with," I've seen a bunch of people I recognized as being in the Ego fandom now participating in Hermitblr and the like, so it's not the strangest crossover, especially since in the end, they're all characters on YouTube!

TLDR: I'm very excited about the rewrite, and I wish you the best of luck! May all your brainstorming sessions be bountiful and the words flow out of your mind and onto your computer screen like chocolate syrup.

I remember seeing you in my notes! I'll always really enjoyed your comments and asks :D

dw I kinda lost my mind when it registered I was Actually doing this ajkls;ajksd This fic is my baby I felt so bad for abandoning it! But it's also a Huge project, definitely the biggest thing I've ever worked on even now

The Hermit idea's really grown on me tbh. I was nervous about it at first, but you and some others have really assuaged that worry. I'm hoping it'll add to the universe instead of seeming out of place. If anything, I know I'll have fun with it, at least! (and I can subject you all to my Hermit headcanons MUAHAHA aksd;ljlskd)

Thank youuuu <3333 It's slow going, but I don't know what else I expected with ~90 chapters planned haha. Pretty happy with what I've got so far, though!

~Oliver

[asktheoutside]

surprise preview!

just wanted to give you guys a sneak peek at both new interactions you'll be seeing, and an improved writing style, for the Outside rewrite. do note that this is Draft 1, so this snippet will likely go through changes with each edit, but....

Enjoy!

Jackie couldn’t help the way his foot bounced as he sat with his hands clasped in front of his mouth.

The place Yancy shared with Illinois and Magnum was nice. Clean. Right outside Claremont’s city limits to be away from humans. But it didn’t help his anxiety any.

He’d heard from Bing—not Chase—that they were all okay and in London. He’d gotten a snippy text from Henrik that he’d left and just needed time alone. Dark and the Googles were nowhere to be seen. And Jacques was off on their own, and Jackie knew that artist couldn’t fend for themself.

All that, in a new world, with a species they’d never physically interacted with, with laws that they could so easily break if they decided to act like Figments, and not humans.

The superhero groaned and rubbed his hands over his face.

It was… A lot.

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and glancing back revealed Yancy’s brows arched in concern.

“Y’know you’s can talk if needed, yeah?”

“I’m just…worried. Stressed,” he admitted.

He’d noticed more grays at his temples from the stress of fading, and now this? Dammit, he’d have a full head of gray hair in no time if this shit kept up.

Yancy easily hopped over the back of the couch to land next to Jackie, looping an arm around the hero’s shoulders. “We’re here for the lot’a ya! Any of you’s need help—” he jabbed a thumb at his own chest, “ask me or Illy. Even Maggie, dependin’ what it is. Got it?”

Jackie was only given a moment to chew his lip before Yancy had him in a headlock to ruffle his neatly-styled hair into a complete mess. “Okay, okay! I got it!” he laughed, feigning a struggle to pull away (they both knew Jackie was more than capable, and he could have thrown Yancy through the nearest wall if he’d wanted to, but what’s the fun in that?).

He heard the clicking of dress shoes just moments before the chuckling of the man it belonged to.

“Roughhousing already?” Marvin asked. His mask was looped around his neck to give clear view of his eyes creased with laughter, and his aura almost seemed to mimic it where it reached out to the air around him. His cane was gripped lazily under his arm as he let his aura do the work to feel what was around him, and he sat heavily on the cushion at Jackie’s other side.

[asktheoutside]

So we all know about the horror of Grian being aware of omnipotent beings who manipulate and orchestrate the events of his and his friends' lives, but do you ever think about the watchers as a source of like. Existential horror?

As in Grian becoming aware that he and his friends are nothing but characters. Their existence isn't substantial, isn't real. They're not people, they're concepts and pixels on a screen made specifically for the purpose of entertaining an audience that delights most from their pain and conflict.

An audience that they can never escape from until they cease to be altogether, because that audience is the only reason they're alive at all-- without the audience, their stories stop. Their thoughts, emotions, hopes, dreams all grind to a halt. Their lives get shelved like obsolete toys, because they themselves - nothing but jumbles of lines and shapes and colors on their own - have no purpose or meaning outside of what us, the watchers, give them.

