maniacwatchestheworld

[maniacwatchestheworld]

......... Is consumerism at the core and the root of the enshittification of everything...?

[maniacwatchestheworld]

I do so love learning new things about myself! :D

So normally I take T (low dosage), an antidepressant, and a drug for my ADHD (pediatric dosage). I haven't been taking the T for super long, but when I started taking it, it really didn't make my other two meds feel extra effective! But because I have ADHD and get anxiety over phone calls and scheduling things and medical stuff, I've been running out of some of these drugs one by one. First I ran out of my ADHD med. It utterly DESTROYED any sense of a sleep schedule I was forming! And with running out of my antidepressant... I knew that I would likely have withdrawal symptoms... I was expecting headaches and moodiness... what I got instead was MUCH more weird and interesting!!! I had one day of headaches, sure. But for the rest of the last few days... My brain refused to do any kind of cognitive function that required the wrinkling of my brain. So basically... It made me a thembo!!! I think that I'm just a chronic overthinker! And so no antidepressant? Thinking rights have been revoked! Very funny to me. Not painful. A bit annoying. But mostly thembo time!!! Just am forced to be stupid lol.

Thankfully I got my refills now and took my meds. So thembo time is ending. I can feel my head clearing up already. I can feel my brain wanting to do higher cognitive function, but my brain not quite being up to the task yet. What an interesting experience though! Apparently me on T but not antidepressants and ADHD meds... makes me a thembo! Just... So stupid. But also not necessarily unhappy. :p At least while actively going through withdrawal. But I'd rather not go entirely off them if I can help it!!!

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Hey! As a fandom and community, can we please please PLEASE talk about searchfortheblindeye more!???

It's obscure! It's considered noncanon! But I also think that it's interesting and worth looking at! Especially if you fuck with Fiddleford and the Society of the Blind Eye as a concept at all! I personally think that it's the first instance we have and can see Fiddleford being Alex Hirsch's very special man and Blorbo for his own series and honestly I love that for him! I also think that it was Hirsch's first unofficial testing ground to see how far he could push the cryptogram stuff, what the fandom could solve, whether we would actually engage with that kind of stuff at all, and is basically the spiritual predecessor the Cipher Hunt and ESPECIALLY thisisnotawebbedsitedotcom.

I URGE you to read the Gravity Falls wiki page about it because I have my own thoughts biases and blind spots concerning the page! The website no longer exists, but was thankfully fully archived on the Gravity Falls wiki, so go read it to understand it and the kind of experience that it was! But I guess that I should give a summary for newcommers who can't be bothered read it right now to describe what it is and why it is interesting, even if only on another surface level.

So at the end of Gravity Falls' season 1 finale "Gideon Rises" the audience watching is given a cipher. Search for the Blindeye. Later this would be revealed to relate to the series of animated Gravity Falls shorts that Disney would release between the ending of Season 1 and the start of Season 2 known as "Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained" that would reveal the symbol that would later be revealed to be the symbol for the Society of the Blind Eye in piecemeal sections.

A day before Gideon Rises had aired a website had launched. Searchfortheblindeye.com. How curious. It was a website that Alex Hirsch had addressed before in a handful of ways while it was online. Hirsch specifically said that it was not affiliated with Disney... But he didn't say that he didn't have anything to do with it! And we sure do know how much Hirsch likes to mess with the Gravity Falls fan community when he can!

On the surface, it really didn't seem like searchfortheblindeye had much going on. It featured a gif of Bill floating and had the remixed iteration of the main Gravity Falls theme that was featured at the end of Dreamscaperers as the website's audio. But in the source code there were encrypted messages! The messages seemed to feature 2 characters who didn't like one another very much. One is pretty undeniably Bill Cipher and the other seems to be the person hosting/programming the website. I'm going to be fully honest, I think that the other person, the person who is presumably the site's programmer is Fiddleford. One of the very first messages on the site was "LIAR. MONSTER. SORT OF OK DRESSER. TRUST NO ONE." Which establishes this person as someone who is aware of Bill, the Journals and what is written in them, but is decidedly NOT the Author (Ford)! Given the name of the website, the person running it has to be someone that is entirely fine with being associated with the Society of the Blind Eye. And again, they are someone who can program a website, and- from what can be gleaned from the person running the site and Bill's interactions- very much dislikes Bill (the feeling is mutual), and is quite the intellectual. Fiddleford meets all of these criteria! The messages and things on the website would foreshadow things that would show up/happen/be said in the series itself long before they would actually be seen or happen. I think that it's pretty damn safe to say that someone who worked on the show was involved with this website if Alex Hirsch wasn't behind it himself! So it might not strictly be canon... But it IS a lot of fun and is interesting! And I think that it gives us an interesting insight into what was happening as Alex Hirsch and the rest of the people who worked on Gravity Falls were thinking as they were fleshing out Fiddleford as a character! And I think people should at least mention it sometimes! Also fun fact, the website features Gompers' backstory lol. Like the Gompers backstory stuff as it appears in searchfortheblindeye.com still gets vaguely mentioned in new Gravity Falls media sometimes. So while it may not strictly be part of Disney's Gravity Falls' canon... I like ti imagine that the website and the things featured on it are kinda sort of part of Alex Hirsch's headcanon lol.

In any case... If you want more drips of sweet, sweet Fiddleford content and context, read the wiki on the website!!! If you want to see Bill and Fiddleford directly interact with one another on a speaking level, read the ciphers as they were catalogued!!! And... Well... If you're not a coward and enjoy FiddleBill or want to see the appeal of the toxic love triangle disaster polycule's least popular and least loved side, read the wiki on this website because I seriously think that you will get a kick out of it!!! Also it might be the most we may ever get out Cult Leader era Fiddleford! A part of his life that I find deeply fascinating and for which I scream to heaven high that we don't get to see more of!!!

Basically... PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS THING! I WANT TO SEE PEOPLE PLAY WITH THE IDEAS IT PRESENTS AND SEE PEOPLE ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT IT SOMETIMES AND NOT JUST MEEEEE!!!!! Also I think that I might have solved a mystery that went overlooked about it...? But that's neither here nor there

[maniacwatchestheworld]

A Note About the Society of the Blind Eye's Uniforms

I am entirely certain that I am the only person who has ever noticed this and therefore the only person that cares and is bothered by this. But I do wish that when people drew Fiddleford within Society of the Blind Eye garb that they changed his outfit up a little from the standard uniform. Because as the leader and founder of the organization, it would be useful for his outfit to be slightly different in order to distinguish his rank and role in the Society, and it's also a fun excuse to dress Fiddleford up in something a little more fancy!

For a moment I want all of us to take a moment to appreciate the Society of the Blind Eye's standard uniform.

It's a design that is simple, effective, and yet quite visually distinct and interesting. Those deep reds that make it stand out in much the same way that the Journals do.

A simple, clean design that makes it easy to animate and duplicate, but can also be mildly altered to suit the variety of Gravity Falls' different body types while maintaining that cohesive appearance!

But it also has just enough bespoke and little details to keep it from being generic!

The hoods being low enough to cover the wearer's eyes and frame the rest of their faces in shadow, speaking to the anonymous nature of the organization, while also giving them an intimidating appearance.

A little bit of pragmatic design where they have drawstrings to protect the members from the energy blasts of the Memory Gun while they are observing it being used. (Though unless the outfits are like... Lined with some kind of metal, the drawstrings would likely do little more than protect their eyes from the bright lights.) But when the hoods are drawn down like this, it also emphasizes the Society's symbol and in a way make the members of the Society almost look inhuman!

And apparently they're pretty comfortable to boot! They sure look cozy!

But I think that I might be the only one who's noticed... Hey! Ivan's outfit is actually slightly different from the rest!

Unlike everyone else whose hoods flop down in the back to a soft point, his stands up to a sharper point! And his outfit and hood also lack the split down the middle that everyone else's outfits feature!

