#fun fact I'm the same way on roller coasters

[foldingfittedsheets]

Before my beloved and I moved in together they were living with roommates in a place that didn't have a bathtub. Now, a reasonable person might conclude from this that baths would be out of the equation in a home with only one standing shower and no tub.

But these people weren't quitters. Naturopathic doctors and acupuncturists they were dedicated to treating their bodies well and one of the ways they liked to do that was hydrotherapy. Most people are familiar with this through things like polar bear plunges. You sit in a hot tub then jump in freezing water.

It's supposedly good for you and they were way into it. But again, no tub. They'd do hydro showers but it just wasn't the same. These people were not quitters, though. (One of them is the boob soap person, so it really isn't a surprise that she goes hard on everything). So they got what looked like two big metal old timey tubs but which were actually animal food troughs and set them up in the garage. They set up a water heater and god knows how they emptied the tub after, I think there was hoses involved? A pump maybe? I honestly can't remember. Anyway! Voila, hydrotherapy on demand.

I was not aware of this. So when I came over after a long day and my beloved said we should take a bath I was extremely puzzled. I only knew about the one shower. They showed me the garage tubs. I did want a bath and I wasn't really sure about the setup, but honestly I'll try anything once if only for the story, so I agreed.

Fun fact about me though. I haaaate being cold. I've been 0% body fat most of my life with skin barely keeping my bones enclosed. I'm always cold. My favorite activity at the time was sitting directly in front of space heaters. My shower temperatures turn me lobster red and make my beloved cringe. Willingly dunking myself into cold water is the antipathy of my entire deal.

On the night in question I happily submerged into the warm tank, pleasantly surprised by the big silly improvised tub. Which again was meant for livestock. My knees bumped companionably against my beloved as we soaked in the hot water. After a while they rose to go into the cold water. "You don't have to," they told me.

But I was haunted. I wouldn't be doing hydro if I just stayed in the warm tub. Maybe hydro was amazing. It has all these health benefits. I desperately didn't want to but I stood up with them. We were having this nice intimate evening in the garage, just us, I felt safe. I was gonna do it.

They stepped easily into the cold tub, dunking matter of factly into the frigid water. I went to step. I did. I really really tried. My foot went in and I started shrieking, my progress arrested by the total state of shock I entered when my warm toasty foot hit that smug arctic water tension. My beloved started laughing as my pitch ascended the deeper my foot went into the cold water.

I started loudly narrating my discomfort as my foot touched the bottom and I willed my other foot up to join it. "THIS IS VERY COLD," I yelled, "IT'S SO COLD I THINK I MIGHT DIE HOW ARE YOU JUST CASUALLY SITTING IN THIS FREEZING COLD WATER?! I'M DYING- I THINK I'M DYING! I'M DYING BUT WE'RE HERE, TOGETHER! I CAN DO THIS! I CAN DO THESE EVEN THOUGH IT'S SO COLD ALL MY MOLECULES HAVE COMPRESSED INTO A SOLID STATE!"

I ended up with both feet planted in the cold tub, water up to my shins, bellowing and panting while my beloved laughed so hard they couldn't breathe. I hunkered over the cold water, squatting like a frozen gargoyle.

My beloved was trying to psyche me up while I willed my body to obey me. In a sudden jerky drop like a puppet whose strings have been cut I plummeted my body into the cold and let out a shriek that I’m sure could have shattered glass and then leapt up out of the water at a speed relative to a rocket achieving space flight. I didn’t like it.

When we got back inside my beloved's roommates were collapsed on the ground with tears in the their eyes from how hard they'd been laughing. They and probably every neighbor down the block had heard my pterodactyl screeching and narration because the garage was not remotely soundproof.

[fountainpenguin]

So in love with the Bdubs narrative...

"I stopped trusting Impulse, my secret girlfriend, ages ago because he's flirting with everyone, so it makes sense to side with the guy who's offering me a truce in the form of a clock."

"You can't kick me out of the base just because I'm on my red life. I built this place and I will simply not leave."

/neglects to mention he's still boogeyman when Tango brings him back. Like. why didn't you ride out the boogey curse until next episode and THEN ask to come back, you dummy (affectionate)

"It's fine to kill a teammate because he just set his spawn point in this room and all his stuff will be right here <3"

"Yeah I'll kill my fellow red ally because you promised me a life."

"Impulse, you would never kill me, right?" "... We're soulmates. We share hearts this season... Same team, Bdubs."

"When it was my turn to murder, I targeted the only guy who'd already died (a few minutes ago) because he was already on the way down emotionally; anyone else would have experienced an emotional roller coaster."

"It's okay that I stole from you a while back because NOW I'm coming with useful information. My morality is in the clear."

"I would turn on both my Day 1 allies so fast."

/crying over getting backstabbed, "What have I EVER done to SWEET IMPULSE??"

The entire rest of the episode snarking about how it's no fun to be backstabbed and Tango just "🙃 Thoughts and prayers, that must really suck. it must be the worst to get betrayed by someone you trusted. oh wow. oh man. who would do that? that's awful."

"I'm shooting my mom but it's just a prank."

"I won't defend you from Dad but I might try to stop you two from fighting."

All his allies like "I've just accepted the fact that I can't trust you while Etho's around because you'll betray me for him." / "Yeah, that's fair." They continue to let Bdubs stay in their base. He brags about how Etho lets him play pool in his basement and eat ice cream for breakfast. He would die for this man.

The fact that it's considered predictable that "of course Impulse gave you a clock again" so Cleo just sighs and asks to see it. Yeah of course Impulse clonked Bdubs on the head with that thing for another season, driving home I have not forgotten with every part of his being...

Nobody can trust this greasy little man and yet they adore him. He's just a sweetheart. Cinnamon roll. Everybody's angel. Haha he'll slam a sword through your stomach, loot your body, and walk off. He's never done anything wrong in his life btw.

I love the way Bdubs plays.

[kfrances]

PLEASE talk about your ideas surrounding fnaf being set in Utah I've never been there and I wanna know the tea bc I keep hearing "oh Utah is so weird Utah is so weird" but nobody actually gives a concrete explanation HOW other than just "something something Mormons live here". which is not the most helpful for painting a picture unfortunately

OK AWESOME SO

FIRST THING'S FIRST.

it makes PERFECT sense to me that utah is the setting for five nights at freddy's because despite being overshadowed by silicon valley and seattle, it's always been an engineering and tech hub. that, and 3D animation was pioneered at the university of utah

so like the game being created because it's trying to tap into the unsettling vibes of primitive 3D graphics is just another way that it feels relevant within its setting

chuck e cheese was founded by nolan bushnell (who also founded atari fun fact), a university of utah graduate who worked at lagoon amusement park and wanted to combine technology and family entertainment

utah being predominantly mormon is another reason i think it works: there is a HUGE demand for family entertainment. skating rinks, waterparks, rollercoasters, etc etc. indoor entertainment is desirable if the weather's shitty and it's too hot outside to enjoy it.

oh yeah and it's a desert

i do have conflicting feelings about it specifically being set in hurricane for a few different reasons though. 1. southern utah does not have woods really, and multiple times throughout the minigames there are woods. salt lake valley does but hurricane is truly out in the middle of nowhere. it's closer to las vegas than it is to salt lake. 2. hurricane is like one neighborhood and a manmade reservoir you can rent kayaks at. i've been there and i'm not exaggerating it's literally nothing

the pizzaplex used to piss me off as a concept but then i remembered: hollywood connection! an indoor amusement park with mini golf, a roller coaster, a movie theater, laser tag, a 1950s themed diner, etc... you see where i'm going with that. hollywood connection was unfortunately gutted about a decade ago but there's another place called boondocks (also exclusive to idaho and utah) that's about the same thing

worth noting: roxy raceway has a bunch of red rock decor. it feels silly to be self referential as an entertainment center that's already in the red rock region but uh. utah does this all the time. hollywood connection and boondocks both do this

i don't know, there's a lot of reasons it really works for me. also i think the aftons are exmormon but that's an entire separate rabbit hole mostly rooted in headcanons and me projecting (am exmormon)

[shihomouri22]

I just want to show a compilation of Kaiao moments from the manga ♥

"I don't really understand it well, but I think I should treat you coldly... even though... that's because it seems like... I love you."

Kaito Robort

Chapter 3: Metal Heart

My biggest evidence that Kaito is so in love with Aoko is that even a robot recognizes it. Also, speaking of Aoko, she was seen throughout the whole chapter red as a tomato and avoiding Kaito. XD

"Anyway, ice creams are also very sweet."