Like holy shit dude if I were him I'd just go insane

[asktheoutside]

As someone who went from the egos to hermitcraft and now balances both hyperfixtaions, I think it’s a neat idea! It would expand the world out in a direction most fic authors don’t tend to journey down (no fault to them, it is a somewhat niche path), and you get to write about your spinterests. It’s a win win in my book!

yeah! I wasn't sure what people would think because it Is a strange crossover to go with but

I think it could be a lot of fun! I've already thought of some fun stuff I can do with the additions, and including multiple special interests (spinterests is now my new favorite term and I shall have to use it myself lol) into a single project has me Even More excited to work on it, haha

~Oliver

[asktheoutside]

'ello all! Progress is slow, but progress is still progress! I'm still gradually working on the rough draft, but having a fully-bulleted outline really helps. If I get stuck on a chapter, I can easily just skip it to work on another, then go back to that one when I'm ready!

however.........

I'm considering adding to the cast a bit, from some of my other special interests. for the first fic, they'd mostly be in the background with cameos, maybe get a few short scenes, but wouldn't come into major play until the sequel (which I'm getting. So. Many. ideas for and I'm really excited to get the first one done so I can start on it)

Anyway!

I'd like Robin, Ryley, and Al-an (Subnautica) to come into play. the type of Figments they'd be are Toons, and they'd fit sooo well with... well. can't spoil that now, can we? lol

and the second is actually from my recent special interest, which is Hermitcraft, who'd also be Toons--specifically, they call themselves "avatars" since they're their creators' in-game skins, so they're more akin to YouTube Egos than typical Toons, but still Toons by technicality. they'd be associated with the same people as the Subnautica trio, but that's about all I can say for now

what would you guys think of that? The main Egos are still gonna be the main focus, but I think it'd be a nice way to expand the world, and bring in more types of Figments so the YouTube Egos don't seem like...outliers, I guess? to be ones who fled to the humans' realm. cause they Aren't. and I wanna Show That

unfortunately, I have Very Few special interests, so the cast I can pick from is lacking

[asktheoutside]

reminder that my *active* Ego blog is @meowvin-the-magnificent!

this one is strictly for Outside-related content, but if interested in other AUs or my canon-verse versions of the boys, or reblogs from other artist/writers, I'd suggest checking there!

but if you're only here for Outside content, that's okay, too!

[asktheoutside]

......I just got the mental image of Dark becoming a lawyer in Outside

a fuckin

LAWYER

I don't know if that's a horrible or wonderful idea

[asktheoutside]

Eva

An actress looking for some romance and her next job.

Eva has pale almond colored skin and blue eyes. She has orange-red hair that reaches her chin in a straight bob. She is about 5'9" and is skinny. She wears a lot of makeup (specifically black eyeliner, mascara, red lipstick, pink blush, and tons of concealer). She usually wears a blue sundress with matching heels and a straw sunhat with a blue bow. When she is not wearing makeup, she has a lot of freckles on her body.

Eva is pretty extroverted and bubbly, usually to an obnoxious extent. She loves partying and is a massive flirt, known for trying to flirt with just about every ego she meets. All of this comes from her own insecurities about herself, as she feels that if she is not seen as pretty and well liked in the eyes of others, then she is ugly and unlovable. Because of this, she is very emotionally charged and tends to get uncontrollably angry and/or upset when things go wrong, whether its a bad hair day or the failure to land a role she wanted.

Her aura is a light blue, and it tends to darken or lighten when she's upset.

Abilities:

Shapeshifting: She can shapeshift into any person she sees whether in person or through a photo or video. This can last however long she wants and is almost an exact copy of said person. However, she cannot mimic their voice unless she hears what they sound like.

Reading: Eva can learn things through others through physical contact. Just by holding a person's hand, she can learn about their life and also how to do the jobs they do, the language they speak, and what knowledge they have about subjects. This comes in handy when she needs help learning for a role, and it prevents her from building a relationship with a person (which she dreads).

[Reader Cameo Info]

[asktheoutside]

Request for Readers

'allo, everyone! I've got a request for my readers - both those of you who've stuck around from the old version of the fic, and you new followers, too!