It's a small difference, but if you know this and pay attention, you can visually pick Ivan out in any scene that he's in!

And within the organization itself, these are likely deliberate differences to distinguish Ivan's role within the Society's higherarchy. Tragically, we never get to see Fiddleford in his Society of the Blind Eye robes, though there is little doubt that he had such an outfit, if he didn't outright design the Society's uniforms himself! And given how Ivan has custom robes, it's very likely that Fiddleford did too. Likely robes that were even more distinguished and fancy than Ivan's!

So please! When drawing Fiddleford as the leader of the Society of the Blind Eye, I would LOVE it if you gave him some little extra defining features to make him stand out from the rest of the Society as a very fancy, distinguished, and important boy! And if I may make a suggestion....... HOW ABOUT A CAPE!???

Now it's possible that this statue might not have been originally depicting a Society of the Blind Eye member and the symbol could have been added later, the details of which will likely be discussed in my next Society of the Blind Eye post but like... Fiddleford could look hella cool in a cape. He deserves it! A cape would be neat! But it's certainly not necessary. I just want to see more varied, silly, and interesting designs with Fiddleford's Society of the Blind Eye outfit is all! :D

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Okay, so it looks like there are a small number of peeps out there who are just as weird and fucked up as me who want to hear me dump my unsavory ideas regarding the Society of the Blind Eye upon the world for their enjoyment! And I am kinda hella thrilled to hear this! I'm currently off my antidepressants and going through withdrawal symptoms! My brain is feeling super weird! I am having a hard time trying to censor myself right now! So fuck it! Tonight we ball!

But first before I get into the headcanons and terrible, horrible ideas, I want to make 2 posts about things we concretely know, can glean from context clues, and see in canon Gravity Falls media so that we can all get on the same page. Alright? Alright. Alright!

Also I was wondering... For the few of us freaks who are into this kind of thing, I'm half tempted to make a Society of the Blind Eye Tumblr community group. For fun and the hell of it! Would that be a thing people would be interested in having, seeing, and participating in...? Just curious to know. Because I sure do love my fictional cult stuff! :D

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Whispers would anyone be interested in hearing me thought dump and worldbuild for the Society of the Blind Eye...? Because like... Uh... I have a lot of fun thinking about and coming up with terrible stuff for the Society of the Blind Eye and feel like it's a criminally overlooked part of Gravity Falls lore! And boy howdy do I have dark, unexplored ideas for it... >.>

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Wriggling around. PLEASE give me reccomendations on something to get sucked into! My brain is STARVED for a hyperfixation!!!

Like, I'm half of Gravity Falls because The Book of Bill. But there's not enough Fiddleford being part of the Society of the Blind Eye for my brain. I'm partially on Scooby-Doo because I managed to convince someone to read part of my incredibly long Mystery Incorporated fanfic ("Shameless". If you've seen me post bits of it. Fun fact, it contains 35,000 words worth of torture porn in the later third! Lol. But it's a REAL slow burn!) I'm half tempted to dip my toes back into DPxDC (it's not like my love for Two-Face is fine after all!) But I have no idea how to find anything to my tastes there... >.< And I recently watched What We Do in the Shadows. VERY good show! I like it A LOT! (The queer themes, the aesthetic direction, the characters, the emotional beats, how the characters have changed and grown over the series, it's sense of humor and wit, the writing. It's all FANTASTIC!) However my brain has just not found anything that it wants to latch onto and chew for every minute ounce of nutrients!!! I can feel in my heart and brain how it COULD have given me a hyperfixation! But sadly it hasn't stuck. >.< (If Guillermo had become a monster........ Oh yes! That would have done it! But alas! >.< )

So yeah. I am on a mental strugglebus! >.<

Me right now I just.... HNNNNNNG!!!!! I'm in between hyperfixations right now and it's insufferable for me and my brain!!! Auuuugh!

Right now my brain is craving something with cults of some form. Preferably animated. Possibly a mystery something. But I know that it's quite unlikely that I'll find something with those specifications. But still. I figured that I might as well try to ask if anyone knows a good series of those specifications. >.<

In any case, I would really REALLY like some recommendations right now! Just like... PLEASE recommend me something animated! If I haven't seen it before, I'll give it a try! I need to find myself a new hyperfixation and I just like animation A LOT!!!

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Shameless Chapter 2: Lost Part 2

[Story is also available on AO3 and can be read here.]

Pericles squirmed and struggled in the creature’s hands. It had managed to grab him right out of the air when it had lunged through the group, and had pinned his wings to his sides. While the grip didn’t hurt him, Pericles did not want to know what the Freak had in mind for him. He had to escape. For all he knew, the creature was just looking for the right place to dash his head against a rock. And if that happened, it would be all over.

“Where are you taking me!?” The bird demanded looking up at the Freak.

In response the creature just took a finger and pressed it over his lips, a silent hush. His other hand however was still tightly wrapped around the parrot so that he couldn’t flee.

At the gesture, Pericles froze. Why did he feel like he’d seen that before? Suddenly he felt like the creature’s grip was not one that intended to hurt him.

It was only once they came out of the cave to a natural opening letting out into a grassy field on the edge of town did the Freak stop running. They stood in silence in the pale moonlight until it let out a growling, wheezing laugh when started to turn more and more human until…

Fredrick pulled the mask off of his head with a single hand before letting Professor Pericles go. He was still laughing.

Pericles looked at his abductor with a sense of wild confusion. His glasses were a bit crooked and his hair was a mess, slick and clinging to his forehead with sweat, but there was no denying it. It was Fredrick Jones.

“Fredrick…? What? What just happened!? What are you-”

But at this point, Fredrick was catching his breath. He looked at the sky, basking in the moonlight a wild expression on his face. “Isn’t this just great!?” He declared before looking back at Pericles. His eyes were cruel and alien, but Pericles found an odd sense of comfort in them. “You’re just like me.”

“Fredrick! What do you think you’re-”

“You’re cursed just like me. You’re empty. Missing something just like me!” The words were starting to make sense to Professor Pericles, but the realization made his stomach drop as if a pile of bricks had just clattered their way down his throat, settling into its pit. “You really should’ve listened to my better half. He told you. He tried to warn you so many times! He even told you that I was the Freak. But you didn’t listen. You just thought that it was all just a dream! You wanted proof that the curse, that those dreams were real. Well, here it is. Is your curiosity satisfied?” Fredrick sneered, holding a hand out for Pericles to use as a perch if he so desired.

However he just flapped in place, stunned, not knowing what to say. The words when they came to him after a long time of consideration were slow. “Fredrick… Why are you doing this?”

“The same reason that you haven’t run away yet. I’ve given you plenty of opportunity by now.”

Pericles blinked only to realize that Fredrick was right. By all logic, he should run back to the others and tell them the truth about their ‘friend.’ But he didn’t. Something familiar and comforting in the back of his mind whispered to him. Told him to hear what Fredrick had to say, and compelled him to stay. The physical compulsion was strong enough that Professor Pericles wasn’t particularly certain that even if he tried to force himself to leave that he could.

“You’re feeling it now, aren’t you?” Fredrick asked as this realization washed over Pericles.

“So this is the curse…”

Fredrick nodded. “The cursed treasure of Crystal Cove… You’ll see soon enough. I never thought that I could bring myself to do something like this…” He looked at his hands, still hidden underneath his costume. “But I’ll do anything for that treasure…”

“So what do you want?”

“Oh, do pray tell. Whatever do you mean?” Fredrick derisively teased.

“You had to have brought me here for something. You’ve had every opportunity hurt me, but you aren’t. That means that you must want something. So what is it?”

“Pericles, you don’t have to sound so suspicious! I only want to offer you a deal.”

“A deal?”

“Well, now that you can’t reverse the curse, we want the same thing.”

“The treasure?”

Fredrick nodded. “You need me to be able to read and translate the scroll, and when we eventually get it, the Planispheric Disc. I need you to help me interpret the information and to make the calculations. But we don’t need the other four. We can solve the mystery. Just the two of us on our own.”