Chapter 4: A Bad Day for Kaito Kid

How could we forget that Aoko defended with all her might that Kaito is not Kaito Kid. But, even more importantly, how could we forget that Kaito got on a moving roller coaster just so Aoko wouldn’t find out that he is Kaito Kid, only to realize that she was the one most committed to defending his innocence.

"If I go to the ground, I will no longer be myself! I hope you find something worth dying for too." Silver

"Something important to protect, huh!" Kaito

Chapter 5: The Pirate Ship

What can I say? I loved seeing Kaito again, tsundere and heroic, trying to rescue his princess. And the ending, when Kaito thinks that Aoko is that something he would die for, was simply beautiful.

"All the girls bring chocolates to school... there's always a guy to give them to."

Chapter 6: Scarlet Seduction

I had fun seeing how they switched roles, with a somewhat tsundere Aoko and a clueless Kaito. XD

I still can’t get over the fact that Kaito doesn’t know it’s Valentine’s Day. XD

"I'd rather let her shine! ♥ That's why we won't ski together."

Chapter 7: Leave Me Alone!

What can I say about this chapter, aside from that I loved it from start to finish? I truly love that the 2010 special and the 2014 anime adapted this chapter

"Let's not talk about it, it's a man's job... girls can't take risks."

"Chapter 12: The Ghost of the School"

I know that, for these times, this phrase might seem a bit outdated, but I find it so cute that Kaito tries to appear trustworthy so Aoko can feel at ease.

And how could we forget that we have proof that Kaito got jealous when he saw Aoko talking to the attractive new teacher.

And let's not forget how, in the end, Kaito carries Aoko in his arms, princess-style, while giving her a tender look when she wakes up. I’d like to be mad at Aoko, but I understand the reason for her distrust. 😅😅😅😅

"People say fools don't catch a cold"

Chapter 14: War of Stars

Maybe I'm cheating a little with this one, since the chapter focuses more on Ginzo and Christmas, but you can't deny how cute Kaito looks, nervous just because Aoko is taking his temperature in the calmest way possible.

"This is my gift for you! Happy birthday, Aoko."

It is later mentioned that Kaito never breaks his promises nor Aoko's heart. He was literally about to die at the hands of an organization that, on that very day, discovered that it was the same organization that killed his father. Yet, he still didn't forget Aoko's birthday. And even though he couldn't be physically with her that day, he showed her that he hadn't forgotten her.

Chapter 19: Sad Birthday

"I'm Kaito Kuroba! Nice to meet you!"

God, seeing how Kaito protected the first memory of him and Aoko in the form of a watch, as if it were a valuable jewel that not even the best detective in the world could get him to part with, was so beautiful! And how, still out of breath and dirty, he went to see Aoko to show her, as Kaito Kuroba, that the same memory she holds is also his greatest treasure, was simply wonderful. 👏 💕"

Chapter 24: The Black Star Part 2

"My old man stole my mom's lips at this point. W-well, for now, I'll hold back."

Kaito, explain to us that 'for now, you'll hold back' 🤭🤭🤭 It seems that someday Kaito won't be able to hide his feelings for Aoko anymore and will stop treating her so coldly.

Chapter 30: Phantom Lady Part 2

"I say I would take you anywhere you wanted: to the amusement park, to the zoo, to the aquarium… anywhere, and for free!"

Throughout the manga, we've seen how Aoko is the one who takes the initiative to invite Kaito to go somewhere, while Kaito only invites her when something related to Kaito Kid is involved. However, in this chapter, it's clear that Kaito just wants to invite her to hang out because he wants to (cough, cough, date, cough). I even find it a bit funny how, as always, he brings out his tsundere side, saying it's fine if she doesn't want to go with someone who has already crashed his bike by accident, all while not looking her in the face. You're not fooling me, Kaito, you were afraid of being rejected! ����

Chapter 34: Halo of the Sun

"Kaito is Kaito after all."

Even though Kaito's side still hurts, he prefers the pain rather than hurting Aoko with the truth. And now that I think about it, it's curious how this arc started with a motorcycle and ended with a motorcycle. 🏍

Chapter 36

I'm not sure if I'm missing any moments, but if I am, which ones would you add? Again, thanks for reading. :3 ♥

[elyssshft]

ANYONE CAN WEAR THE MASK.

WELCOME ALL TO THE JTS CIRCUT EVENT. OUR FIRST PERFORMANCE IS BY MELODY SAINT-CLAIR OF THE SPIDERVERSE COMING ALL THE WAY FROM EARTH-138.

Melody Saint Clair : Earth-138. Bitten by a two-headed spider along with Hobie Brown (aka Spiderpunk)

Aranae, one of the strongest spiderwomans out there. She can shoot organic webs from her wrists, and even turn into a small spider. The only thing is, she is terrified of spiders, so best believe that the worst day of her life was when that freaky looking spider bit her.

Her favourite things to do are as follows : painting, crafting, reading, writing, swing from building to building, watch the city at night from the top of a skyscraper, play the drums.

Fun fact -> After a ... small incident Miguel began to strongly dislike her, but he couldn't deny that she was an extraordinary hero. (Although, he'll never forget the humiliation she caused him...) -> He quite literally assigned her to the worst missions for a month.

Melody: "My name is Melody Saint-Clair, and I'm from another another another dimension"

Miles: "Wait wait—there's two of you from the same universe?"

Melody: "The spider that bit us had two heads--but thats not important. I've been Aranae for about three years now. I despise spiders, but the whole 'hero' thing is cool. When I'm not saving the city, or cleaning up after Hobie's messes, I like to read, paint--and so on...finding out I had powers was a roller coaster, especially the super strength and web-shooting. I was beyond freaked out."

Melody: "Spider society is basically a club for nerds."

FRIENDS .

MARGO KESS . AKA SPIDER-BYTE

Bestfriend . Coolest Spiderwoman I know .

PAVITR PRABHAKAR . AKA SPIDER-MAN

Bestfriend . Super duper cool! .

GWEN STACY . AKA SPIDER-WOMAN

Really cool ! We both play the drums and we’ve become good friends .

MILES MORALES . AKA SPIDER-MAN

I don't really know him that well , but he seems really cool ! Can't wait to get to know him more .

SIGNIFICANT OTHER .

HOBART "HOBIE" BROWN . AKA SPIDER-PUNK/SPIDER-MAN

opposites attract , soulmates .

I don't really remember how we met, it feels like we've known each other forever. We started dating months before the whole spider thing .

CANON EVENT

XXXXX ERROR. FILE NOT FOUND. RETURN TO MAIN PAGE.

WOW! WHAT A PERFORMANCE . . . STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT ONE.

(event by : @jtsblock) . (pink border from : @cafekitsune)

[pinkchrissysposts]

🔮Just one more step and you're there🔮

💩 anon here.

Lately I've been thinking how much my life would be boring without LOA,shifting and void. I'm a student,I go to school,comeback home study,do few chores then lay on my bed all day procrastinating and scrolling through tumblr,reddit or twitter even though I know I just have to affirm.

Legit loa is what is keeping me alive at this point,without it I don't think I would be happy,I would live with limitations,worried about my future,but there is only one thing that WAS stopping me is my laziness,I admit I'm lazy,I'm gonna blame myself for having such a boring life,but not anymore ever since I last time send you ask I'm so so sooo thankful that I affirmed and along with you,those 10 hours were like a roller coaster to me,I started realizing instead of wasting my time here on tumblr reading same post again and again and again,I could've just enjoy a series or videos while affirming.

Today I install this app again which I deleted right after you replied to my ask last time,those few days I affirmed,affirmed, and affirmed. And my days start becoming more exciting,I don't just lay on bed and cry about the fact at I can't manifest,I watch series movies as I affirm which I enjoy alot it's way more fun then reading same post again and again you just have to tame that one step to affirm that's it.

First thing I manifested is my desired clothes,then I affirmed for watching movie with my family,we went to watch it together,i affirm that me and family have a fun and amazing life for 10 hours straight and now life is so exciting,and i also entered void last night eventhough i didn't opted for void,I just wanted to experience it.

-💩

Now that's some amazing news I got,I'm so happy you joined in my session,I wad actually waiting for your ask😭✨️so proud of you anony✨️

[an-interview-with-j1janedoe]

" AN INTERVIEW WITH URANIUM CITY'S PRIZED 'WRAITH.' "

(Ignore how the image text & the title text thing are slightly different I'm tired)

Yello, I'm back with another askblog! I didn't want to clog up my other Jane Doe/Penny Askblog.. so you get this! — @watermel0ns-dumb-cringe

[ALL ART USED BELONGS TO ME ; DO NOT REPOST. NSFW/PR0SHIP DNI.]

Format looks like this ⬇️

[⚙️]— "J-1 / Jane Doe."