There's going to be some points in the rewrite where I need background Figments, and I thought it would be fun to have some reader cameos in those scenes! So, my request:

If you're cool having a (credited, ofc) cameo of your own Ego, go ahead and reblog this with the info, or send an ask. I'll need the following:

1) either a) a drawing of them, b) a clear, written description, or c) a cosplay photo. Any will work, just need at least one

2) maybe an ability or two. Aura description optional

3) personality, also if they're more associated with any particular project like Heist or Space, or if they're a standalone Ego of your own (and if they're your dark Ego, lmk that, too)

4) what they do. doctor? murderer? detective? radio host? whatever it may be, I've got a few different scenes I can pick from where they may just find a place

5) either reblog this, or send an ask to this or my other blog (@meowvin-the-magnificent ) with the info. If sending an ask via anon, be sure to either tell me your user, or give yourself an anon tag (ex. I've had Pyro Anon and HC Anon here in the past), so I can properly credit your character

I won't guarantee an appearance for everyone who sends one, but it'll be nice to have the option when I need a few more in a scene and don't want to just throw random Egos in

[asktheoutside]

Request for Readers

'allo, everyone! I've got a request for my readers - both those of you who've stuck around from the old version of the fic, and you new followers, too!

There's going to be some points in the rewrite where I need background Figments, and I thought it would be fun to have some reader cameos in those scenes! So, my request:

If you're cool having a (credited, ofc) cameo of your own Ego, go ahead and reblog this with the info, or send an ask. I'll need the following:

1) either a) a drawing of them, b) a clear, written description, or c) a cosplay photo. Any will work, just need at least one

2) maybe an ability or two. Aura description optional

3) personality, also if they're more associated with any particular project like Heist or Space, or if they're a standalone Ego of your own (and if they're your dark Ego, lmk that, too)

4) what they do. doctor? murderer? detective? radio host? whatever it may be, I've got a few different scenes I can pick from where they may just find a place

5) either reblog this, or send an ask to this or my other blog (@meowvin-the-magnificent ) with the info. If sending an ask via anon, be sure to either tell me your user, or give yourself an anon tag (ex. I've had Pyro Anon and HC Anon here in the past), so I can properly credit your character

I won't guarantee an appearance for everyone who sends one, but it'll be nice to have the option when I need a few more in a scene and don't want to just throw random Egos in

[asktheoutside]

y'know what this'll make it so much easier to keep track of them and everything than individual posts on Tumblr

so here's my ability & aura headcanons for the Egos

[asktheoutside]

Auras & Abilities: Wilford

Aura:

Bright pink, glittery cloud, it looks like something out of a princess cartoon. It smells sickeningly sweet, but can't interact with anything around it.

Abilities:

--Teleportation: Has yet to discover limitations of it. Can dimension-hop, as well as travel with multiple companions. When he teleports, glitter explodes where he last stood, and stays there. Others hate when he teleports because it's impossible to get out of the carpet.

--Magic: Extremely powerful. Unable to create concentrated "bolts" of it to shoot at others, but can transform objects to other things, poof things up out of thin air, and make people disappear/teleport without taking them himself.

--Durability: Even by Ego standards, Wilford is incredibly hard to kill and has survived wounds that would kill any other Ego.

--Reality Warping: Purely illusion-based, but he can make a room appear like it's rotating, straight out of a cartoon, change its color, etc.

*natural-colored mustache version is for an AU

[asktheoutside]

are any space characters going to make it into the rewrite? and if it's not too spoilery who's replacing mad and devil?

Mostly in the background, but yep! Well, two in particular actually have a pretty major role, one of which below, but the other can remain a surprise ;)

As for Mad and Dev, sure, I can share that! For Dev, I'm actually gonna fall back on my original plan of having another Battle Ego - Phantom - in the fic. In the original fic, he's who I'd wanted to use to begin with, I just couldn't grasp his personality at the time and switched to my backup plan of Devilplier. But a few years have passed and my writing's improved a lot since then, so I feel like I can comfortably write Phantom, now. It'll also make Mare fit into his position better, too.

For Mad, he always felt a little "forced," I guess, into the narrative (which is also why Infelix was removed, and Jane the Werewolf replaced). Mad is going to be replaced by....