“And you want me to betray them…”

“You don’t need to put it that way. It doesn’t have to be a betrayal. But we can discuss the details later. I just want us to be partners in this. Split the treasure 50/50. Better than trying to split it six ways.”

The parrot hesitated, and in his hesitation, the two began to hear voices shouting Professor Pericles’ name in the cave.

At hearing the group’s voices, Fredrick pulled the mask over his head again. “Just think about it, won’t you?” Fredrick asked from behind the mask creating an odd sort of visual dissonance. “You know how you can reach me.” And with that, the creature ran off into the shadows where he disappeared.

Professor Pericles just hovered there, stunned and not knowing what to do. However at hearing his name called again, he managed to snap out of it.

“I’m here!” He called back, flying back into the caves towards his friends’ voices.

“Pericles!” The voices were getting closer until he saw the light from their flashlights.

Ricky was the first one to break from the group to catch the bird out of the air into a hug. “Pericles! What happened? Did the Freak take you? We were so worried.”

“I… It is okay. The Freak took me, but I managed to get away.” It wasn’t the full truth, but it wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Thank goodness you weren’t hurt.”

“Yeah…” As Pericles fell silent in this embrace, he realized that he felt different. He felt different about Ricky, even being held this close like this. He felt colder. There was a sense of emptiness settling somewhere behind his rib cage. Before he even left the caves with the others that night, Professor Pericles had already made his decision.

-

Fredrick and Professor Pericles continued acting as if nothing unusual was happening, when in actuality, whenever they were able to be alone in private, they were making plans.

“They have to be forced to leave town. As long as they’re here, they’ll keep looking in any way that they can.”

“You’re right… They aren’t going to back down, especially knowing that other people want them to stop looking for it.”

“But how? If we threaten to physically hurt them… Well, that might work on Ricky, but the others would just fight back.”

“We have to threaten them where it would hurt, and where they can’t do anything about it… Where it would be out of their hands. I think I know what that would be.”

“Oh?”

“Their families. We have to target their parents.”

-

Meanwhile at night, the two didn’t know what to do. Fredrick had been overcome by a crippling sense of grief, and he knew that it was only going to get worse as their waking selves got closer and closer to locating the disc and enacting their plan.

“We have to stop them…” Pericles stated as if Fredrick didn’t already know.

“But how? We can’t… We don’t have any influence over our waking selves unless they want us to…”

“I… I don’t know… but we have to do something.”

-

And then the rest started to appear in the dreams too.

-

Cassidy was the first to arrive, and when Fredrick saw her wandering the halls, their eyes met. “Fredrick? Is that you?” She asked.

But Fredrick didn’t answer. He merely sprinted towards her and tackled her into an embrace.

“Woah! Fredrick! What’s gotten into you!?”

However this embrace was far from a joyful one. “You don’t deserve this…”

“What…?”

When Fredrick pulled away, he was working hard, struggling to keep his head held high and to not cry. “Cassidy… I don’t want this place to take you too… You’re too good for this place… I don’t even want to imagine what this place will do to you…”

“Fredrick…? Are you okay?”

He let out a faint laugh. “No. I’m really not… Of course this place would take you first… Cassidy Williams… Always curious… Always wanting to be the first to head into danger… You’re really better than any of us… Of course it’d want you first… So much potential to take away…”

“Fredrick! What are you talking about? Where are we?”

Fredrick had to let out a deep breath before he began to explain.

-

When Fredrick first saw Ricky, he and Professor Pericles were discussing if there was anything they could do about Cassidy in a padded room, when Ricky just came in.

“Professor Pericles? Fredrick? Fancy finding you two here…”

Pericles leaped up, gliding across the room to land on Ricky’s shoulder before affectionately burying his face into the crook of Ricky’s neck.

Ricky didn’t realise that he had missed Professor Pericles doing it until it was already happening. “What… What happened?” Ricky had long since lost track of how long it had been since Pericles had started to act unusually. None of the normal affection that Ricky had grown so fond of and used to in the years of their friendship. Pericles had been acting so cold… But now it almost felt like he never left. Something must have happened for him to be acting normal like this again.

“Dummkopf…”

“Hey! Now what’s that for!?”

“You shouldn’t be here! But what can I say? I guess you were listening to me when I told you that life is better when you foster curiosity in your heart…”

As Fredrick watched this happen, he couldn’t help but to feel like a third wheel. As the two seemed to ease back to their normal selves, Fredrick stood, rubbing the back of his head.

“Uh… Hi.” Fredrick never knew what to say to Ricky. He liked the guy just fine, and they got along well enough. He was smart, but unlike Cassidy and Judy this mystery largely failed to capture his interests. He just had no idea if they had any common ground.

“Fredrick!” Ricky said, finally addressing him. “Hi… It’s uh… It good to see you here!”

“It shouldn’t be.” Fredrick sighed.

“What?”

“This place… It’s uh… It’s cursed. The fact that you’re here means that you’re beginning to fall victim to the curse too…”

“Curse? You’re kidding. You keep saying it yourself. Curses aren’t real. It’s just circumstance plus speculation enhanced by people’s morbid curiosity. Half the time when someone says that something’s cursed, they’re just looking to lure in tourists. But just because there is a correlation, it doesn’t actually imply causation.”

Fredrick and Professor Pericles exchanged a look. If it was any other circumstance, Pericles would be very proud of his friend for that piece of intellectual insight. But considering that this curse was real…

“I’m not going to be able to convince him, am I?”

“I don’t think so.”

-

Brad was the next one to appear. Fredrick ran into him in a crossway in the maze. “Brad?” Fredrick asked, as Brad was looking around to decide which path to go down.

Brad spun to face Fredrick. “Fredrick! It’s good to see you! I feel like I’ve been wandering around in here for hours! Have you seen Professor Pericles? I saw him, but I couldn’t keep up. Do you know how to get out of here?” He asked.

“There isn’t a way out. You can find some interesting places, but if you’re trapped in here, you can’t leave.”

“So… We’re stuck…”

“Well, I am. For you this can just be a dream.”

“Oh! That makes sense now! This is just a dream!”

“Well… Yes and no… This is reality. But it’s also a dream.

“I… Don’t think that I’m following.”

“Look. This place exists somewhere between a dream and an alternate reality altogether. You’re dreaming. But this is my reality!”

“Wait wait wait. This can’t really be both, can it?”

“Yes… it can...” Fredrick was starting to get a bit frustrated. But he knew that he needed to be patient with Brad. He never was the most intellectually nor academically inclined.

“How to tell if this is real or not…” Brad considered it for a long moment. “I know!”

“What-” Fredrick was ready to give him a snarky comment, but what happened next, he didn’t anticipate nor expect.

Brad cupped Fredrick’s face in his hands, and as he pulled Fredrick towards him, Brad took step closer, bridging the distance between them. It was then that Brad planted a kiss on the other man’s lips. While Fredrick was confused, he didn’t particularly mind what was happening nor try pull away. It was firm and soft as they lingered there for a second before they pulled away.

Once Brad let go, he shot Fredrick a confident smile. “Well?”

Fredrick had to take a few seconds to blink to snap himself out of it. And once he did, “uh… Thanks...” was all he had to say in reply.

Brad laughed, taking Fredrick by the hand and gently tugging him in a random direction. “Yep! This is a dream, alright!”

Fredrick followed with no resistance. “What!? What makes you think that!?”

“If this was the real world, then you would either find us kissing to be hilarious, or you’d punch me for that stunt!” Well, he wasn’t wrong. Fredrick's other half probably would do one of those things. “So this has to be a dream!”

While Brad’s logic wasn’t wrong… “Brad! That’s not how this works! I’m different in here! In here, I would never hurt you!”

“Oh?” Brad gave Fredrick a moment to catch up and stand next to him before wrapping an arm over his shoulders and giving him a wink. “Then when we wake up, I expect to be punched in the face!”