" .. Must I be required for this? "

☆ RULES —

- No NSFW. Suggestive jokes are fine every now and then, but be wary for the person running this blog is a MINOR.

- Have basic human decency, please. This is an AU blog, being (partially) separate from canon. Ships most likely won't be included- aside from subtle hinting & already canon things. <3

- I'm completely fine with spamming asks just don't spam the same thing over & over.

J-1 doesn't have a larger role in the Target Aquired story yet— but you can read it here if ya want.

☆ IMPORTANT NOTE —

[May contain triggering/sensitive topics & imagery. Examples may include violence, blood/gore, & character death. Posts will have a TW/CW when necessary.]

FAQ under the cut

☆ FAQ —

Q: "What is the Target Aquired AU?"

A: Basic storyline for now is that that Penny Lamb was the only one to die in the Cyclone Roller Coaster Disaster, with the rest of the choir recovering in the hospital. She remains unidentified.

Before her funeral can be held, the unidentified body vanishes from its grave, the remaining alive members of the Saint Cassian Chamber Choir being found dead just after being released from the hospital.

Now having a robotic head, J-1 (Jane) essentially becomes something similar to The Terminator. Minus the time travel shenanigans. Not much is known about her other than the fact of Uranium City's residents slowly being picked off once they unknowingly are selected as a 'target' assigned to kill.

But maybe... Jane wasn't supposed to end up this way. Maybe she wasn't meant to be brought back as a killing machine. After all, a lot can happen when an incomplete 'machine' ends up in the wrong hands.

Nobody knows who she is, seemingly. Neither does she— her memories are gone. Programming blocking her feelings as to not get attached to 'targets,' and to not defy said programming pick those she's assigned to off.

However, J-1 seems.. a tad reluctant on the hunt for her most recent target. Is it rememberance? Is it pity? Or is it something else? Who knows. Her 'target?'

A painly familiar teenager. Perhaps someone she once knew before her death.

I'll leave the rest undiscovered for now. :) (fun fact, this doubles as a fic as well! .. even if it's from the pov of someone else.)

Q: "What are 'Targets?'"

A: Self explanatory. People that J-1 are supposed to hunt down & murder. She tends to leave odd symbols & writing at the scenes of the crimes.

Q: "Where can I read this?/Is there some kind of larger story?"

A: you can find it here! As mentioned earlier. :)

Q: "Who runs this blog?"

A: Yours truly! (@watermel0ns-dumb-cringe)

Q: "Who is he?"

A: ERROR. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER.

[⚙️]—

" That's classified information. "

[siswritesyanderes]

Read your Yandere Phineas fic again cause I love it.

Couldn’t help but think about Candace Flynn in this situation, who finds out about Reader.

Candace, who realizes she has to intervene and stop her brother because his obsessive, stalker behavior is a problem that has to be stopped.

Candace, who always fails to bust her brothers.

This is great in a lot of ways, because immediately I'm thinking about Phineas's reaction to knowing Candace's intent to stop him, and it's like...

In the show he's consistently positive and chill about the fact that Candace is trying to bust him and Ferb. Sometimes he acts like he doesn't know she's doing it, like when he'd say something to the effect of "Oh, Candace! You're here to also play with the thing we made!" But he explicitly knows she's trying to bust them. He's said as much in the show, pretty casually. The fact that he knows she's trying to end their fun but remains all smiles with her suggests so much.

First of all, he knows she isn't going to actually successfully ruin anything for him. Stuff has worked out for him always and it's going to keep working out for him because he has a brilliant mind, a positive attitude, and great friends. He sees her scrambling to get their mom to interrupt the fun he's having, and he does not perceive her as an actual threat. She's just his sister being silly.

Second of all, he usually doesn't take what he's doing that seriously. If Candace did get his mom to see that he's building a roller coaster and Linda said to stop building a roller coaster, he'd probably just say "Aw, man," take apart the coaster, and build a different thing tomorrow. (That one episode where they get busted and go to imagination jail or whatever was just a dream Perry had.) We might assume Linda would want to crack down on them doing any more dangerous things in the future, but I think Phineas would be surprised if that was the case. Their dad already knows about some of the stuff they've been up to, and he's been chill about it.

Third of all, Candace's antagonism is a part of the game. It's not even an obstacle in the game. Candace tries to bust them in the same way that Buford "bullies" Baljeet– it's just a thing that happens that isn't genuinely hurting anyone. It's character, it's color. It's a part of her, and she's his sister, and he loves and admires his sister.

But taking all of that in, the times when he's lost his temper at Candace have been when she's actually shown that she might ruin his project for the day. He wants to circumnavigate the globe before sundown, and if she doesn't get on the trike right now, they won't have all met the deadline, so he yells at her to get on the trike. Also, that one time in the Marvel episode. Idk, I only saw that one once, but basically she was such a big Marvel fan that she kept messing stuff up in his work space and he told her to get out.

All of this to say:

If Candace were to confront him like, "Hey, are you stalking that girl??" he would initially take it pretty lightly.

Initially, it's just another round of her hassling him about whatever he's doing while he stays positive. Honestly, he might go, "Yes. Yes I am."

If she lectures him about the moral implications of what he's doing, he would just muse about it with her like they're doing a fun thought experiment, reach the conclusion that what he's doing is actually fine (or resolve to make some small, trivial change to his approach and then brightly thank Candace for reminding him), and just generally shrug everything off.

But if she actually shows signs of taking meaningful steps to stop him– especially trying to warn Reader about what he's doing –he would lose his patience for her part in the game.

I don't think he would yell; he has a better hold on his temper than he did when he was ten, and I'm pretty sure he regretted yelling at her in the Marvel episode. No, he tries to just smile and politely explain to her why she shouldn't get in his way. His smile is tight, like a cheerful warning.

When she refuses to be talked down, he stops smiling. He stops explaining. She can see hints of his adolescent temper behind his eyes, but he doesn't yell.

He doesn't do anything to stop her. As she walks away from him, he just returns to his multi-screen computer set up or whatever other work space he has by this point.

He has contingency plans for this.

He just needs to think of the kindest way to get her out of his way.

[justheretoposttrash]

day 11 of endhawks returns: electric boogaloo:

from hawks being a groomed spy who, if not well-versed in murder, is at least well-prepared for it, to endeavor's abusiveness and creation of quirk babies, these characters could have had straightforward downfalls to serve showing the dark side to hero society. hell knows that a bajillion super hero stories have supposed "good guys" in the public eye who actually uphold corrupt systems or have self-serving agendas, and these types of characters often serve as anti-examples---people not meant to be identified with and for whom the audience is usually meant to feel some schadenfreude when they fail. of course, mha doesn't do this, instead telling the story of what it takes for someone who made a wrong decision at one turn, or even someone who's been on the wrong path for nearly all of their life, to walk it all the way back. a different story might have dwelled on "bad heroes", or "phony" heroes---and mha skims this idea, but mostly turns it around in the cases of hawks and endeavor. it implies that, perhaps ironically, these characters' efforts to address the harms they've inflicted---to undo the most unheroic aspects about them---constitute the most heroic act they could take on.

"but how does hawks address killing twice?" unfortunately mha is equal parts an unwieldy story as it is an intentional one, and for every heart-on-its-sleeve piece of closure it gives, there's a loose end that it doesn't tie up outright. a lot of this allows for ambiguity and invites fans to speculate and fill in the gaps, and i'm under the impression that is intentional, though it leaves some things to be desired. long story short, hawks's thought process on killing jin is a whole roller coaster of a mess (too lazy to summarize so here's the evidence:)

week-to-week time crunch pressure, the way that being a mangaka erodes the mind and body, genuine lapses of judgment, etc. aside (again, all doylist factors), in-universe i enjoy the exercise of connecting the scattered dots of what's already there in canon (and inevitably, all roads lead to endhawks), so let's get into it! when enji urges himself to go back to his origin, he confronts the weakness and the monster within, but also his *why*---why he did what he did, why he's going to do what he's going to do. when hawks confronts his origin, he also confronts his why:

there's a throughline in this scene (besides the obviously stated one) between killing jin and standing by endeavor despite the truth of what kind of man he was. hawks wanted to save twice, but utterly failed---in fact, did the opposite of what that little kid holding the endeavor plushie would have chosen to do. his regret and remarks of how jin was a good guy are not narratively enough imo, and that this doesn't get much further development is uncharacteristic and a bit of a shame---but i would argue that, in the very least, his decision to double down on hero work, helping izuku, and standing by endeavor are actually indirect ways of addressing twice's death. endeavor is the one who made hawks want to save people, and staying by his side is almost a reclamation of that fact. he doomed jin rather than saved him, but at least he can save others. (flavor-wise, it understandably might feel sour to some fans that hawks's thought process here doesn't dwell on the villains he spent time amongst, particularly the fact that the LOV were the friends at the core of twice's heart and are what drove him to act. i also 100% agree with those hoping hawks would have saved toga to bring the twice/saving people/redemption thing full circle, and i do think that would have created the far better story.) there isn't nearly as much as a lot of us would like to work with in-story, but at the same time, the stuff that is there is still nuanced and fun to analyze (and gay, as usual, somehow).

