The Tinkerer Is Skittering About…

(User is 18, 🚫MINORS DNI🚫) The Outlast Trials Roleplay Blog for @ontheclockwithmurkoff’s Ex-Pop OC, The Tinkerer. Please read the pinned post.

[tinker-trapped]

THE TINKERER! (RP Blog Info Post. Guidelines + Disclaimer + OC Info and Ref Sheet!)

(OC REF SHEET)

MAIN: @beepsparks

MAIN OUTLAST BLOG: @ontheclockwithmurkoff

GUIDELINES:

I’ll roleplay pretty much anything. Fluff, angst, horror (angst but. Scary ig), silly stuff. Unsure about anything suggestive, though I’ll set a boundary if I feel uncomfortable. No NSFW. I will ABSOLUTELY RP with canon characters, and Outlast Trials OCs. I’ll also answer asks. (This is my first time running a RP blog though, so I might be rusty. Also this was kinda created on impulse anyway because I enjoy writing and drawing Tinkerer so much.)

I likely will not be using G/T tags on this blog (PLEASE read the disclaimer btw) because I don’t wanna flood those tags with this.

Tinkerer is typically depicted in a romantic relationship with Leland Coyle in my art. This will likely not be the case for this blog! I don’t want to force a ship onto any Coyle RP blogs, and it may be more fun to potentially write unique interactions between Tinkerer and Coyle. (I do not mind him being cruel btw, if a Coyle RP blog does decide to interact. Let him be in character!) However, I may still write implications or moments (likely on my own) where Tinkerer is shown to have an interest if not possible crush on Coyle.

This an OC for The Outlast Trials. Expect many dark subjects to come up, mentions of sex, excessive violence and gore, and swearing. Tinkerer’s interactions with canon characters will possibly also go south considering most Outlast characters are anything but nice.

DISCLAIMER:

If you’ve seen Tinkerer before on my Outlast blog, you might already know that this character was originally made as a self-insert to express my G/T (Giant/Tiny) thoughts in the Outlast universe. I feel the need to explain this further because I get easily embarrassed if not paranoid about it. G/T IS NOT THE SAME AS MICRO/MACRO. I am still personally learning myself (as I’ve repressed and hidden my enjoyment of G/T for over a decade) but THE difference between G/T and Micro/Macro (also known as “M/M”) to my knowledge is that one is SFW, the other is not.

The G/T community is typically composed of people who enjoy writing or drawing the dynamic (platonic, familial, dating, rivalry, etc.) of a, you guessed it, a giant person and a tiny person. This could be done for various reasons, such as finding comfort in it, finding the dynamic in general interesting with relationships, or enjoying world-building and storytelling based specifically on the dynamic of G/T. (Although I will admit the G/T community can sometimes get a little freaky, a lot of people absolutely adore fearplay with the dynamic. Also a fair amount of G/T fans also like vore (I bet you can guess why. For your information btw I don’t like vore and will NOT write it at all. Don’t try it.))

I personally enjoy G/T as I find it both extremely comforting (no seriously it helps me sleep or calm down when stressed) and find it to be a very cute dynamic (my personal favorites are familial (giant parent and tiny child) and romance), as well as fun to think about or write for storytelling.

Unfortunately, G/T and the community based around it often gets mistaken as Micro/Macro, which (to my knowledge) is the community for the fetish known as macrophilia. Typically involving NSFW/directly explicit writings and art (sometimes including other fetishes). A lot of people who like G/T (including me) do not want to be associated with those guys. From what I know, the two communities are usually separate and would rather stay in their own bubbles. Basically “Don’t like don’t read” but for communities.

I’m writing all of this for two reasons: One, I’ll be damned if I get accused of fetish-farming when that’s not the case. And two, if you still feel weirded out or uncomfortable by the concept of G/T, then feel free to ignore me. I don’t wanna make anyone really uncomfortable. I’m being upfront and honest so someone doesn’t like. Find my Tinkerer art on my Outlast blog then wonder why I didn’t say what their original purpose is on my RP Blog.