-

Judy was the last to show up. But that was no surprise. Wherever Brad went, Judy tended to follow, so it only made sense that she would only come in after everyone else.

Fredrick had run into Judy on accident, but unlike the others, very literally. Both had been running from the monster, looking behind them when they slammed into one another, knocking them both to the ground.

“Fredrick?”

“Judy!” Fredrick helped Judy back to her feet before grabbing her hand. “This way!” He told her, taking the lead as they ran from the monster.

Judy could only trust that Fredrick had some idea where they were going with each twist and turn as she could see the shadow of the monster lurking somewhere behind them.

“We can hide in here.” Fredrick told her as they passed through a doorframe which brought the both of them to somewhere entirely unlike the maze they were trapped in before. Instead of endless halls of red curtains and black and white zigzag patterned tile floors, they were standing on lush carpeting, and they were surrounded by the interior of a grand manor.

“Where are we?” Judy asked, taking in the splendor of the room around them.

Fredrick was looking through the doorframe and into the maze they had just left, trying to determine if the monster was still after them and if they needed to find a different hiding spot. “Like… Where is this general place, or what is this specific room?” He still asked from his place looking back into the maze.

“I was just talking to Professor Pericles. He called this place the Sitting Room? I think I get it… Don’t know if I really do, but I think I do. But where are we right now? How’d we get here?”

Pretty certain that they weren’t being followed anymore, Fredrick turned towards Judy, examining their surroundings. “This is a memory.”

“A memory?”

“Yeah. The monster doesn’t usually doesn’t follow me into these. So we should be safe for a bit.”

“But what do you mean that this is a memory?”

“Oh, there’s lots of rooms like this one in this… Maze. This one just happens to be one of the easiest memories to find. I don’t have a solid theory why, but this place seems to take the memories of everyone trapped here, copies them, and has them on display for anyone to find and look through if they discover them. I think that this is a key room, so unfortunately we can’t browse through more of this memory.”

“Hm…I have no idea what you mean by ‘key room,’ but...” Judy looked up at the vaulted ceilings with a sense of familiarity. “This is the Darrow Mansion.”

“Is it?” He looked around with a sense of curiosity.

She nodded. “It’s a lot more gloomy in the present day, obviously, being buried and all. But it’s the same place that I remember.”

“Still a shame that you didn’t find anything down there… Though I’m glad that we were able to locate a place like that at all! I didn’t think it was possible! If we could only get other people to investigate this place with us… It could make for a remarkable historical discovery...”

Judy sighed. “Yeah… If only people would listen to us…”

“Hey… I listened...”

“So this must be the Darrow family! They look just like they do in the pictures! Fredrick! Can you really light candles with a gun like that?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t recommend it. You might end up putting a hole in the floor or someone’s foot. But as long as the gun’s empty… In theory yes, though I’ve never had a flintlock to try that with… Obviously.”

“Wow… This is just so neat… You must love being able to walk into a memory like this! I mean, I’ve only been here for a little bit and I love it! Just imagine being able to see our town’s old architecture being built and seeing all of these buildings when they were brand new! Imagine being able to see how the civic planning effected the lives of the people of Crystal Cove before us when everything was different! So cool!” There was that starry look in her eyes again.

Fredrick couldn’t help but to smile. They had access to the memories of people long gone, and she was interested in the town’s civic planning. Of course she’d be interested in something so odd and off the beaten path like that. “Do you have a room of memories? Can we go and see it together!?”

Fredrick looked at Judy a little exhausted. “I mean… If I do, I don’t know where it is…”

“Oh. That’s a bit of a shame… We should look for it! I’d love to see our little baby Freddie!” Judy ruffled his hair which he immediately protested. “But you must love this! Being able to watch history happen first hand… For a dork like you, this must be heaven!”

At that, Fredrick let out a pained sigh. “Maybe… If I wasn’t cursed and trapped in here…” His expression immediately became crestfallen.

“Fredrick?” Judy approached. “What’s wrong?”

“Judy… You said that you were talking to Professor Pericles. How much did he tell you?”

“I mean, not much. We had maybe 10 minutes together before he turned stiff as a board! Said he was going to sleep… Or waking up? I don’t know. Either way it was real weird and creepy.”

“Well… We’re in this place because of the treasure’s curse.” She looked at him a little skeptically. “I’m cursed, Judy. The curse took a part of me and put it in here, so now I’m trapped. But for now, you’re just a visitor.” Fredrick took both of Judy’s hands in his. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me but… I don’t want you to share this curse with me… So you should stop trying to search for the treasure. Give up before things get worse… Before you get trapped in here like me...”

“Fredrick…”

“I know that this all sounds crazy, but if you talk to Brad about this dream…! He’s been having these too. I know that you don’t think this is real-” but before he could keep going, Judy spoke.

“I believe you.” The words were simple but shook Fredrick to the core.

“What…?”

“I believe you.” She smiled. “You listen to me and heaven knows that I can talk someone’s ear off. I feel like I should reciprocate, right? I believe you. Besides. All of this is pretty fun, isn’t it? I really would rather all of this be real than fake. And I don’t think that my mind could ever make something this elaborate!”

-

However during the day, Fredrick and Pericles continued to play dumb as the pieces for their plan were starting to fall in place. “I’ve been pulling at some strings. We should be getting the false documents soon.”

“Good. I have the feeling that we’re getting close to usable coordinates.”

“Normally I’d say to not get your hopes up, but… I am having that feeling too.”

-

In the end, the sleeping versions of the two of them decided to divide their tasks to conquer. Pericles was convinced that with enough time and patience that he could convince Cassidy and Ricky that this was real. However they both knew that time was running out and that the two of them were proving to be rather stubborn and refused to talk about these dreams to each other or anyone else. Fredrick decided to focus his efforts on Brad and Judy to some interesting results.

“Brad… Judy… Why are you both still here!?”

“Fredrick! We were hoping that we’d find you!” Brad cheered, grabbing his friend by the hand and pulling him closer.

“Judy, I thought that you were going to talk to him.”

“She did.”

“And he believes us!”

“And we made a decision.”

“A decision?”

“Yeah! We’re going to break this curse, together!” Brad was beaming.

“Brad… Judy… Please don’t… You don’t know what you’re getting yourselves into…”

“Fredrick…” Judy took Fredrick’s other hand in hers. Now Brad was holding his left, while Judy was holding his right. “I believe you. And you being cursed and trapped here like this… How do you expect us to not want to help you?”

“We can’t just let you or Pericles be trapped here! You’re both our friends!”

“And we love you!” Fredrick didn’t notice the knowing, smiling glance that the other two gave one another, nor the playful, blushing expressions Brad and Judy had on their faces as they looked at him. He was just lost in his thoughts, looking down.

“I’m not certain that the curse can be broken… Much less by you…”

“Well, this curse has never had to face Mystery Incorporated!”

“Surely this curse has never even seen a friendship like ours before!”

“Thanks, Judy. See? She's got my back on this one! I know we can break this curse together!”

Fredrick very much wanted to smack his forehead with one of his hands, but as they were both currently occupied, he had to settle for letting out a sigh. “People have been searching for this treasure for over 500 years. You have no idea what you’re talking about. The entire point of the curse is to…”

“But Fredrick! With a love and friendship like this, we can do so much! I mean, what’s more powerful than the power of friendship!?”

“Okay, that may just be the sappiest thing I’ve ever heard.” It was something that was impossible to stay mad at.

“You know you love it.” Judy beamed.

Fredrick could feel the guilt slowly eating at him. He didn't have what it took to tell Brad and Judy about what his other self was doing and had planned. It was painful to think about, and the shame that rose in him was so intense that he felt like he was going to be sick. “You can’t… You shouldn’t… You don’t know what you’re getting into...” Fredrick shook his head.

“That’s never stopped us before!”

“Even if it means that we’re going to get cursed too, we’re not going to just leave you behind…” With a smile, she pinched Fredrick’s cheek.

