Humanized Bentley/Penelope Fluff (in Green!)

The Case For Morph Wrenches

I know boxing/swordfighting is a popular choice for Penelope's potential moveset, but... I want to go in a different direction with her.

Sly has his cane. Bentley has his wheelchair. Murray can clobber foes into next week with nothing more than his fists. Carmelita has her shock pistol.

We can't have two fist fighters on the team. Let's do something fun for our favorite mouse girl. She's a genius, right? Let's capitalize on that aspect...

What if Penelope dual-wielded a pair of morphing wrenches that can turn into, say, a giant hammer or a shield?

With the wrenches, she can quite easily defend herself and break stuff.

With the hammer, she could knock out guards. It'd be slow, but effective. And obviously noisy.

With the shield... well, that's obvious enough.

I even want her to inherit Bentley's old pickpocketing magnet.

If she ever does come back to the side of good, I want her classified as The Wild Card.

And if any enemies even think about looking at Bentley wrong... let's just say they'll have an extremely rabid mouse up their ass with an arsenal of weaponry at her command.

The possibilities are endless. Think about it.

Showing 'Determination' in Writing

Jaw set firmly, lips pressed into a thin line.

Eyes focused intensely, not wavering.

Shoulders squared, standing tall and firm.

Fists clenched tightly.

Taking deep, steady breaths to maintain calm.

Saying, “I will do this” with conviction.

Pushing back sleeves as if preparing for action.

Marching forward with purposeful steps.

Ignoring distractions or interruptions.

Voice steady and unwavering.

Nodding to oneself as if reaffirming resolve.

Gritting teeth in concentration.

Placing hands on hips confidently.

Writing or speaking with clarity and precision.

Pounding a fist into an open palm.

Looking straight ahead, not letting gaze drift.

Tightening grip on tools or objects they’re working with.

Breaking tasks into manageable steps and tackling them one by one.

Keeping eyes on the goal, not looking back.

Saying, “Nothing will stop me” with steely determination.

Hey! So I’m a fairly new ambulatory wheelchair user with EDS writing about a character who is also an ambulatory wheelchair user. I feel like I keep using the same words over and over to portray movement though (rolled, propelled, “pushed themself,” etc) so I would love to hear if you have any more ideas for alternatives! I’ll take as many as you’ve got!

Thank you!!!

Hello dearest asker!

This is the list that we have provided over time plus others:

Moved/Moves

Went

Wheeled

Rolled

Pushed

Sped/Spun

Propelled

Pulled (by a service animal etc)

Maneuvered

Turn/Turned

Scoot/scooted

Travel/traveled

Rock/rocked

Drove

Crossed

Cut

Stroll/Strolled

Navigated

Drift/Drifted

Swung/swinged

Popped ("Popped up their wheels/chair" to get over a surface etc)

Tip/tipped (Tipped themselves over something etc)

Advanced

Migrate/migrated

Inched

Zoomed

Rushed

Hurried

Raced

Skid

Ram/Rammed

Roamed

Shift/Shifted

Slid (In rainy or icy weather)

Followed

Circled

And a lot of many other verbs that would take me a long time to list! Consider what type of wheelchair the person has, as mention Here. And also how the person moves or places their hands can be another detail to include.

If the actual definition of the verb doesn't involve the specific actions of one or two lower extremities (ex. walk, run, stepped, trot, stride) then it's otherwise good to use! Other words like Moseyed, sauntered, paced, I think depends on the writer. A particularly mischievous character may saunter of a manner in their wheelchair. And a character who is nervous would pace—although possibly tiring—back and forth. And Moseyed, well, I just particularly like this word—but, a character could mosey on by in a certain fashion. Happy writing!

(last ask about verb terminology on wheelchairs per this post we made about it)

~ Mod Virus 🌸

your writing does not have to be outstanding or exceptional. seriously, I read books all the time with just average writing, maybe some of the minor characters are one dimensional and cliched, maybe the dialogue is a little cheesy, maybe the plot is a little shaky, but the characters and their dire situation have hooked me. your story doesn’t have to be 5 stars to be worth writing and sharing and it will find the people who will love it.

Trying to pull myself out of a rough patch so thought I’d do a headshot of this angel. Did start as only a sketch but I got carried away

Lost Sly 3 scene: Aftermath of the LeFwee battle

===

Here’s yet another “Behind the Scenes” comic.

Bentley and Penelope both come across as MAJORLY socially awkward dorks who don’t have much experience in the romance department. So I can imagine them going a wee bit overboard in the honeymoon phase just after they officially become an item (and annoying the hell out of their team mates in the process).

FUN FACT: My main reason for doing this comic was the desire to put Dimitri’s final line into a story (that part was the first thing I wrote; the rest of the comic was tailored around it). XD

Canon compliant

Canon compatible

Canon complacent

Canon comparable

Canon compulsive

Canon competitive

Canon competent

Canon compassionate

Canon complementary

Canon comprehensible

Canon companionable

Canon compressible

Canon complexifying

Canon compensatory

Canon complicit

Fixing Thieves in Time Penelope

Thieves in Time was a pretty good game overall, but I am STILL pissed about what they did to Penelope. ‘She thinks Sly is a bad influence’ like excuse me? Even if that made any kind of sense (it doesn’t), am I the only one who remembers that she had a bit of a crush on Sly when she first joined the Cooper Gang? And suddenly her inventions are awful, even though they recruited her because she was as good if not better than Bentley? I call bullshit, fuck you very much.