OC INFO:

The Tinkerer is my Ex-Pop OC whose gimmick is reactivating traps that have already been triggered, or reversing the Jammer’s effect of turning traps on enemies. They cannot physically harm reagents. Let alone anyone, probably.

My art may show them at different sizes, but since I HAVE to be specific here, let’s just say they’re 2 inches tall. (In G/T terms, Tinkerer would likely be classified as a Borrower. AKA a tiny person in a human world.)

Tinkerer has no alarm when they exit an insertion gate. (In fact they might have their own little mouse-hole as an insertion gate!) Sometimes during trials, they’ll hop on and cling onto Ex-Pop (grunts, specialist Ex-Pop, Prime Assets) to get around maps faster to reach more traps. (However, for whatever reason, they will NOT cling onto Big Grunts, Biters, or The Jaeger.) On occasion, Tinkerer will even already be clinging onto an Ex-Pop as they enter the trial through an insertion gate. Sneaking in and causing more trouble.

Tinkerer is incredibly hard to detect, both visually and auditory. However, hints that they’re present specifically involve Ex-Pop having specific animations or dialogue for when the Tinkerer is holding onto them. They may reach for something on themselves that they can’t find, or complain that they feel something or feel itchy. To get Tinkerer to go away, hit whoever they’re clinging onto with a projectile. This will make Tinkerer run away and exit the trial for the time being, likely reactivating less or no traps at all.

Tinkerer wears a rat costume. With pink, stitched together socks, a tail made of pink yarn, and a brown mask resembling a rat’s head. The mask has night vision goggles directly attached to it, allowing Tinkerer to see in the dark. These goggles are also expressive. Tinkerer rarely takes off the mask, but underneath it is a pretty normal-looking face, just with some acne, eyebags, and slightly crooked teeth. They also usually have a toolbox on their back, carrying all their little tools for working on traps.

When Tinkerer was introduced to the trials, Murkoff “forgot” to tell the Ex-Pop and Prime Assets. So if you roleplay with Tinkerer, unless you’re a Murkoff staff member, likely assume the character knows nothing about Tinkerer and might just be meeting them now.

Tinkerer usually goes unnoticed by both Reagents and Ex-Pop, but they typically become skittish and anxious/nervous/possibly genuinely afraid when directly spotted. They may try to run, hide, or just freeze up like a deer in headlights. They like to watch Prime Assets from a distance, admiring them or just analyzing their behavior and movement (likely to stay safe when on the ground), but they’re a bit scared of the thought of meeting them face-to-face.

I think that’s all you need to know! Have fun and I hope I do this well lol

[tinker-trapped]

I hate ex pops>:( they are worse then prime assets

Heyyy, I’m an Ex-Pop. They aren’t that bad… I definitely feel just a bit safer around more Ex-Pop compared to the Prime Assets. I still have to be very cautious around them, but I don’t think it’s as dangerous for me to get close or hold onto them. If they knew about me (and hopefully won’t kill me), I think they might even see me as an equal… I can’t say the same for the Prime Assets, I’ve seen how some of them treat the Ex-Pop. Very mean.

[crowtheoutlastrialreagent]

I will throw a brick at you if you come too close>:(

[tinker-trapped]

Good luck seeing me, not like I’m gonna get close to you anyway… I never get too close to reagents.

A brick thrown at me would kill me in an instant. Which reminds me, I hate when you reagents throw bricks, always breaking traps or hitting whoever I’m trying to hold onto. Do you know how much it hurts to get flung off of somebody?! I can’t get anything done after that, I need rest. And I know Murkoff doesn’t like it when I’m not efficient enough…

[tinker-trapped]

I hate ex pops>:( they are worse then prime assets

Heyyy, I’m an Ex-Pop. They aren’t that bad… I definitely feel just a bit safer around more Ex-Pop compared to the Prime Assets. I still have to be very cautious around them, but I don’t think it’s as dangerous for me to get close or hold onto them. If they knew about me (and hopefully won’t kill me), I think they might even see me as an equal… I can’t say the same for the Prime Assets, I’ve seen how some of them treat the Ex-Pop. Very mean.