“We’re going to find a way out of this! We’re going to fight back against this curse! With everything we’ve got! And we’re going to fix this for you. Together.”

“Besides… I don’t exactly know what it is, but you’re different in here…” Her eyes were shining with that familiar curiosity again. That glimmer that Brad said time and time again made him fall in love with Judy in the first place. “And I just have to know… I want to get to know this side of you too!”

“We’re going to break this curse for you. I promise.”

“Pinky promise.”

The grip around Brad and Judy’s hands tightened as Fredrick clenched his jaw tighter. He had to swallow down a thick lump in his throat as he held his eyes shut, held his head high and quivered like a leaf.

At seeing this, Brad and Judy couldn’t help but to feel a bit concerned. “Fredrick… What’s wrong…?”

“I just… I just don’t understand why you’d want to do something like this… I… I appreciate your effort, but this isn’t something you can win… You can't fight against the curse.”

“Oh, Fredrick…” The two pulled him into a shared hug. Now that the other two couldn’t see his face, he let the tears he was holding back do whatever they may.

“Of course we’re doing this… I mean, you’re our friend.” Judy smiled into his shoulder.

“And we love you.”

-

Soon it became very apparent to Professor Pericles and Fredrick that they weren’t going to change their friends’ minds. And as the pieces of their plan settled in their place, the finishing touches being made, they had found their set of coordinates and were ready to enact their plan. To betray their friends.

“One more day…”

“I guess that it all ends tomorrow…”

“I guess that’s almost like solace.”

“Yeah… We won’t be responsible for if they get trapped here by the curse or not… It’ll be out of our hands…”

“This is a nice view.”

“Thanks. I found these memories on accident just the other day… I thought that it might be nice to…” Fredrick cut himself off, looking down the cliff at the waves frozen still and deathly quiet crashing into the cliff below them. The last words bit back too much and he didn’t want to say them.

This would probably be the last night that they’d ever speak to one another… He couldn’t bear to tell Pericles what his other half had planned. Because the reality was that Fredrick’s other self had lied. At this point, he didn’t need Professor Pericles at all. And the moment the others were gone and it was just the two of them… Fredrick intended to betray him too.

“Well, I’m glad that you brought me here.”

The two shared a moment of silence, neither knowing what was left to say.

“I’m scared…” Fredrick eventually confessed.

“You? Scared? I never thought that I’d see the day.”

“Did you… Have you figured out what you are yet…?”

“What I am?”

“What was taken away from you… What was trapped in here.”

“I don’t…”

Fredrick sighed. “It says so in writings about the curse. When you’re taken by the curse, it takes one single piece of you. One aspect of who you are. The most important piece of who you are… Over time more pieces will end up trapped here. In us. You can also trade away more pieces of yourself for more information if you really hate yourself.” He tried to laugh, but it was strained and had an air of sadness to it. “But that first one is really what makes you who you are… It takes the better part of you first. Do you have any idea what it took from you?”

The bird tilted his head to the thought in consideration. “I don’t know. I’d have to think more about it. I guess that I would say that my other self is… Angrier…? Less friendly…? More cynical… I can’t put a word to it…”

“Hm. I see.”

“So what about you? Do you know what you lost?”

Fredrick looked at his hand for a long second before looking back up to the sky, tilting his chin up. “I couldn’t figure it out for the longest time… But pretty recently I think that I’ve found the word for it…”

“And that would be…?”

“Pride.” He chuckled a little. “A pretty interesting trait there, if I do say so myself.”

Professor Pericles couldn’t help but to smirk at his companion. “Alright. I can buy that. Told me that a bit ago, and I don’t know if I would have believed you. But now that I’ve gotten to know who you are in here…? I guess that makes sense.”

Fredrick let out an amused breath before looking back at the sky. “I’m scared… I don’t know what this curse is going to do to them… To our friends…”

“They might not succumb to it…”

Fredrick gave Pericles a long, sideways glance. “You sure about that?” He asked after a painfully long minute.

“... Okay, you’re right. Whenever someone tells them no, they see it as a challenge. They’re just going to dig their heels in and try to fight back.”

“You all can be pretty stubborn when you want to be.”

“You’re not much better.” The bird had a sly grin on his face.

Another pause.

“I don’t know what it’s going to take… And that makes me afraid for them…”

“Just one trait… Your most important trait…”

“I mean… I lost one thing to the curse and I became a mask-wearing Freak. A monster… I guess that it didn’t take much…”

Pericles then smiled. “ I think that Ricky and Cassidy are going to be okay…”

“You really think so?”

“I do… They’re smart kids. They’re going to get by just fine. They’ll figure it out. They’ll cope.”

“What about Brad and Judy?”

“I don’t know… If anyone would, I would think that it’d be you.”

“Psh. You’ve known them for a lot longer than I have. I would think that you’d be more likely to know than me…”

“But they like you a lot more than they like me.”

“Do they…? But I guess… I just… I don’t know what this curse is going to do to them…”

“Well, what does your gut say?”

“You certain that you’re the real Professor Pericles and not some imposter? Him? Suggest that I use my gut and not my brain? How absurd!” He joked.

“Hey. This is a magical curse. I think that logic can take a bit of a backseat for now.”

Fredrick sighed. “... I’m not sure what it’s going to take… Kindness? Enthusiasm? Charity? I just know that whatever it takes from them… Either of them… That it’s going to be devastating… I just… I just wish that I could have stopped them…”

“But it’s too little, too late…”

“Yeah…”

-

The next day Mystery Incorporated would find a singular piece of the map to the treasure they were looking for. A single piece out of six of the Planispheric Disc. And then they vanished into thin air. Just as it had been planned. A bird, trapped in a cage. Four kids disappearing, becoming lost in the blackness of that night. Leaving a single friend behind. The whispers of a monster in the air.

And when Fredrick went into the Sitting Room that night, no one else came. He could only sit there. Grieving. More alone than he had been in his entire life.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Sooooo....... What if I made a Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated AU for Gravity Falls...?

Like... 2 generations of mystery-solvers.

Generation 1: Stan, Ford, Fiddleford, and one other + a talking Gompers or Shanklin. (Whichever is funnier/people like the idea of more.)

Generation 2: Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy + a talking Waddles.

Instead of Gravity Falls being a weirdness magnet, it's actually just fuckin' cursed by Bill Cipher. The weirdness can still be there, but there's a LOT more weirdos running around in rubber masks.

Like... Admittedly this idea isn't the worst and the two worlds can merge together with a surprising amount of ease! I would have to iron out a LOT of little things. But also like... Weirdly enough half of Mystery Incorporated hinges on mean-spiritedness...? And I just don't want to subject the Gravity Falls cast to that... >.< But it could be... Interesting... >.>

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Me right now I just.... HNNNNNNG!!!!! I'm in between hyperfixations right now and it's insufferable for me and my brain!!! Auuuugh!

Right now my brain is craving something with cults of some form. Preferably animated. Possibly a mystery something. But I know that it's quite unlikely that I'll find something with those specifications. But still. I figured that I might as well try to ask if anyone knows a good series of those specifications. >.<

In any case, I would really REALLY like some recommendations right now! Just like... PLEASE recommend me something animated! If I haven't seen it before, I'll give it a try! I need to find myself a new hyperfixation and I just like animation A LOT!!!

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Shameless Chapter 1: Lost Part 1

[Story is also available on AO3 and can be read here.]

Fredrick Jones slowly opened his eyes, his head cradled in his arms. He had fallen asleep in the library. Again. Slowly blinking himself awake, he tried to remember... Something… There was a feeling nagging at the back of his mind that his dream had been important somehow and that he needed to remember... Something about it… But the more he tried to grasp at whatever it was that had been so important, the more it slipped between his fingers like smoke.