circling it back to fallen heroes (geez, remember when that was the topic of this post? neither do i, apparently!), a ton of other superhero stories also tend to have the morally gray "bad hero" character clash with the pure-hearted protagonist, usually to be persuaded back to the side of good or to be soundly defeated. this is what happens in-story between nagant and deku, for instance. but interestingly, while hawks and endeavor do interact with deku significantly, they don't gain their motivation from him. instead, they largely seem to turn to each other, though a lot of that is left unstated/up to interpretation. and though the support they receive from the other most important figures in their lives--tokoyami and the todofam--are what end up defining the very end of the war, they are far less comfortable getting help from people who aren't each other. being the maladaptive loners they are, both hawks and endeavor have to be pursued into receiving this support, and try to push these other people away (not without good reason, to be fair), even giving similar reactions of dismay (and receiving similar reprimands):

(they never have this issue with each other, though. for some reason. 🤔)

so in short, in a story that redefines herodom over and over again through every character---such as following your passions á la hatsume, or finding your confidence like yaoyorozu---it also redefines herodom through the very characters who have, at one time or another, failed to achieve it. and said characters, turning to each other implicitly or explicitly, help each other find what it means to be a hero again.

[theladyfirelord]

Can do lark and William sel and Bree on double date

Fun fun funnnn!!!! I hope you enjoy! Thanks for requesting!

Scenario: Our two beloved ships go on a double date to the state fair!!

Double Fair Date! - Sel x Bree & Lark x William

Bree's POV

"Are y'all ready to have an absolute blast at the fair?" I ask, pumped for the day ahead.

"I sure am, Bree! What about you, Lark?" William playfully nudges his boyfriend sitting next to him.

Larkin smiles lovingly back at Will and responds, "Of course. I've never been to a fair before."

We're all in the car, with Sel driving and me up front beside him as his passenger princess. Will and Lark are in the backseat.

Today, we are going to the state fair as a double date. Fun, right? Will, Lark, and I are very excited...and Selwyn is Selwyn. He's happy in his own way.

"And how are ye feeling, Kane?" Lark questions Sel.

Sel glances at him through the rearview window, not unkindly (growth!). "I'm ecstatic. Can't you tell?"

Lark snorts, "No. I really can't. Ye always seem to have the same blank look on your face."

Will and I laugh at that while Sel glares at Larkin. "You know, I think I'd look a little happier if you weren't in attendance, but alas, most of my wishes never end up being granted. It's tragic, really."

....so maybe I laughed a little harder at that, but can you blame me? My boyfriend was pretty funny.

~~~ TIME SKIP ~~~

At the fair

"Alright, beautiful people, which activity should we tackle first? Food, games, or rides?" William asks, surveying our group.

I raise my hand. "I vote for rides first! I really wanted to ride that one where you stand against the wall and get spun around...I think it's called The Gavitron....oh, and I want to go on the Ferriswheel!"

(Just in case, you've never heard of the Gavitron- here's some pictures to envision it!)

Selwyn nods his head at my suggestion. "Let's do that. William, where can we find this ride on the map?"

Will opens up the map, focusing intently on Sel's request.

Lark frowns, jokingly, "I didn't even get to vote."

Will looks at him apologetically, "I'm sorry, hon, what is your vote?"

Lark cheekily grins, "I vote games, too." At that William and Sel roll their eyes.

~~~

Since we had a unanimous vote, we started on the rides at the fair.

I got to experience the Gavitron and it was amazingly...terrifying.

I think I screamed "AAHHHHH!" the entire time because my body kept moving left and right. At one point, my feet didn't even touch the ground.

Once Sel stopped laughing at my expense, he placed his arm around my waist and provided me with some much needed stability.

At the Ferriswheel, Sel and I rode together while Will and Lark followed in the cart behind.

Halfway during the ride, he laced his fingers through mine, and in return, I placed my head on his shoulder. Then, he kissed my forehead.

Butterflies, y'all, I got butterflies.

Afterwards, we went on many of the other roller coasters, but I sat out any ride that involved me being dropped in any sort of way. My heart was too weak for that.

~~~ Next, we hit the games.

I really wanted to win this cute stuffed dog (you are never too old for stuffed animals!), but I was completely useless at this balloon dart game. The last time I was at the fair I failed miserably at it, and simply put, I didn't want to try it again.

(Here's another picture for context!)

So, like the gentleman he was, Selwyn jumped to my rescue.

Upon noticing my interest in the prizes at this particular game stand, he asks me, "Do you want one of those stuffed animals? I'll play the game."

I shook my head, even though I knew good and well that I did, in fact, want one of those stuffed animals. "No. it's okay, Selwyn. I'm fin-"

Selwyn interrupts, "Which one do you want?"

But I refuse, "Really, I don't need any-"

"Briana Matthews. I, Selwyn Kane, your adoring boyfriend, would be honored to win you one of those inanimate objects. Now, are you going to deny me that pleasure?" Selwyn smirks, knowing that he won the argument.

"Fine. I would love it if you could win me the dog." I concede. Sel squeezes my hand and then walks over to the game.

"Awww, that's so romantic, Lark! Are you going to win me a prize, too?" William looks to his boyfriend purposefully.

"Most definitely!" Lark answers, starting to join Selwyn in line, when Will kisses his cheek, "Thanks, babe!"

The blush on Larkin's cheeks was so cute. #TeamWillandLarktiltheend

~~~

Finally, we enjoyed some fantastic fair food.

Will and Lark were more experimental, trying out some deep fried options. I, on the other hand, was more generic in my choices. I had a corn dog and what I mostly came to the fair for...funnel cake!

Selwyn just had whatever I had, trusting my opinions.

At the table we were sitting at, I found myself becoming more and more tired. All that walking really wears a person out...well people who aren't Merlins. Sel and Lark don't appear to be winded at all. Come to think of it, Will didn't either. Maybe I'm just out of shape.

"Someone's sleepy." Lark teases. Will glances at me and nods his head in agreement.

"No, I'm not. I'm not tired." I attempt to argue.

Sel jumps in at that, "You are, sweetheart. It's okay, though, you can go to sleep. I'll carry you back to the car."

"No. No need because I'm not tired." I insist.

~~~

I was out within the next three minutes, so Sel did have to carry me back to the car.

....Oops.

~~~

[nazalieee]

I'm really curious how this got started, and how exactly being "interested" in a person you know is objectively a horrible person translates into sexually charged fanfics about them, and cutesy edits? I'm genuinely asking out of curiosity. It doesn't make sense in my brain, but I'd love to know what makes you want to consume that type of content about this particular person.

The thing is, he would hate all of what we do! 😂

He would hate the fanfics, he would hate the edits, the fact that we think he's gay and ship him with his associates, he would hate everything we say and do, and we don't care because we are not doing this for him! We are doing this for us.

In some ways we make the cutesy, sexually charged things BECAUSE he hates it so much.

He's interesting because of the fact he has so much LORE around him. Have you read the over 1000 page KiwiFarms thread on him?

He has multiple secret gay allegations, the catboy dates, the allegations on him being a federal agent, of him having a group chat of gay and trans people that he uses to harass other people, all while denying it in public. Has a ex-best friend who allegedly tried to kiss him, and is still obsessed with him to this day. Like there is so much TEA it's insane. DAILY TEA TOO, his life is so fucking crazy.

It's a roller coaster to deep dive.

I find that fun to look into. I find it fun to gossip about him. And then you wonder how or why he thinks the way he does, and so you start to look into his streams of him talking about his childhood, etc. and it's so interesting to see how someone so extreme becomes the way that they are, and where it may have started, so you don't repeat the same problem.

You don't have to get it. Honestly a lot of us don't either, but he really is a fascinating figure, and you don't have to agree with him politically to see that. None of us here do, and yet we are here because there's literally something new everyday with this man for us to sink our teeth into.

[mutipede]

Hey if anyone's curious about why my catchall mental illness venting shit tag is 👁️

[redacted] was the first person to introduce me to the concept of tabletop RPGs. I wanna say in 2008. Almost positive about that.