[tinker-trapped]

// Thinking about Tinkerer again… I wrote about how on rare occasions, they’ll cling onto other Ex-Pop just as they enter a trial through an insertion gate (basically making both an expop and tinkerer spawn at once which causes a lot of trouble). But I wonder if they know where the gate is whenever they do that.

Basically: what would happen if Tinkerer went with an expop into the basement of the steam valves in the Prison Farm without realizing it??

They’d absolutely drown or struggle to get out of a large body of water like that (and its DEFINITELY deep for their size and it might get them sick from all the dirty water) so would they be stuck having to desperately cling to whoever they’re already on, or would they have to hop off onto some furniture item and hope they find a way out? They’d probably have to hope that the Ex-Pop steps out of the water so they can hop off of them and get out before they get noticed (because they can’t cling onto someone forever or else they might get spotted).

The worst-case scenario of this would be the person in question being Coyle. He whips around a lot whenever he hears sounds and jumps over and down objects (which could easily accidentally fling Tinkerer off of him), and is generally very violent and careless, so if he sees Tinkerer, he might even kill them. And considering I’ve seen Coyle sometimes linger in the waters, there’s the chance he’ll take too long to get out of the water (so Tinkerer can hop off of him and run off) and eventually feel and see Tinkerer holding onto him.

Other Ex-Pop may be fine, but again, if they don’t get out of the water fast enough, they might finally notice Tinkerer and god knows what these crazies would do to a little person (even if they were also an Ex-Pop).

[tinker-trapped]

I wonder if any of the Prime Assets have noticed their traps suddenly working again after being broken or triggered… They don’t seem to acknowledge it.

…I also wonder if they’ve noticed those times where I’ll occasionally leave out little things I think they’d like. Maybe they think they’re just lucky to come across something they enjoy. I doubt anyone would assume something like that to be a “secret admirer” thing. Especially not in a place like this.

[tinker-trapped]

// Idk anything in-character to write rn so I’m just gonna write where I think Tinkerer most prefers to cling onto when holding onto Prime Assets for faster travel across maps, and how safe they’d be with them. (For any people here who haven’t read the pinned post yet, for a VERY short OC info summary, Tinkerer is 2 inches tall and likes to hold onto other Ex-Pop to get around maps and reach broken traps quicker.)

Coyle: Tinkerer likely prefers to hold onto the back of his leather jacket’s collar(?), basically right behind his neck. Although they’re holding on for dear life because considering his Pontiac battery is literally SMOKING all the time, if Tinkerer falls and lands on it, they’re either getting electrocuted to death, or getting severely burnt. They don’t hold onto Coyle for long, anyway, because his paranoia likely leads him to believing that “AUGH!! THOSE FUCKIN’ COMMIES PUT A TRACKER ON ME!” or some bullshit like that. Idk. Either way if Coyle senses something unfamiliar holding onto him for too long, he’s gonna freak tf out and considering how… “uncontrollable” he seems to be when stressed, Tinkerer has the risk of either getting caught/seen by him (and likely facing his wrath), or getting accidentally flung across the room. I think Coyle poses the biggest risk to Tinkerer out of all the Prime Assets. At his nicest he’d probably scold Tinkerer if they weren’t prioritizing fixing his shock grids first (greedy ass). Otherwise… well we know Coyle loves when he has more power and authority, especially if whoever he’s faced with is weak and helpless against him. If he isn’t killing them, it’s pure bullying or even torture. Also that man couldn’t be gentle if he even tried. He’s not handling them with any care. Oh and let’s not forget that apparently he had a history of animal abuse before Murkoff! Yeah Tinkerer isn’t safe at all near that man.