With a sigh he gave up, shaking the tiredness out of his body before he started to pack the books he was intending on checking out into his bag, leaving the rest behind at the table to be reshelved by the university library’s staff. However as he packed, he couldn’t help but to take notice of the group of people- Teenagers right around his age that were gathered, whispering amongst one another some distance away, only partially concealed by the stacks. He noticed that every once in a while, one or two members of the group would glance his way before quickly turning back to their friends to continue chattering amongst one another.

By accident, Fredrick met the gaze of one of the group’s members- A young man with light hair and an athletic build, dressed in shades of greenish blues. Upon realizing that their eyes had met, Fredrick narrowed them, examining the other boy with suspicion. At that, the boy blushed and turned away. Had Fredrick met these kids before? He was scouring his memory for any clue as to if he had met these people somewhere previously or if there was any reason for them to be looking his way. As he did, the pretty blond girl standing next to the athletic-looking boy turned to look at Fredrick, giving him a smile. He made no movements to return the favor as he determined that, no, he didn’t recognize this group.

“But are you, like, sure that it’s him?” A lanky boy with brown hair and the beginnings of some facial hair on his face asked the rest of the group.

“I think that it is reasonable to think that it is.” There was a parrot wearing a scarf perched on one of the lanky boy’s shoulders. Fredrick thought that it was odd to see a pet in a library like this, but soon realized that the parrot must have been one of those who could do more than just mimic human sounds completely disconnected from meaning. It must have been one of that rare breed of animals that was capable of fully human speech and intellect.

“Well, there’s only one way to check.” A black girl with thick-lensed glasses and short but natural densely curled hair said, turning from the group.

“Cassidy! Wait! We don’t want to be rude and disturb him, especially if he’s not the guy!” The lanky boy panickedly whispered. Too late for that.

Marching right up to him, the girl with glasses gave him a smile. “Excuse me, but would you happen to be Fred Jones?”

He examined her for a long moment. “Fredrick. It’s Fredrick Jones. No one calls me ‘Fred.’” He pressed, standing, fully intending on leaving.

However the girl’s excitement made him hesitate. “We’ve heard that you’re something of a Mesoamerican and colonial era American history prodigy here. Is that true?”

There was surprise and confusion clear on his face. “I wouldn’t say that I’m a prodigy, but I do study and specialize in pre-modern American history…”

She had an excited and determined look on her face at hearing that. “It’s him!” She quietly called to her friends, trying her best not to disturb the other library patrons.

-

He had been recommended to them through a friend of a friend. After finding the scroll, the gang were excited to figure out what it was, but for as brilliant as Professor Pericles was, he didn't even know where to start with deciphering it. The scroll was decorated with mesoamerican iconography, and was inscribed in at least three different languages, Pericles only able to read one of them. The least useful one of them at that. And if Professor Pericles, their supergenius parrot friend couldn’t make heads or tails of it, then none of the others had even a hope of being able to read it. For as brilliant as Mystery Incorporated could be when they put their heads together, it was just a fact that this was completely out of any of their wheelhouses. So they needed to find a specialist.

It was hard to pin down exactly where they first heard about him from. Some weird kid their age from out of town who had graduated high school early and was now attending Darrow University. Something of a recluse, he could often be found sleeping in the library, knee deep in a pile of books. But when it came to the colonial era, or mesoamerican history, he was apparently the guy to talk to.

When they first met him, it was more than a promising start. He could read it. He even knew what the scroll was. And as he studied and talked about it, there was a burning in his eyes.

Something about his eyes made Professor Pericles curious. There was something about them that felt… Empty. Perhaps there was Something like a hollow apathy behind them. And he always looked tired, which as they got to know Fredrick Jones more, the more they would worry and advise him to get some sleep. A suggestion that he waved off every time.

From the first moment Professor Pericles had met Fredrick Jones, he was hopeful, thinking that he had found another kindred spirit.

“A Planispheric disc. It’s a kind of navigational tool that was used by some sailors throughout the 1400’s. They’re exceedingly rare, actually. They were thought to be magic and able to transcribe themselves with each location that it went to. They were made to be able to split into six pieces. Presently no one knows if a complete one is still in existence.”

“Why six?” The pretty blond girl, Judy asked.

He shrugged. “It’s said that each piece represents a sacred role. The Patron. The Champion. The Beloved. The Dreamer. The Mind. And the Outsider. There are stories that groups of heroes have appeared throughout history and that each of them bore one of these titles. It says here that the knowledge that this Planispheric Disc possesses must not fall into the wrong hands. Therefore one must embody all of these roles to be able to find and put together these pieces. That’s what the alchemical documents say at least. But that’s all just superstition. None of it really matters.”

“So… That's all well and good and all, but what are we supposed to do with this Planispheric Disc once we find it?”

“Oh. So you didn’t figure it out yet?”

“Figure what out?”

“This is essentially a treasure map to the pieces of the Planispheric Disc. And the Planispheric Disc itself is a treasure map of sorts.”

“Okay, that’s cool and all. But where do all of these treasure maps lead to? More treasure maps?”

Fredrick gave the athletic boy whose name he had just learned was Brad an eager smile that quickened Brad’s heart rate. “Have you ever heard the legend of the Treasure of Crystal Cove?”

“That old story?”

Fredrick nodded. “The treasure is real. Find the Planispheric Disc and you can find the famed Treasure of Crystal Cove.”

And so they agreed to work on the scroll together. Fredrick would provide translations, and Professor Pericles would try to calculate coordinates from those translations. Though they all knew that this was going to be a slow process. The scroll was meant to be used by a person who already had a piece of the Planispheric disc. So it was going to be an uphill battle.

“So why didn’t you tell them what it was?” Fredrick had pulled the bird aside after their first meeting.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“You knew what the scroll is. You didn’t need me to tell you. So why did you keep it a secret?”

“My friends… They love a good mystery. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“If you say so.”

“So what do you think of the warning?”

“There was one in German too?”

“Yes. It said to not search for the treasure and to beware the Curse of Crystal Cove. What do you think of it?”

Fredrick shrugged. “Just an old superstition. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. But I think that they’re laying it on a bit thick. I saw at least another five warnings. There’s probably more if I looked for them. Don’t tell me that you believe in curses.”

-

Professor Pericles really did start liking his partner in trying to decipher the scroll. As it turned out, he had been looking into the treasure of Crystal Cove for a while already, so he couldn’t have been much more of a perfect match. And as they continued their work, the group started to get closer to their new acquaintance and eventually they started to invite him to hang out with them outside of this particular mystery. It was a gesture that he seemed confused by, but one that he was obviously grateful for. And eventually they started calling him their friend. He even went on a mystery or two with them, albeit mostly because they were down a member.

“Well… It’s kinda just always been the five of us…” Ricky insisted, his voice faltering and soft as he tried not to offend.

“It’s alright. I get it. You’ve all been friends since forever. You don’t know me that well. I’m just a bench player. A substitute for when you need one. Now that you’re all back together, you don’t need me anymore. I wouldn’t want to get in the way.”

“Fredrick… You don’t have to go…”

“It’s okay. Honest. I have a lot of things that I could be doing instead. Trust me. I’m fine.” There was something emotionless and surprisingly lacking hurt by how he talked about it. “I personally have no intentions of super-subbing for you guys any time soon.”

“Well, maybe we could use a super-sub sometimes. Though I didn’t exactly take you for a bottom, Fredrick.” Judy teased, nudging his arm.

“Ew. Gross.” Fredrick stuck his tongue out in mock disgust, but was smiling despite himself. They all shared a moment of laughter before turning serious once more.

“But really... It was fun having you around… I hope that we can do this again sometime.”

“You want Brad here to run off and refuse to go on another mystery again sometime? Wouldn’t expect that from you, Judy, but whatever floats your boat.”

-

And after a while, he started to become a greatly appreciated asset for their team. Professor Pericles even came to admire his work ethic.