One of them was very psychological survival horror. Had a whole lot of silent hill plus matrix and inception. It had a good story. It meant a lot to me. It had a lot of good imagery and monsters and puzzles and fucking... themes

A lot of fucked up things were done to me but it was alright because I enjoyed having emotions and sensations and experiences inflicted upon me in what I thought was a mutually enjoyable way. Horror movie. Haunted house. Roller coaster. Safe fear. Friends exploring each other's psyches

Because that was always a part of it too. Descent

Other things that I may not have always picked up on. He told me some years later that running the game was correlated with having a bad time mentally (as in, not like the game caused it, but the other way around, that being in a bad place mentally made him want to run the game.) and I felt bad for that because I hadn't been aware and it felt like that meant -

If he was running the game because he felt like shit. And I enjoyed the game. Therefore I was enjoying the fact that he felt like shit, and had no idea. He told me it was alright, though. And I mean, come on. He was the GM, I was the player, I wanted to have fun playing a game with friend because that's what friends do, I wanted to mutually learn about my friend's brain while he learned about mine because that's what friends do

In retrospect I wonder if any of it was intentionally trying to hurt me or take shit out on me. It could've been. If it was I was oblivious

One thing used a particularly extreme example of an actual phobia. I don't know if I want to describe it. I was impressed at how terrible it was. I mean if it's a horror game then what's more effective than a worse version of the worst thing you can think of

Happened once in a regular-ass conversation, too, though. I'm not afraid of much. I can only really think of four things total, and they're extremely specific. Without specifying exactly what this 2nd phobia is, either - it came up in a conversation in a discord server. I said something like "I actually can't talk about this or read this conversation because this is a phobia of mine" and he asked me what felt like... an intentionally detailed or "leading in the direction of making me feel not good" question immediately afterwards. I don't know how to interpret that non-maliciously.

⬆️ context, item one

context, item two ⬇️

I was a really fucking isolated kid. I was going to say sheltered but there's a difference even if it looks the same from the outside. Although maybe both. So I never tried weed until a couple years ago, with a predominant reason being "how the hell do you buy something illegal if you literally do not know a single person lol"

So when I discovered hey, you can order gummies online now, I did that.

I don't know how much I want to talk about [redacted]'s personal stuff even though this is all anonymized as hell. I fuckin... I don't know, I hate shit like this, where I want to talk about shit that affects me, but am unable to do it without talking about other people's shit, since I respect privacy almost above all else and I don't fucking want to talk about other people's shit without their knowledge and permission, but. Fuck

I'll be vague

For a while, a few years or so, I was doing pretty alright. He was not. He was in a relationship where he was being treated very badly and I was trying to help. At one point he took LSD and talked to me while tripping and drawing stuff and I thought it was cool and appreciated the trust and even though I was like "I have no idea what being high is like or how I'm 'supposed' to react, this is cool and fascinating and I wanna be supportive good friend"

Not long after that he got out of that relationship and it seemed like that experience had helped make that happen

Also. "GETTING ME HIGH" had been something that multiple people had brought up as something they wanted to see what I was like. I guess cause I'm already fucking bizarre sober. So that was the atmosphere and expectation that I had going in

And I mean, I'm kicking my own ass about assigning others responsibility for my actions and substance consumption and mental health n'shit when I'm an adult, but.. I don't know.

Felt like I was vulnerable and doesn't seem unreasonable to expect friends to... try and be at least as careful with my brain as I tried to be with theirs

Fuck. Alright. You now have the necessary context.

That RPG from 2008 got rebooted. [Redacted] enjoys disco elysium. Decided to incorporate some of that.

👁️ = paranoia

He set up a system where - when I was in [particular category of location] in the game, I should get high. To enhance the experience. Cool! Immersive!.. Dangerous!

I don't remember a lot and I think that's on purpose. Some of it was cool. I wanted to enjoy it. I wanted to be able to enjoy it. But I also had to lie down on the floor because a description of an injury in-game made me gonna pass the fuck out.

He set up elaborate hidden discord channels that me and the one other player could only sometimes read. This was the game where he accurately predicted how I would react to that other player's actions before I did it. I started to think that he could read my mind. I don't remember everything else I thought, although I could go back and check if I wanted to, because I tried to be communicative about all of this. I don't think I want to go back and check though.

At around the same time a different trusted friend told me that he was punishing me using demon magic.

I feel like I could take the entirety of existence between 2008 and 2024 and it did not happen. It did not matter. I was a thing to do things to while it was entertaining. Everyone wants to kill me and they're probably right.

"If it wasn't on purpose, you can pretend it was, and then you can feel good about it. I won't blame you. I can't blame you, I don't exist. I'm sorry if I falsely gave you the impression that I existed. It won't happen again."

[longeyelashedtragedy]

💖 What do you like most about your own writing?

🏅 What is something you recently felt proud of in regard to your writing (finished a fic, actually planned for once, etc).

🌝 Who is one character(/person) you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

💻 Do you do research for your fics? What’s the deepest dive you’ve done?

💖 I got a lot better at dialogue over the years! But I think my favorite things are conveying emotions through fic and putting the readers through an emotional roller coaster, even if it's a character (I always feel funny about calling the ppl in my fics "characters" because I only write RPF lol) the reader might not have come into the fic liking. Tbh I also think I can write a damn good ending. Not in a "plot resolution" way bc I can't write plot, but like...something emotionally powerful. Or something!

🏅 I'm such a broken record about this fic but I'm just so proud of irish cream pie. I think it's one of my 2 best fics I've written for footy fandom. Aside from the fact that I managed to sustain a 15k word threesome and have it make sense (not have like, insanely shit pacing or body parts all over the place) I had to convey a lot of conflicting emotions all at once, sometimes all 3 in the same paragraph--Franko, our POV, is a pathetic wretch and an absolute dick to his fianceé and also overwhelmed and dissociated and closeted in a way that ought to make the reader feel bad for him, and I think I succeeded at this. And also! Since I'm tooting my own horn. I think the last section of the fic is just an absolute masterpiece. Just so utterly desparing and it draws all of those emotions together. Chef's kiss to catmanu!

🌝 I still want to write a fic from Frank Lampard Sr's POV so bad. But idk how to sound like an Old Cockney Lad. I think I'll be able to get some help with that though ;)

💻 This is a fun question. I don't really do research for fics because I tend to write in the same sorts of environments that don't really need research. Maybe I'll look up what a street or building looks like or something. If I did research for fics I would probably get too distracted and lose interest in writing looool. I did look up like "what did they use for lube in the 19th century" for my lazy 19th century maritime AU.

But what I do do research for is the background of the characters. Stuff they've lived through, things they've experienced or that their family experienced, cultural things, stuff that would influence who they are today or how they experience things! Sometimes in doing this you can develop a full blown special interest in the thing itself, so Watch Out!

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Love About Fionna and Cake (Vaugish spoilers ahead)

For those who follow me, this isn't going to be an EXTENSIVE review, but it's not going to be a "Quick Thoughts" either. It's more like an in-between option because, gosh dang it, I NEED to talk about Fionna and Cake.

When it was announced there was going to be a Fionna and Cake spin-off series, my stomach immediately filled with dread, and for two reasons. First of all, I just wanted Adventure Time to be done. Not because I hated the series. Far from it, in fact. It's because with the show's finale being this big conclusion that left me feeling empty inside and with "Together Again" feeling like a better, satisfying end to the franchise AND Finn and Jake, the last thing I wanted was MORE Adventure Time. I know the show's tagline is "The fun will never end," but the fun HAS to end at some point.

Also...I wasn't really into Fionna and Cake, both as a kid and as an adult. As a kid, I found it weird that Adventure Time just had this random episode where all the characters had swapped genders for some reason and my dumb young boy brain went "Ew, girly nonsense!" I matured past that now and actually learned to appreciate how it's actually a playful jab at the fanfic community and their occasional cringiness. That being said, I still wasn't into...how weird things got with Fionna and Cake, and I was NOT ready for a whole series based on them. I mean, why would I want a series of a genderswapped Finn and Jake when I could have...Finn and Jake?

But then the show came out...and I was NOT expecting the ten-episode long emotional roller coaster that had no right being as good as it was. NOR was I expecting it to be for adults this time.

I heard about...two weeks? Yeah, two weeks before hand, I heard that Fionna and Cake would have a TV-14 rating, and that's primarily the reason why I got more interested in the show. And a part of me kind of wish I didn't know that beforehand because I kind of wanted the surprise of characters going "God dammit" and Finn stabbing a monster in it's snout, leaving a gaping bloody hole in it. Like...could you IMAGINE?

But before you say anything, Fionna and Cake, thankfully, isn't rated TV-14 JUST BECAUSE it has swears, violence, and its main character topless for...more than half the series, to be honest. In actuality, the show's rated TV-14 more or less for the themes and messages that appeal more towards adults than it would have for kids. This show is more or less for the fans who grew up with Adventure Time, whether they're the kids now in their early twenties like Fionna, or the adults that watched the show for some reason and feel the same existential dread as Simon. The show is about the two of them and their growth to learn the lesson every body and their grandma needs to learn: Just cope.