Murdock!

Previous plan was another Battle Ego (Bones), but then I watched Space, and Murdock immediately clicked into place in my mind. He just seemed to fit so naturally into everything I have planned, and his quiet brutality and hands-on mindset is a nice compliment to Phantom's conflict avoidance and subtle manipulations. Also, both are....artistic, in their own ways; they would appreciate one anothers' methods despite their differences...

[asktheoutside]

Progress Update (June 4, 2022)

Outline is finished! There's still a bit at the end I may change up or add to, but everything's fully plotted with basic bullet-points now!

92 chapters planned - hoo boy, that's way more than I was expecting! Hard to believe the original was only supposed to be like, 10. Some chapters may be condensed into one, or split up into multiple, depending on how they flow, but ~90 is what I'm expecting, now.

I've started the drafting process, and a handful of chapters have some scenes written!

Now, some important, non-spoilery changes:

-Ed and Yandere have been removed. They just didn't fit with the new narrative, and Eric is gonna be taking Yan's place in Chase's group

-Yancy, Magnum, and Illinois have been added to the cast

-Mark and Jack will be mentioned, but will no longer have appearances. The rewrite has the Egos as never having gotten in contact with them, so they don't even know they exist outside of the fandom. That also means, they have to be cautious to avoid their Creators

-Devil and Mad have been replaced with Egos I felt fit their positions better

[asktheoutside]

Chase grins into the camera after adjusting how it sat on the tripod. Dark brown eyes are bright and lively as he gestures at a desk. It’s currently empty aside from a laptop, notebook, and an assortment of pens. The chair looks comfortable, if a bit wobbly, and there’s two other folding chairs leaning against the far wall. There’s a door leading out of the small room.

“Yo, dudes!” he greets with a wave. “We’re open for questions, now!”

——————

@asktheoutside is now open to in-character questions. Feel free to ask the cast anything! All we ask is that you read our About first.

-About is subject to edits at any time

[asktheoutside]

Making good progress on the first draft - outline is finished, and started on the individual chapters themselves, now - so gonna bring this back to hopefully get some life back on the blog while I'm rewriting!

Chase grins into the camera after adjusting how it sat on the tripod. Dark brown eyes are bright and lively as he gestures at a desk. It’s currently empty aside from a laptop, notebook, and an assortment of pens. The chair looks comfortable, if a bit wobbly, and there’s two other folding chairs leaning against the far wall. There’s a door leading out of the small room.

“Yo, dudes!” he greets with a wave. “We’re open for questions, now!”

——————

@asktheoutside is now open to in-character questions. Feel free to ask the cast anything! All we ask is that you read our About first.

-About is subject to edits at any time

[asktheoutside]

World-Building: Guardians

*Egos and Writes are similar power-wise, but created differently. Egos are characters who had an actual actor playing them, Writes were created through novels, comics, cartoons, etc. For ease of writing, Egos will be the only ones referred to here, but it applies to both types of Figment.

Guardians are an extremely powerful type of Figment, able to rival even Egos in power. Most Egos' abilities have little affect on a Guardian. They're able to resist most types of Ego magic, and can even "reroute" a teleporter's destination to another room rather than their intended location.

They often take the shape of offices, homes, apartments, casinos, etc. and are created by the Figmental Plane itself when there are enough Egos of the same Creator to an area. They protect the Egos, watching over them from possible dangers - but are also intended to keep them secluded from other areas of their dimensional plane, as the biggest danger to a Figment is an Ego. YouTube Egos tend to pose the biggest threat to other Figments, due to their limited source material and vastly different fan headcanons making them unpredictable.

Guardians have their own language, and it can vary between individuals almost like an accent in human languages. Most Guardians "speak" through creaking floorboards and walls, flickering lights, and moving blinds or curtains. There are other ways to communicate, but these are the most common.

As with Egos, Guardians have auras that are as unique to each other as the fingerprints of a human.