“Why do I want to find the treasure…? Well… I guess that the fame, wealth, and glory that would come with it would be pretty nice. I mean, if you solve the mystery and find the treasure, someone would probably put you into a history book somewhere. You’d get to have your own display and plaque about you in the Crystal Cove Museum. But mostly… I guess that at this point… I just have to know.” He clenched a hand, his manner becoming more intense than usual. “I have to learn the secrets. I want to know everything that this treasure has to offer. I need to find it… I must find the pieces of the Planispheric Disc… I need to see that treasure with my own eyes… Or I'll at least die trying.”

It was like he was being pulled by some innate desire to keep working on this, even as everyone else grew tired of the search. It sometimes even felt like he had an unnatural compulsion to search for it. But it kept them going. Kept their morale up, even when it felt like they were finding nothing but dead ends. Pushed them to keep trying harder. And it was good. But it couldn’t last forever.

-

It was unclear when things first started to take a turn. Maybe things had always been rotting at their core but they realized it only too late. As time went on, Mystery Incorporated had the feeling that someone or something was watching them from the shadows. It wasn't a persistent feeling. But sometimes they thought that they caught the sight of something. Matted hair. A horn. A crooked mouth. Eyes glaring at them from where it was just a little too dark for them to see. But for the most part, they just pushed it aside. They were probably just imagining things. There was a lot of talk about curses between them lately, so while their minds were conjuring up monsters and people envying their gains, it was probably just in their minds. Some wild animal at most. They were wrong, but they wouldn’t have known. The first time anyone fully realized that something might have been wrong was when the nightmares started.

Professor Pericles was the first victim. The animal patron always is.

He had found himself in a strange place. Halls of curtains, black and white tile floor. An unseen ceiling, stretching up so high that you might think that it just gave way to empty sky. And just as he was starting to get some kind of bearings, he heard a monsterous growl some distance behind him, making him fly. He didn’t know how far he had come from his starting point, and he was clearly lost. He didn’t dare to look back. If he did, it might give the monster time to gain on him. He didn’t know what was happening. What would happen if he was caught. But as he was flying, his thoughts and panic were taking hold of him, and he didn’t fully notice two hands pop out from behind one of the curtains, grabbing him out of the air.

Pulling the parrot through the curtain, Pericles could feel that whoever it was had pinned his wings to his side, and while the grip was firm, it wasn’t hurting him. Once he stopped struggling enough to see who had grabbed him, realizing that whoever it was didn’t intend to hurt him, he looked to see Fredrick. Taking one hand, while still keeping a reassuring grip on the bird with the other, Fredrick put a finger to his lips. A soundless sush.

The two listened as the monster got closer and closer. Heavy footprints. The sound of deep breathing. A low growl. The shadow of a hulking, humanoid mass could be seen on the other side of the curtain. It paused just in front of the entryway the two were hiding behind. Was it smelling the air for them? But just as the tension was getting to the parrot and he wanted to scream for help, the monster passed them by with dragging movements. Once they couldn’t hear it anymore, the two let out a shared breath of relief.

“Okay. Good. It’s decided to leave us alone.”

“Decided to… What was that? Where are we?!”

Fredrick merely sighed, letting the bird go. Now that they weren’t pressed against the wall by the entryway as they were being pursued by some creature, Pericles saw that they were in a room, velvety chairs and the like scattered about. Fredrick took a seat on a somewhat long ottoman and patiently waited for Pericles to make himself comfortable. There was a sadness clear in Fredrick’s eyes.

Professor Pericles couldn’t help but to find himself drawn to those eyes again. They still had an empty quality to them, but now they were somehow different. Where he had seen emptiness before, there was something there, but in its place, something else was missing. Where there had been apathy and a terrifying sort of determination, there was now something far more gentle about them.

Pericles perched himself on the arm of a chair, tucking his legs underneath him. Once he was settled, Fredrick smiled at him, a certain kind of grief in his manner. “So… You’re here now… That’s a real shame… It’s started for you… I can’t help but feel a bit responsible…”

“What are you…? Fredrick, where are we?” He insisted again.

“Well… you’re dreaming.”

“Oh… So none of this is real. Thank goodness. A monster like that can’t...”

“Oh. No. This is all still very real. You just also happen to be asleep right now. You can give it a try if you like. You can usually control normal dreams once you become aware of it. But you’ll find that you don’t have any control in here. This place is called the Sitting Room. It’s somewhere between an alternate reality and a dream… And I really wish that you weren’t here…”

“Fredrick… What…?” The bird was something at a loss of words.

Fredrick sighed in response. “I guess that since I put you into this mess… That I have a duty to tell you what’s going on.”

“You what?”

“ This ” he indicated to the room around them. “Is the curse of the lost treasure of Crystal Cove. You really should’ve listened to the warnings…”

“Curse? You can’t be serious… You don’t actually believe in curses, do you?”

“Oh. I don’t just believe in them. I know that curses are real. My other self was lying to you before. Your being here is a sign that the curse is starting to take hold of you… You need to stop looking for the treasure now. I don’t care if you take the scroll away and hide or destroy it, or if you just leave it to the other me. But you need to stop. Please. There’s still a chance for you… That’s your only chance.”

Pericles listened with confusion clear in his manner. “I don’t know that I understand.”

“Okay. It’s actually pretty simple, really. The more you search for and desire the treasure of Crystal Cove, the more the curse effects you, the more you become tied to this room. First it brings you here once every few nights. If you keep searching for the treasure, you’ll keep coming here until…”

“Until…?”

“I’m trapped in here… Professor… I… If you spend enough time in here, eventually this place will split you into pieces and keep one of them here. Trapped. Forever. It takes something important from your waking self… And you can’t act on or feel that part of you anymore while you’re awake. The more you keep searching… The more you want the treasure… The more it takes away from you.” Fredrick wrapped his arms around himself as if that would help to hold himself together. “It’s too late for me… My other self… My waking self… He’s obsessed with that treasure… He’s already traded so much of himself… Of me away to get the information… To get his hands on it... Please… Don’t end up like me… Don’t let the others end up like me either… You still have a chance. A choice. You can stop the search. You’ll be fine. You can all go back and continue to live your normal lives… But If you keep going on this path, this treasure will haunt you and begin to dominate your life.”

“Why are you telling me this…?”

“... Because you’re my friend…? Because you’re all my friends… You’re important to me and… And I love all of you… That’s never really happened to me before... I don’t think that either of us expected to actually end up caring about you all… I gave you all this cursed information. If anything happens… It’ll be my fault... But my other self wants you to succumb to the curse… It’ll be easier for him to find the treasure if you succumb to the curse… If you become like me… If you want to find it as much as he does… You’ll be bound to this place… We would be bound together. Forever. But you’re my friends! Aren’t I supposed to look out for and take care of you? I don’t want you to end up like this… Existing in halves like this… It’s agony… You don’t deserve this… So please...”

“How do I know that any of this is real?”

“... I don’t know that you can… You mostly just have to trust me on this one… You can read the warnings for yourself… I’ve translated and transcribed just about all the ones that I’ve found… I’ll try to think of anything more concrete to convince you…”

It was then that a growl could be heard rumbling throughout the maze.

“What was that?” Pericles asked, panicked.

“It’s just the monster. He’s coming back.”

“What!? I thought that we lost him!”

“I don’t really think that we lost him so much as he decided to leave us alone… I don’t know if it actually has to look for us.”

“What’s a monster like that doing in a place like this anyway?”

“Well… He’s here to discourage people like you from wanting to continue the search for the treasure… And he’s also here to punish those of us who are trapped in here… People like me…”

“There are other people in here?”

Fredrick nodded. “I hope that you never have the chance to meet them… There’s nearly an army of dead in here…”

There was another bellowing growl roaring its way through the halls. “What do we do!?”

“About the monster?” He asked going towards the entryway into this room and pulling the curtain aside. “I recommend that you start running. He can only go after one of us if we split up. I’ll do what I can to make certain that’s me.”

-

When Pericles woke up that morning, his head ached. The morning had just started and he was already feeling exhausted. When he and the rest of Mystery Incorporated met up in the private room in the library to study the scroll, Fredrick was acting completely normal.