Some of us yearn for a magical world with adventures that saves us from our boring, mundane lives. Others, even as adults, feel like they don't belong in certain spaces and wish to have back their loved ones who made them feel like they DO belong. So Fionna and Cake is there to just give the harsh truth, but instead of making the show feel like a downer, it gives a beautiful yet tragic experience that says you shouldn't yearn for what you WANT and appreciate what you NEED. Fionna wanted a magical world, but she didn't NEED it. Simon wanted Betty back or to return to his madness, but he didn't NEED to. The journey these characters go on leads to Fionna needing to learn that her life is fine just the way it is and that Simon needing to learn that his life HAS purpose even if it's without his true love. As for how they go through it and what conclusions they come to...I'm not going to spoil it because it's all brilliantly done and best left for you to see for yourself. Trust me when I say there is so much about their journeys that's best left to see for yourself if you haven't. But the bottomline is that it teaches audiences that your life is just fine the way it is. You just need to see the beauty through the dread and/or tragedy.

And despite this overlaying maturity, the show is still very much Adventure Time. It's filled with characters saying goofy things and acting silly, it's just now the show can go FARTHER with its mature messages, no longer having the kiddie gloves on for the sake of the children. They can go ALL IN on the existential dread much more than they did in the past, is unafraid to explicitly kill characters, and can make the gay characters kiss and date...Okay, they probably COULD have made that last part for kids with Steven Universe and The Owl House popularizing LGBTQA+ representation in children's media, but they definitely couldn't with those first two options! And I'm so glad that despite being mature, Fionna and Cake stuck with Adventure Time's brand of charm, heart, and fun times. It's just that those fun times can be interrupted by your favorite characters dying...But don't worry. They're not the REAL characters you grow up with.

Fionna and Cake is a multiverse story, meaning the show jumps between world after world. Not only does it provide peeks into new, interesting worlds based on these "what ifs" I didn't know I wanted to see, but it also allows the writers to basically kill off every character you loved as a kid. Sometimes it's explicit by showing viewers unmoving, withered, and sometimes even BURNT corpses, and other times it's implicit with nothing viewer interpretation guiding what MIGHT be true. Adventure Time HAS gotten dark like that in the past, but this is a time when the writers really go all out without holding back an inch, and I respect that.

And as for this being a multiverse story, I know we're all starting to get sick of those, but Fionna and Cake does it in a way that takes advantage of its premise. Each universe provides a dark and twisted version of Ooo, to the benefit of teaching Simon and Fionna to find what they NEED, not give them what they WANT. Again, I won't give away HOW, but it all works really well and it's why multiverse stories like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and The Flash tend to fail. I talked about this last night with a buddy of mine, but a multiverse story works better when it's used to help the characters grow and provide interesting views of things that COULD HAVE happened if things went differently. Not to spit out cameos for specific fans or make jokes about how pizza is in balls or how Aquaman's dad didn't marry the queen of Atlantis. Fionna and Cake has cameos, but they're again to show how different each universe is, teach Fionna and Simon, and even reveal the tragedy that they present at times. It just happens to be done in a way that's a fun cameo for fans.

Speaking of which, it's hard to recommend Fionna and Cake because this is a spin-off that's clearly for the fans of Adventure Time. The ones who watched the show from the beginning and get all the little in-jokes, references, and call-backs that were frequent of the series. If you HAVEN'T seen the show...I'm willing to say you'd enjoy it ENOUGH, but you'd still be left confused. You COULD watch the show beforehand, and I definitely recommend you do that, but that means watching ten seasons and four specials of television just to watch ONE spin-off. Not everyone is going to have the patience to do that, and I can understand why. Just know that if you're fan, you'll definitely enjoy this.

If there's anything to complain about, the only real nitpick I have is Cake. Despite being the OTHER titular character, she...doesn't really do much or have a journey to go on. Her character is just being there for Fionna and wanting to be the magical cat she wanted to be. Only instead of coping with what she has, Cake...doesn't do that. She gets what she wants and she's fine with it, which is kind of disappointing. And as a character, she's kind of selfish, not really caring what happens to Simon just as long as SHE gets exactly what she wants. Now, she still has some great one-liners and still has an engaging purpose as a counter-argument to what Fionna needs to learn, but that doesn't change how she's pretty much the weakest part of the show, at least to me.

Fionna and Cake is definitely a show that has more strengths and weaknesses, completely shattering expectations and making a show I didn't know I needed. Would I want another season? Eh, not really. I'm fine with how things end here. But I'm glad I watched it and I'll likely rewatch it over and over again.

If you're not a fan of Adventure Time, this probably won't be your cup of tea. But if you are, then this is a solid A series for you. Check it out and see that just because the fun will never end, that doesn't make it a bad thing.

[intothefandomverse]

Welcome, foolish mortals, to my hyperfixation blog. I am your host, your ghost host. Kindly step all the way in please, and make room for everyone.

I'm Rain, I use they/them pronouns, and this blog is basically just a pile of all my favorite stuff, a curated collection if you will. Sometimes, I read (and write) fanfics (when I remember to write them) sometimes I go inactive because the chronic pain and fatigue got me and so the blog ends up neglected while I put the little energy I have toward school

Some fun facts:

I'm ace, some flavor of aro, and biromantic

I have an ao3 with the same name, though I don't frequently have time to write fics

I'm not on tumblr a lot, but when I do, I spam so many reblogs

I am terrible at answering ask games, I try but I'm very forgetful

I love roller coasters, please talk about them with me!

Current fandoms:

(Aka what I'm currently most invested in, I will go on and on about them)

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY!!!⭐

Nimona 💕

Arcane!!!🧁

Previous fandoms:

(I love them but they are not my whole existence anymore, I still love to talk about them tho)

Percy Jackson 🔱

Wednesday 🖤

Heartstopper 🍂

Hamilton ⭐

The owl house 🦉

If one disappears, usually it's because I don't really like it anymore

I'd always love to talk about any of them!

Updated 3/20/25

[oligoweee]

Smile Hell Info Dump

I'm going to basically info dump about my old Smiler story called "Smile Hell." I never even got close to finishing the story, I only got roughly 20k words in and that didn't even get into it all however I had lost motivation.

In this universe, the Ministry of Joy (it's not actually called that) basically has locations all across the globe that aim for bringing joy to everyone but have many faults and there was even a reversal serum in the works. The Smiler roller coaster does exist at Alton Towers and there are many rumors surrounding it, some of which are in fact secretly true. I think it is an interesting take on the MOJ and I'd love to go back to it someday but for now I will give a fairly in-depth summary and talk about what was written, general lore/ideas, and what I had planned, including the ending.

Trigger warnings for: suicide, mental illness, kidnapping, murder, medical themes, abuse, and gore.

(Not going into detail for these because this is just a summary-type thing but they are referenced so I am putting warnings as a precaution.)

This is gonna be a VERY long (roughly 4.5k words long) post so have fun reading if you decide to, you're in for a long ride :)

[Also here was the cover for it!]

So, the important characters are:

Levee Bailey

Lance Hawks

Archie Bailey

Isa [No Last Name]

Doctor Thomas Lukes

Braylen [No Last Name]

This story takes place in 2021 in Maine USA and specifically a real life county by the name of Oxford.

Many people over the span of a year were going missing and no one was able to find them or they would be found but they behaved drastically different than before.

In Oxford County, two families lived there known as the Bailey family and the Hawks family. Lance Hawks was a theme park enthusiast and would travel all over the world or just go to theme parks nearby in the US, one of these trips was Alton Towers and he offered to bring along his neighbor and closest friend, Levee Bailey alongside her two teenage brothers, Archie and Koda. This trip was only left to references in the story. They went on the Smiler of course and things were fine up until they flew back to the US.

Before that, Koda had been struggling with mental illness and it kept declining but then the trip (and specifically the Smiler) had boosted his mood for a few weeks afterward until it started to decline again. In May, he committed suicide however his sister had been there and for months afterward, she thought it was her fault and that she was a murderer despite everything telling her otherwise. His death was all over the news and attracted a bunch of public attention and many articles online.

So now we get to where the main story begins, September of 2021.

Levee is still dealing with her grief and she often finds herself standing in Koda's room just grieving. She has flashbacks of the day he died quite often. Since the loss of Koda, Levee tried making attempts to get closer with her remaining brother, Archie, but experiences a lot of pain when looking at him because of his similar resemblance to Koda.