Gooseberry: Almost similar situation to Coyle. Although Tinkerer might hold specifically onto her lower back. This is because there’s the slight risk of Dr. Futterman “seeing” them. You can debate on whether Dr. Futterman turning his head and “spotting” Tinkerer holding onto Phylis would actually mean they’ve been spotted, because he’s a puppet. But Tinkerer doesn’t wanna risk it anyway. I’d say Gooseberry poses less of a threat to Tinkerer, they’d probably be able to hold onto her for longer without her freaking out (unlike Coyle), and if she did actually see them, I don’t really think she’d willingly hurt them? Dr. Futterman might, but maybe Phylis might even mistake them for like. A baby animal. As per usual, Dr. Futterman would probably be PISSED and think Tinkerer was just another pervert trying to get all touchy with his daughter, but Phylis would probably try to pet Tinkerer, or talk to Futterman, possibly concerned if Tinkerer was some kind of stray, baby animal and needed help. (Btw it’s not Phylis’ fault that she might think Tinkerer was a baby animal at first. She’s drugged up like CRAZY and thinks the child mannequins are real. I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought Tinkerer was a little stray.)

Franco: Hmm. It’s complicated. I’m trying to think. Maybe an also very similar situation to Coyle, where Tinkerer tries to hold onto the back of Franco’s suit, near his neck. Unlike Coyle where Tinkerer doesn’t hold on for long because of Coyle himself getting way too paranoid, Tinkerer doesn’t hold onto Franco for long because of Lupara. Yelling is already pretty uncomfortable for them, but the sound of Lupara firing off is like. Hearing the loudest thunder of your life, or something so loud that it actively hurts your ears. Also, Franco is kinda wild, and if Tinkerer were to be caught by him, I could unfortunately see Franco seeing them as if they were some kind of toy he can play around with. Not exactly mean, I could totally see him appreciating Tinkerer’s work, but he would just be a bit rough and careless when handling them.

Kress Twins: Tinkerer would probably hold onto the lower part of Otto’s pant legs. Or if they really felt like it, they’d climb into one of Otto’s suit pockets. They’d have to quite literally lay low, because either Otto or Arora would see them if they tried to climb any higher up on them. (Btw thanks @/therealrickette145 for this) Although I think Tinkerer wouldn’t be in TOO much danger around the twins if they both knew about them.. Maybe Arora would get morbid curiosity about their anatomy, or Otto would get a little defensive (likely interrogating Tinkerer a little to make sure they hadn’t ever touched his sister), but that’s it. They’d both probably appreciate Tinkerer’s work, maybe even helping them by picking them up themselves. I feel like they’d also want to keep Tinkerer for themselves as if they were a pet, though. But what probably matters most is “will Tinkerer get hurt or killed” and the answer is “probably not”, so they might be fine.

Liliya: I actually like thinking about this one a lot. Liliya is likely the most difficult for Tinkerer to hold onto, mainly due to materials (nothing to properly grab onto, too slippery for them) and how tight her clothing is on her (again, nothing to properly grab onto). So, Tinkerer would probably try to hold onto her necklace. OR… in a very cute idea, try to nuzzle themselves into one of the flowers around her head. (This is an actual thing that happens with mice sometimes, btw! Although Tinkerer is just a little person who wears a rat costume, sometimes mice will sit inside of flowers. Beware when you look this up though, unfortunately there’s a lot of AI slop between actual photos.) I’d argue Liliya is the least dangerous for Tinkerer. She’s quiet, has seemingly calculated and controlled movements, and she would likely be very unbothered by them. Also… she probably already knows about Tinkerer. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already aware of Tinkerer’s presence in the trials. She just won’t tell anyone, and doesn’t care enough to do anything about it. I don’t really know how Liliya would behave in a direct interaction with Tinkerer, though. Tinkerer is likely completely unaware that Liliya already knows about them. So they just have a very accidental relationship where it’s like, two animals helping each other simply because they feel like it, or they’re minding their own business that just so happens to also help the each other. (Considering Liliya also relys a lot on you being unable to detect her, her simply not caring that Tinkerer might be clinging onto her also provides an excuse for her to have absolutely no reactions to Tinkerer being on her, keeping her very sneaky.)

Maybe sometime I’ll write something like this for the specialist Ex-Pop, but this is it for now. Maybe this will also help with potential interactions between Tinkerer and other RP Blogs.