Some notable Guardians, and ones I may mention or even write for, below:

Ego Central

("Central," "Cents")

The home of the Septics, Central took on the form of a two-story home just outside the nearby city. It keeps watch from a distance, with the maze of forests that separate different areas and Figments from one another at its other side. Its outer walls are a rich green, and curtains lining each window emerald and velvety to the touch, with rich gold embroidery. Despite outward appearances, it usually has nine floors once someone enters its halls, and it constantly changes its layout so really only the Septics themselves can find their way around - and sometimes, not even they can!

Central enjoys playing pranks on its residents, often moving their bedrooms to another floor entirely, or swapping it with another. Other times, it may put the door to their room in the ceiling. Marvin is about the only one who can get it to rearrange itself correctly, as the two have a close bond.

Central tends to be childish and "talkative," often creaking at the Septics within its halls. It's easy to hold a conversation with, and has a wide range of emotions; its usual joy can practically be felt the moment one steps through its door, while the rare instances it's angry make others feel a sense of unease and like they want to get out of the house as soon as they can.

It deals with intruders through confusion and paranoia, making them get lost in mazes of identical halls with no doors or windows, that feel like they're getting narrower with each corner they turn. They only free the intruder when they've become a weeping, panicking mess curled up in a corner.

Its aura, which it usually keeps reigned in and invisible, is a deep green cloud, and sparkles looking almost like little fairies float throughout it.

Egos Incorporated

("Inc")

The home of most of the Ipliers, Inc has the form of a large, dome-shaped, "modern" style office building, found at the top of the hill overlooking its city. It appears four stories from the outside, though tends to vary between nine and twenty-three stories once inside. It shifts constantly, not even the Ipliers able to traverse its halls without getting lost without the building shifting to send them where they intended (or it thought they needed) to go. Its outer walls are rose gold, and it has many windows that make no logical sense looking in from outside (you may see someone pass a window on the fourth floor, then they'll turn around and pass the one on the opposite side of the building on second, for example; furnishings and walls seen from outside always change when one looks away for a moment, too).

Inc can be a little more "snippy" than Central, mothering the Ipliers and scolding them when they do something foolish. If one of them gets injured and tries to go to their room, it shifts to send them running into Edward's clinic door. If one of them has spent what it deems too much time cooped up in their room? The second they leave for anything, their door disappears and they find themself walking into the living room. When upset with one of them, it also tends to "nip" - that is, slam doors against their heels. Though it may act grouchy, it cares deeply for those within its care.

Inc is hostile toward intruders, creating traps that would have Indiana Jones nope-ing on out of there. Pillars rise from the floor only to tip over on top of them, walls start closing in threatening to crush them, floors collapse into bottomless pits. Inc's intruders rarely survive the ordeal.

Its neon pink aura clings along its outer walls like fog, though it rarely makes it visible to those inside. It creates a nauseating pink haze to anything within it, as if one were looking through drunk goggles, and smells faintly of cotton candy.

Happy Trails Penitentiary

("Happy Trails," "Happy")

Happy is home to the Heist convicts. It takes the form of a two-story prison with other floors underground, but with watchtowers that tower over its outer walls. Usually, its size inside matches almost perfectly with how it looks outside. It's a rather quiet Guardian, and doesn't shift very often; those who are unfamiliar with it often don't realize it even is a Guardian. However, there's a persistent humming from deep within its walls - humming, that if you strain your ears, disappears as if it was never there to begin with.

Happy is protective of both the guards and inmates within its halls. While it does allow for arguments and even physical fights to break out, it will intervene if an Ego is in danger of being killed. It's friendly with those in its care, and humors the musically-inclined inmates and guards by shifting its lights' colors, creating spotlights, and even making a lot of the rooms shaped just so so their voices carry without echoes messing up their songs.

Happy is usually pretty quick to boot an intruder out, with force if necessary. Though, the rare instance where a particularly dangerous Ego gets in its halls, Happy won't hesitate to create winding halls that lead deeper, and deeper, into the earth, and finally lead them into a dead end that closes behind them to leave them to starve to death, surrounded only by concrete walls and no door.

Its aura looks like regular fog at first glance, and hangs low to the ground. The "fog" can be seen inside, though it usually dissipates the farther from an exit one gets, and is heaviest in the yards surrounding the building. The aura is almost viscous, slowing the movement of any who try to walk through it, though it tends to part its aura to allow its residents to move freely. When in contact with Happy's aura, people can hear a very faint, humming and tinking of chimes.