Since her brother's death, Levee constantly feels like she's being watched. Like hundreds of eyes are on her at all times. She's constantly paranoid outside her home and is always telling herself that everything is in her head. What she doesn't know is that she is in fact being somewhat watched in one way or another. This feeling is both real and in her head at the same time.

One morning she wakes up and realizes that her best friend (and neighbor), Lance, is not in his garden and she finds that really odd because he's always gardening in the mornings unless he's traveling. Levee tries thinking logically but deep down she feels that something bad has happened. And she is absolutely correct. We soon learn that Lance was in fact abducted and a missing person report was filed however with how many people have gone missing from Oxford County with little to no updates, there's not a whole lot of hope about Lance. (Sorry, pal.)

One of the people missing from Oxford County is a woman by the name of Aria Davis, her case was by far one of the most popular because she is one of the longest lost people, having been missing for nearly a year. Levee came across an article about her disappearance and was quite panicked and that is when she stopped thinking logically about Lance not being outside. So, she did the smart thing and went to his house and spoke to his mother who told Levee the news.

She was obviously upset to the point she didn't tell Archie so he decided to go over there himself and then he got back, wondering why Levee didn't tell him. When he questioned her about it the two started to get into an argument so he left the room clearly pissed.

Now there's a bit of filler but since it's September, Archie is going back to school. Well on his first day of school that boy got kidnapped and Levee did not know until she herself got kidnapped. Fun times with the Bailey family, am I right?

So, on this day, Levee goes to her job which is at the end of her street and it's roughly a ten minute walk (or in her case, a five minute run.) She feels like she is being watched the entire time but gets to her workplace and the day goes on until she has to go back home.

Levee dashes back home as the sun is setting and while thinking Archie is home from school, she knocks on the door as he usually unlocks it for her but this does not happen so she tries calling him and he doesn't answer, she assumes that he's still mad at her from the previous day so she grabs her house key but quickly realizes that it is not inside of her satchel bag (which previously belonged to Koda, fun bit of lore) so she gets a bit panicked as that feeling of being watched is not going away any time soon.

So, she runs over to the Hawks' house and rings the doorbell because she thought someone would be home but nobody answers and this causes her even more distress as she is alone outside in the dark. Levee then proceeds to out of reflex try and call Lance who obviously does not answer and then after this she calls her mother who tells her to go back to her workplace and wait there because her mom would be out of work shortly.

And this is where Levee's fate is set.

She makes a run for it back to her workplace but since it is very dark out, she doesn't quite know where she's going and the streetlights are dimmed. Then she notices a truck going down the street and she could have sworn it was following her. This completely screws up her course and she ends up going the wrong direction and running face first into a telephone pole which breaks her nose.

Levee is pretty much stunned for a moment and sitting on the ground to try and recover and she comes to the realization she ran in the wrong direction so she pulls out her phone and tries to go onto Google Maps but has no mobile data or anything.

She sits there trying to regain her energy and strength to get up off the sidewalk and she eventually does when she hears heavy footsteps coming from behind her. So, once again she starts running and then it turns out she's being shot at by whoever was chasing her.

Levee can only dodge the darts for so long before one lands in her neck and stuns her, within a few moments exhaustion overcomes her and she passes out with one last thought in her head, "I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

---

Levee wakes up on a bed inside of a hospital-like room and it brings back memories of being with Koda when he died. She can't quite recall how she got in this place but is aware of an odd sensation on her arm, specifically the crook of her elbow which has gauze taped to it (implying that she had been poked with a needle of some sort.) For some reason, there is a very small feeling of joy that she can't quite focus on but it keeps her calmed for the most part.

She realizes there is a somewhat dull pain all throughout her head and neck but again, she can't recall what had happened. Despite her recognizing the room she's in as some kind of hospital one, she knows for certain she is not in a real hospital.

There is a description of the room which I will share a little of; the upper halves of the walls are a sandy-gray color whereas the lower halves are made of black and bright-yellow stripes and at the very bottom there is short white trimming lining the walls. The floor is made of light-gray tiles.

There's a table in this room and on top of it is a key card lanyard so once she gets herself off of the bed, she stumbles over to there and takes it. There is a name written on it alongside numbers and she doesn't quite understand what they mean. Next to the lanyard there is a note which tells her how to use it and that only her key card and her roommate's key card will work on the singular room door however the cards work on all other doors within the "Sanctuary." It also explains that she is a "employee," for this place and that she's currently on the third floor and needs to make her way up the fourth floor in order to change into uniform.

Levee looks over at the other side of the room and notices her roommate who is fast asleep, the table on their side contains the same items as Levee's.

Using the key card, she leaves the room and makes her way through a hallway with many different doors that need to be unlocked some of which are other rooms.

She makes her way to the fourth floor, changes uniform, notices there are spots of yellow in her irises (which are normally brown), then proceeds to leave the employee only floors (third and fourth) and skedaddles to the second floor which has a locked staircase as nearly all the doors in this building require a key card.

I will not be going into much detail about the second floor however, it is a living area for patients and has some bookcases that have books and brochures.

The low, somewhat raspy voice of someone catches her attention as they ask her who she is, she introduces herself and they introduce themselves. This is where Braylen is introduced, he is a patient in the Sanctuary and is implied to be a trans guy (this is canon it's just never outright said within the story.) There is no yellow present in his eyes which shows that he hasn't had any treatment yet. Levee states her confusion which causes her to giggle and it makes Braylen uneasy but he tells her the information that he knows about the place.

Braylen states that the place was in fact a real hospital back in the 2000s owned by a man called Doctor Thomas Lukes however the doctor calls it a "Sanctuary."

Levee thanks him for the information and then proceeds to continue her exploration throughout the Sanctuary. She finds the cafeteria on the first floor and there are a couple people sitting at tables some of which are employees. Then a voice calls out to her.

It's Lance, who is sitting at a table in the back of the cafeteria. The two are both in shock at seeing each other and Lance had scratches on his face which would have concerned Levee if it wasn't for her emotions being messed up. She greets him in a cheery manner and sits down by him.

They have a discussion and Lance, being the theme park enthusiast that he is, compares the place to the Alton Towers Smiler roller coaster lore. He actually goes on to explain the similarities and brings up the fact that there had been previous rumors of the Smiler being based off of real events or that the backstory was real.

Levee is completely weirded out and quite frankly thinks he's being stupid, she tells him he's not making much sense and then comes to the conclusion that he was trying to make light of the dark situation. They continue speaking some more and eventually Levee tells Lance to stop talking about the Smiler.

Levee then remembers her brother, Archie, and begins to worry about him to which Lance slowly states to her that he thinks Archie is in the Sanctuary too.

Levee does not take this too kindly but her rage is dulled however she still shouts at Lance asking what he means to which he then stupidly asks why she's panicking and she states that she's not but doesn't know what she's feeling.

Lance asks her a question.

"Does it feel like your emotions are just barely there and for some reason you're happy?”

Levee says yes with no hesitation as that is exactly how she was feeling. Lance is feeling this way too.

They continue talking and then Levee brings Lance up to the second floor to speak to Braylen who is sitting on a sofa reading a book that had no title and instead had a smiley face in the form of "=)" on the cover. Braylen then reveals that the book is fifteen pages long (albeit not numbered) and every single page consists of that same smiley face from top to bottom. It's not very important but goes to show this place is odd.

All three are weirded out but put the book aside. Lance and Levee ask Braylen if he has seen or knows anything about Archie. He states that Archie's appearance sounds familiar and that he saw employees (or at least, ones that looked very different and had metal armor) drag him to padded cells on the first floor.

Braylen also states it was nighttime and he wasn't supposed to be out of his room but decided to snoop around anyway and witnessed the scene.

They thank Braylen for his help and proceed to go back to the first floor and find the cells he was talking about. There are twenty in total and the two find Archie inside the fifteenth one that they investigate.

When Levee sees her brother inside the cell, she is quick to unlock it and go inside. Archie is sitting on the floor with red pinprick marks and bruising on his neck and alongside this his hands are wrapped in bandages that have light spots of blood that had seeped through.

The two siblings hug and Levee apologizes for Archie getting into this situation. Much like Levee and Lance, Archie can't remember how he was kidnapped. They exit the cell and speak with each other to which Archie explains a story very similar to the one Braylen shared.

Archie had woken up in his room and instantly panicked, leaving it and stumbling into two people who are later revealed to be apart of a subgroup in the Sanctuary called "The Ones Beyond the Walls." He explains that they saw him and grabbed onto him to which he tried to fight back and in the process destroyed his knuckles on the metal vests they were wearing before he was sedated and brought to a cell.

Levee takes note of his hands and suggests that they change the bandages. Lance knows where there's an infirmary and brings them to it and there is a somewhat gruesome description of Archie's knuckles. Lance cleans the wounds and wraps them in fresh bandages.