[tinker-trapped]

That new trial is terrible. Coyle’s environments are already a nightmare for me personally, with him stomping about and yelling at everybody, as well as those goddamn shock grids. But now there’s bombs. BOMBS? Too loud. Too destructive. Too dangerous. And the place is huge. I’m not going into the basement with the steam valves to fix ANY traps, Easterman can’t make me. I’d drown in those waters.

The only thing, the only GOOD thing about that trial is the Warden. He’s more sweet and gentle, as well as slow because he’s crawling all the time. Not much of a risk, unlike everybody else who just runs and slides and… aughh. The amount of times I’ve almost been killed by somebody throwing something or moving around too fast is ridiculous. I would say “watch where you’re going”, but I fear being perceived would be the end of my life.

…I think I have a soft spot for most of the trial victims. I feel like I could only trust them with not immediately murdering me on sight. (Well to be fair, they are restrained, but they look to be kind-hearted or too focused on their own situation to think of hurting somebody else unless they’re why they’re about to get killed.)

[tinker-trapped]

I’ve heard of the Prime Assets not being allowed to hurt each other, I dunno about the other Ex-Pop… but I’m really starting to feel like Murkoff doesn’t value that rule with me. (If they did, they’d at least TRY to accommodate for me and make everywhere less of a death trap for someone like me.)

Even if it was enforced properly, I just can’t trust most of my… “peers” to even follow it if they saw me. I mean. Pusher has seen me… once. I had to run off before he likely would’ve pumped a lethal amount of psychosis gas in my face. I think I’m lucky that he didn’t tell anyone about me. Maybe he thought I was a normal rat or something.

I understand the scapegoats. I wanna run and hide, too, but I fear I may end up dead if I avoid my job. (Even if I feel like I’m only around just so Murkoff can spend less on brand new traps…) And unfortunately that comes with the risk of getting caught between a monster and a reagent.

[tinker-trapped]

// I just realized how difficult it’d be for Tinkerer to cling onto the Kress Twins. Like where would they even go. Maybe on Otto’s shoes, but that’s it. They’re too afraid of what might happen to them if a Prime Asset sees them, and the Twins have that good ol 360 vision. Not to mention their anatomy being all sorts of fucked up. I usually imagine Tinkerer clinging onto people’s upper backs, but they can’t do that considering Arora is there, so trying to hold onto pant legs or shoes it is, then!

[tinker-trapped]

Coyle… Coyle’s uhm. A big chunk of me doesn’t like having to traverse his trials. They’re loud and dangerous. He’s loud and dangerous. Always yelling all the time, careless and running around… I don’t like the image I imagine when he says that thing about scraping flesh off his boots. Don’t get me started on his shock grids. I’ll fix one up, but get trapped in the middle of it, having to wait for it to temporarily deactivate, then run off before I get cooked. (The wider ones are always the worst…)

I’ll grab onto him sometimes to get a quick boost, but otherwise I like being safe and keeping my distance. He’s too rough, and violent. Like some kind of brute. And that electricity could probably kill me in an instant. A walking electricity pole or something.

…Although I can’t help but find myself watching him from afar sometimes. I mean, it’s scary to see what he does to the reagents, but when he isn’t being bothered by anything, he doesn’t seem too bad.. maybe.. he’s kinda handsome… I’m being a fool. It’s like watching a hungry predator stop to take a few breaths before it continues the hunt.

I need to stay away and stay hidden.

[tinker-trapped]

I notice that the reagents seem to hate Liliya especially. Likely with how she jumps out at them. I actually like her a lot. What they hate her for I like her for. She’s much more quiet compared to the others, and more careful and calculated when she moves. She even takes up hiding spots.

It’s easy on my ears and allows me to get around with less of a risk of getting caught in the crosshairs of a Prime Asset rampage. Although, she’s more difficult to hold onto when I need to get somewhere faster. Can’t win em all, I guess.

[tinker-trapped]

I love when a reagent throws a bottle at a trap I just finished fixing up. Totally not the most annoying thing ever. Totally not making me feel like I've wasted my time. Yeah…