Invincible II

Home to most of the Space Egos, the Invincible II is a Guardian that exists in the far reaches of space within the Figmental Plane. It tends to stick to one area of space, simply sitting idle, though can move as it pleases, or by request of the crew. Few Guardians are mobile, and almost all that are are, like Invincible, a ship of some kind.

Like Happy, Invincible is typically quiet and doesn't shift much - at least, it doesn't seem like it at first. Moving through its halls tends to present a feeling of déjà vu as one feels like they've passed same rooms already before finally finding their way to where they intended.

Invincible is a unique Guardian, in that no one can really die when inside its walls. Instead, if someone dies or is killed, the ship enters a small time loop while it works to correct the mistake and keep the person from dying. As a result, it has to deal with intruders a lot differently than other Guardians. It forces them into a secluded room, a room that didn't previously have an airlock, and opens said didn't-exist-a-second-ago airlock. Instead of being sucked out into space, the intruder is pulled off the ship and teleported to a random location within the Figmental Plane.

Its aura looks like tendrils reaching right out of a wormhole, spiraling into darkness. Stars dance within the "arms" of the aura, and frost spiderwebs from any surface one of the tendrils touches. Usually not visible, and Invincible needs to give the crew ample warning to gear up in something warmer if it's going to release its aura.

Mindscape

Home to the Sides, the Mindscape takes on the form of a Victorian mansion. Inside, there's a floor for each Side, as well as a "communal floor" where any of them can go. And, while the floors can rearrange themselves, they never meet one another and are kept strictly separate.

Mindscape is considered an unstable Guardian by many. It feeds off emotions, and can be aggressive even toward the Sides if they go to a floor that "isn't theirs." Negative emotions have an especially strong affect on it, leaving it in a near-constant state of anger. It's unknown why Mindscape is like this, though the Sides being a rare type of Figment - Facets, who are linked closely to their creator instead of their fanbase, and take "facets" of his personality - is a suspected cause. It's extremely protective of the Sides to the point of being a danger to them and even itself.

Mindscape makes Inc look tame in its dealing with any strangers - even those the Sides deem as welcome may be shown aggression if they set foot in its halls when its in a particularly foul mood. Depending on which floor they trespass on, their deaths will come in various ways. On Virgil's floor, giant spiders emerge from the shadows; on Roman's, dragonfire burns them alive. The common floor will open into a pit lined with fangs one day, or the shadows themselves will pull the intruder into their depths to never be heard from again.

Mindscape's aura, as is probably obvious at this point, are writhing shadows that can take on semi-physical forms. It's almost impossible to tell where the aura ends and actual shadows begin once in its halls.

The First

("The First Figment")

Suspected as being one of the first ever Figments, when human ancestors had their first thoughts. This Guardian has taken on hundreds, if not thousands, of different forms throughout its lifetime, and is even thought to be what allowed the Figmental Plane itself to come into being. The First's original charges have long since faded out, but it continues to look over not only the rest of the Figmental Plane, but also the humans' plane - the Plane of Reality, or "Outside."

It has a very unique ability, in that it can not only teleport its entire physical form, but also dimension-hop, allowing it to truly watch over both dimensions. It's the only known Guardian that can dimension-hop.

The First is ancient, and simply being in its presence Egos can often feel the lifetimes that it's survived. It's often quiet, but shifts constantly. As of modern day humans, it has the form of a three-story apartment complex, but inside? Hundreds, upon hundreds of floors that spiral into nothingness, grand oceans and small villages. Its true size, once inside, is unfathomable.

The First rarely considers others intruders - all Figments stem from its creation, after all. But, in the rare case it must deal with a danger, the Figment simply...ceases to exist if they set foot within and the First chooses to "deal with them." If a human happens to enter its halls, it casts an illusion to appear like a normal, lived-in apartment building, and uses illusions, usually aggressive dogs, to chase the human back out.

The First's aura has no visible form, but reaches far beyond its physical form. It offers feelings of nostalgia, and bittersweet memories, and whispers long-forgotten secrets just out of grasp.