I’ve come up with three alternate ways they could have done Penelope’s story that actually make sense and don’t feel out of character:

Option 1 Mind Control: Le Paradox has Miss Decibel hypnotize Penelope to make her give him the designs for the time machine. He decides to keep Penelope on-hand to maintain his blimp, and to serve as a hostage should the Cooper Gang uncover his plans and try to stop him. Upon their arrival in England, Sly and the Gang immediately learn that Penelope is working for Le Paradox and are devastated. During a recon mission, Sly and Bentley discover devices similar to Miss Decibel’s record players, which keep Penelope hypnotized. Bentley immediately begins drawing up plans to destroy the devices and free Penelope. The boss fight against her still happens, but with the plan being to destroy the hypnotic devices keeping Penelope under Decibel’s control. The Cooper Gang succeeds and Penelope is freed, reuniting with Bentley and rejoining the Gang for the rest of the game.

Option 2 Double Agent: Penelope catches wind of someone trying to get their hands on the designs for the time machine, and does a little investigating on her own. This leads her to Le Paradox, who offers her a position working for him. Recognizing the threat Le Paradox’s plan poses to her friends and boyfriend, Penelope agrees, and she sabotages his plans and tech every chance she gets. Throughout the game, she leaves clues for the Cooper Gang to find (such as the sheriff’s badge), trusting them to thwart Le Paradox’s operations. She’s ordered to go to England to work alongside the Black Knight, who is revealed to be Raleigh from the first game (Le Paradox arranged his escape from prison in exchange for a chance at revenge on Cooper and the Gang). In the final fight, Penelope reaffirms her allegiance to Bentley and the Cooper Gang, and she and Bentley work together to dismantle the giant robot, allowing Sly to land the final blow to take down Raleigh. As in Option 1, Penelope and Bentley reunite, and Penelope rejoins the Gang for the rest of the game.

Option 3 Dangerous Threats: Le Paradox threatens to erase Bentley from history unless Penelope gives up the designs for the time machine to save him. Terrified of losing her true love, Penelope reluctantly agrees, and Le Paradox keeps her close by as a hostage and to prevent her from tipping off Bentley and the Gang. She is sent to Medieval England and is kept prisoner in the castle by the Black Knight (who could be Raleigh as in Option 2, or a new character) and is forced to design and build the mechanical guards for him. Once in England, Sly discovers Penelope’s location and sneaks into the castle to confront her. When she reveals Le Paradox’s threats, Sly reassures her that together they can keep Bentley safe, and convinces her to escape with him and return to the Gang. Penelope and Bentley reunite at the hideout, and she gives the Gang useful information about the Black Knight’s plans and weaknesses. During the boss fight, Penelope again comes through for her friends by being the one to finish off the Black Knight and reveal the next time period they need to travel to.

In all three versions, Penelope and Bentley both serve as tech experts during the final confrontation with Le Paradox, making use of their combined talents to help achieve victory (while also being totally adorable together: finishing each other’s sentences, hugging and holding hands, kissing, all of it).

"boy drama" HSHDJSK yeah i love the idea of penelope and murray being Bros just chilling and ignoring everything lmfao. like i get why we didn't (time, pacing etc... bah) but i really wish we got more of the extended gang just hanging out (tm). i can see penelope just being just down for tinkering w cool shit and having a good time w her new pals. and being totally oblivious to bentley's thirsting for her (kinda links in to me reading her as some kinda neurodivergent ig? i've said it before and i'll say it again but creating and maintaining an entire alter ego in order to get past age restrictions/implied gender bias and dominate the field of your hobby is absolute TOP tier nd girlboss energy)

trust one of my main issues with Sly 3 is how it's a game all about assembling a gang of thieves but benches them completely for almost its entirety. like i get wanting to roam the hubs as Penelope, Guru or PK whenever might be unreasonable to ask for (i guess?), but not having them around at all in the safehouse is such a bizarre choice. and the idea of having Penelope tinkering on gadgets in the back is perfect bestie

even looking past this, the cutscene sections of the gang hanging out together are so limited. we're mostly treated to them traveling in their silly goofy disguises (which ok, iconic). give me Sly 1 end of episode cutscenes, where the gang just idk has fun. give me Penelope beating the boys at their videogames

Sly and Penelope’s reunion

This is what their reunion in Sly 4 would have been like if that game hadn’t been written by fanboys who cared more about inserting fuzzy T&A in the game than they cared about writing half-decent female characters (and good stories to go with them). Seriously, this game wasted a GREAT opportunity to showcase these two interacting as platonic buddies. I imagine him teasing her about that old crush pretty much every time Bentley and Carmelita are out of earshot.