They all leave the infirmary and make their way to the cafeteria and discuss the situation for the umpteenth time. In the middle of their discussion, a young woman walks up and stands behind Archie. She introduces herself as Isa. Levee and Archie take note of one of her most unsettling features which is the fact that she has scars starting from the corners of her mouth going along the sides of her face.

(Lance had already met Isa so it wasn't as shocking to him.)

Isa states that she overheard the group of three's conversation and that she had information she could give that might help answer some questions.

...

But unfortunately, this is where I stopped writing.

Don't worry though! Like I said, I am going to talk about general lore and what I had planned including the ending.

---

So, Doctor Lukes' Sanctuary is the name of the hospital our main characters are held captive in. Despite what Levee kept thinking (it not being a real hospital) she is pretty much wrong because it was and technically still is a "real" hospital however it is not at all a professional one. Originally opening in 1999, this psychiatric hospital was operated by Professor Jasper Edmunds and Doctor Thomas Lukes, their hospital was open until 2011 where it closed permanently with no explanation.

Throughout the 2000s, this hospital was controversial and facing lawsuits in regards to abuse of its patients in there for treatment of their mental illnesses. However, they were dropped. This mostly took place in 2005. Professor Edmunds left shortly after this which meant Doctor Lukes was on his own with maintaining most things. In 2009, the hospital would once again face legality issues in regards to two murders that had happened. And finally, in 2011, the hospital was closed and nobody ever heard from Doctor Lukes again.

This is the more detailed form of the information Isa was going to tell the three if I had written past her introduction, I promise it wasn't gonna be a big info dump within the story lol, it was gonna be more spread out. Also, the Sanctuary info is similar to what Braylen had said. Isa was also going to go into a quick explanation on joy serum and laughing gas used in that place which answers the question on why everyone tends to be calm and strangely happy. (Obviously.)

Throughout the story, Levee and Lance try to uncover the secrets of the Sanctuary and they attempt to make an escape plan while pretty much being under the influence of drugs (joy serum) and doing their "job," of treating the patients. They discover that there had been a reversal serum in the works that would, well, reverse the effects of joy serum however there were many major issues with it. It's used within this story and the effects are shown; primarily aggression.

Who was the original one behind the reversal serum? Professor Edmunds, and then Doctor Lukes proceeded to try and complete it but was facing difficulties. And why was there a reversal serum? Because of withdrawal from not having injections of joy serum for a long period of time, it'd only get worse and worse so this was put in place to completely flush out the joy serum in a way. (Side note: Drug withdrawal is a major issue with the joy serum in this universe and it's especially shown with Isa who is constantly relying on even the smallest dose.) However, as said before, the reversal serum had serious issues with it.

So, what was Doctor Lukes' motive in taking a bunch of hostages ("patients/employees")?

Well, it changes in the timeline.

After the hospital had been shut down and with all of the legality issues, the place pretty much became abandoned and not only that but he lost a majority of his research and everything. He's stubborn and did not try and reach out to another facility or anything like that (they're extremely secretive too) so he took his remaining notes and studies, tried making a new joy serum, kidnapped some people that would later be known as "The Ones Beyond the Walls," and tested on them. Continuously tested on them. And then finally, later on, he wanted to try and reverse things and then give the joy serum again and reverse and... yeah.

Where was he working?

Underground beneath the original hospital. And this is where the main story takes place too. I find the Five Nights at Freddy's song "Below the Surface" quite fitting for this and the original Smiler lore in general (I remember seeing a Smile Always edit with it too so that's where I got that from!) And if you're wondering, "How did no one know he was there?" Well, the general public didn't know. With a lot of abandoned properties, there are still people that own the property and that's the case with Doctor Lukes' Sanctuary. The state people knew allat but not the public, you know? As I said before, these places are secretive.

---

The Ones Beyond the Walls are as the name states: special guard-like previous test subjects that lurk in a part of the Sanctuary that is inaccessible to the normal patients and employees but is very much behind the walls of the normal place. They do what Doctor Lukes tells them to and they lurk about at night. They make sure things are in place and such. They are very calm people that take action when needed.

---

Isa is a major part of the lore. It's revealed that she was the longest serving Sanctuary employee starting from being a patient and it's also revealed that she was Aria Davis from the news article Levee had read early on in the story. Aria was not in a good place and Doctor Lukes had reached out to her and offered her money (one of the only times he was somewhat-legally doing this shit) if she'd participate in his experiments/clinical trials and after a while she then got sick of it to which he then forcibly kidnapped her.

As a patient, Aria had gotten her face cut into a smile by an old employee who she later murdered as revenge and stole their identity (hence the name, Isa.) Due to the murder, she was put through a lot of "treatment," until she was left as who she is; an unhinged, overjoyed, snarky woman who seemed as though she was going to help but was instead absolutely hellbent on dragging everyone down with her as she interfered with Levee's and Lance's escape plan. And, she kept the identity of the murdered employee, Isa.

---

There was certainly gonna be filler but also it was gonna show patients and employees getting treatment with joy serum and then the reversal serum being used. Because of the aggression the reversal serum was causing (albeit temporary) the group decided it was best to give it to people and keep them in the "special" cells that had been mentioned earlier.

Eventually, Isa gets the reversal serum injected into her and since she has been under the influence of joy serum for a long time, it doesn't go too well and she is furious and tries to kill Lance who had injected it. She fails and once she somewhat calms down, she struggles to cope with the feeling of not being in a constant state of joy. She experiences withdrawal extremely quickly and this is one of the faults of the reversal serum however it shouldn't have lasted too long.

Isa still tries to interfere with the plan and eventually she kills Doctor Lukes which wasn't apart of the other two's plan but aids in the escape and when she realizes this, she isn't happy. She isn't happy that the newest group won't go through the Hell she went through and thus she attempts to murder the main group but instead gets it turned around on her and Lance kills her which leaves him guilt stricken but Levee tries to reassure him that it was for the best.

‐--

Finally, we get to the ending. The ending is a decent one and although a majority of the facility inhabitants are killed along the way (by Isa and eventually she herself was killed too), nine out of thirty people (patients and employees) escape and this doesn't include TOBW. Levee, Lance, Braylen, and Archie make it out safely albeit very much changed and still having the after effects of the reversal serum. I did in fact write out the epilogue before most of the other things because that is a habit of mine with writing.

So, the epilogue goes something like this...

Two months pass since the events of Smile Hell and our three main characters are trying to return to their normal lives. Braylen, who was cut off by his family before the events, moves in with Lance's family since he has nowhere else to go. Levee's paranoia is very slowly starting to go away and she starts leaving her house more often. It is stated that after escaping, the group had told all they could to the police and it opened a full blown investigation on the grounds of the Sanctuary and they ended up finding bodies buried far behind the hospital.

And yes, the main group gets well needed therapy after all this Hell they've been through lol

Levee, Lance, and Braylen are all out shopping in the town square before they visit Koda's grave which is their plan for the day. Levee sits down on a bench and waits for the men who are inside a store and there is another bench across from her. Someone sits down on it and they're wearing a mask and sunglasses (which she finds odd as it's not very sunny) but she tries not to think much of it before going onto her phone to pass the time.

The stranger across from her giggles which catches her attention and so she glances up and notices their sunglasses are off. Her heart just about skips a beat when she realizes that they have one yellow eye that was fading and one normal eye (implication that this is someone from the Sanctuary.) This obviously makes her highly uneasy and she prays to whoever is listening that her friends would hurry up so they could leave.

Eventually they appear and they don't pay much attention to the person across from her, they all leave but Levee looks behind her to see that the mysterious stranger now had their mask down and was smiling, but not in the unsettling, forced Smiler sense; it was a sincere smile that pretty much said "Thank you." Not only that, but they had very faded scars present on their face. Levee does not recognize them at all before she realized the possibility of them being one of the Ones Beyond the Walls. She gives them a quick thumbs up and a nod before walking off with Lance and Braylen, off to visit Koda's grave at the cemetery.

And that's all, that is the end of it all.

---

Thank you so much if you read this whole thing! I very much appreciate it, I've been working on this lore for roughly two years but never really shared it with people until now.

If I ever do go back to this project and decide to continue the story I think there would be changes but for now this is the "settled in stone," lore of Smile Hell. I don't really know what my inspirations were for this exactly but obviously the general Smiler lore and what the community has come up with. Also I love stories that involve secret organizations and medical stuff like that. There are certainly things that I find unfitting but for my sake and everyone else's sake, I'm not going to critique my own lore for now.

Once again, thank you very much if you read this entire post, I hope it was interesting!!

—

and here's a meme before I go which sums up all of this /j