“Can I see your translation log?” Pericles asked out of the blue as they were brainstorming what to do next.

“Uh. Alright. Sure. Here.” Fredrick handed a binder over to the bird who began to flip through the pages.

“Looking for anything specific…? It’s not exactly the most organized.”

“I’m looking for… Details on the curse…” Pericles was hesitant to admit it.

“Alright… Interesting… Well you can start…” Fredrick flipped through the pages before settling on a page that had two whole pages of warnings that he had translated. “Here. Odd subject. Don’t tell me that you’re actually starting to believe in that superstitious crap.”

“I’m not! I just… I had a strange dream last night…”

“What are you suddenly having prophetic visions?” Fredrick scoffed.

“No… You were there…”

“Oh. I’m flattered.” But he certainly didn’t sound particularly emotional one way or the other about the flattery.

“You were acting… Strangely…”

“Okay…? Dreams can be like that. Anything in particular that you want me to know about?”

“I don’t know… You were telling me… You wanted me to stop looking for the treasure… You were saying that you were cursed.”

“... And you believed that.” Fredrick looked at the parrot incredulously. “Come on. You know better than to think that dreams are real. I mean… Curses are mostly just confirmation bias. You know that, right? Reading these translations is probably just getting to your subconscious and making you have weird dreams.”

“So you really don’t have anything to do with that dream…?”

“I guess not…? What? Do you think that we share dreams or something? That’s ridiculous.”

“I guess so… We should get back to work.”

“Whatever you say, chief.”

-

The dream did return, about once a week at first. But Pericles didn’t always see Fredrick there. When he did, there was still that sad look in his eyes.

“You’re still looking for the treasure.”

“Yes. And this is just a dream. You’re just a figment of my imagination, probably born out of my mind internalizing the details of that supposed curse.”

“I wish that you were right about that. My other self was lying to you. He remembers these dreams just about as well as you do. I don’t want to add fuel to the fire, but he’s trying to gaslight you. You probably shouldn’t listen to him when it comes to this kind of stuff.”

“You still haven’t proved that this is real…”

“I know… But him and I... We both know the same things. We have the same knowledge. I’m just… Different from him… So how am I supposed to give you instructions that prove that this is real that he can’t interfere with?”

“That’s not my problem.”

“What about the fact that you’ve been having this dream over and over again?”

“Reoccurring nightmares are a phenomenon that happens. If this is real, why haven’t you been in here to keep trying to get me to stop?”

“... I can’t control my other self… He’s been intentionally messing with our sleep schedule to make it less likely that we’ll meet… We’ve been staying up all night. Sleeping during class and any small moment he can find. He doesn’t sleep much anyway In the first place… These nightmares… That monster… He tries to avoid being here… Being me as much as he can… He… He hates me… He hates being me… I understand why. I don’t blame him. I mean, I am him after all, but it still stings to know that he despises me, everything that used to come so naturally to him…”

Pericles looked a little confused. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Remember how I told you that this place breaks you into pieces and keeps one trapped in here?”

“Yes?”

“What I didn’t fully explain is that it takes the very best parts of yourself first. It finds the piece of you that is most important to who you are and what pushes you to be your best self… Your load bearing traits you could say, and then takes that from you.”

“So… If this is true… What did it trap here for you?”

“I’m not quite certain that I know what I am… But I have something to do with embarrassment and shame…? I embody some form of restraint…? I don’t know if I have the right word for it though… If you want proof of this being real, that’s what you can do… Try to embarrass my other self. You’ll find that you can’t…”

“I… I guess that I’ll try to keep that in mind…”

“Thank you. That’s all that I ask…”

And to his credit, Pericles started to pay attention to how Fredrick acted on a day to day basis. Fredrick responded… Oddly to teasing and insults. He didn’t have any particularly impassioned response either way. Sometimes it looked like he was trying to push himself to act embarrassed, but it was never particularly convincing. And when he was found in compromising situations, he certainly didn’t act ashamed, usually having a good sense of humor about it. His reactions were indeed not quite right, and he didn’t seem to get embarrassed hardly ever if at all. But maybe that’s just how he was. Some people out there are more shameless than others and don’t get embarrassed. Maybe he was just one of those people.

-

“What’s that?" Fredrick asked peering over Cassidy’s shoulder as she scribbled a figure onto the pad of paper. But before she could answer...

“It’s the Freak!” Brad answered for her, popping his head out from behind a pile of books and reference materials.

“Freak…?”

“Brad!” Judy said in a scolding tone from next to him. “Sorry about that, Cassidy, go on.”

Cassidy was holding back an amused grin. “Oh, no. It’s alright. I guess that you can call him that.”

“Told you it was a good name.” Brad cheekily grinned at his girlfriend who playfully pretended to hit his arm.

Ignoring the two as they began to mutter silly flirtations under their breaths to each other, Cassidy explained, “We’ve been talking lately and compiled all of our accounts, and if it was real, this is what we think the thing that’s been following us would look like.”

“Well, that is one freaky looking… Guy? Creature? But he isn’t real, right?”

“Of course he’s not.” A very tired-looking Ricky sighed, rolling his head over to look at them. “All of this cursed treasure and supernatural, magical scroll things are just getting to us.”

“Hey! I know what I saw!” Brad insisted. “Bears don’t usually wear whatever that… Frilly… Suit… Thing is!”

“I don’t know what you saw, but It was dark. The moonlight was just playing tricks with your eyes,” Ricky muttered, rolling back onto his face.

“What’s up with him?” Fredrick asked in a mutter to Cassidy.

“Didn’t get much sleep last night.” She muttered back, but clearly Ricky heard it anyway.

“Pericles had another nightmare last night. He was chirping in his sleep all night long… Didn’t get much sleep…”

“Oh. That’s probably not good.”

“Like you’re one to talk. How much sleep did you get last night?” Ricky muttered to Fredrick.

After a long pause he answered, “I didn’t sleep last night...”

“Exactly! You don’t get to say anything about how much sleep I get until you fix that fucked-up sleep schedule of yours!”

“I mean, fair… But I have gotten some sleep today! I slept for an hour during my global environmental history class and another hour during lunch!”

“How are you not flunking out of college yet?” Cassidy sighed.

“I’ve got that big brain, duh.” He joked.

“Fredrick!” Judy piped up, disapproval in her voice. “You said that you’d stop sleeping through that class!”

“No, I said that I would stop sleeping through it when they stopped talking about Europe. The professor started talking about pre-colonial North America for a week and then he went straight back to Western Europe! And so that counts. I can sleep through it if I want. Isn’t that right, Brad?”

“Yeah! Stick it to the man! Sleeping through that class is fighting against…. What was that word again?”

Judy sighed as she and Fredrick said the word in unison. “Eurocentrism.”

“Yeah! That’s it!”

“See Judy? Brad’s got my back” Fredrick teased with a grin.

She rolled her eyes pretending to be upset before pinching Fredrick’s cheek, a smile pretty clear on her face. “You’re just lucky that you’re too cute for me to be mad at you.”

“Hey! I’ll take it!”

Turning to the nearly passed out Ricky, Judy asked, “so did he ever tell you what this nightmare was about?”

“Apparently it’s some reoccurring nightmare…” He muttered before finally lifting his head off of the table. “He did mention that you were in it, Fredrick.” Ricky mentioned, looking at him.

“I think that he mentioned that to me before.”

“Isn’t it so nice to be popular?” Ricky was joking as he rolled his eyes.

“Guess that I’m just the man of his dreams!” He grinned.

-

But as time passed, things were not getting much better for the party’s parrot friend. If anything, they were getting worse as the nightmares became a nearly nightly occurrence.

Pericles was trying to get some bearings on how to find his way around. He didn’t always awake in the same location, and he always woke up alone. He was just going through the halls one day when he came across a very strange room indeed. It was a room full of people, standing so still you could mistake them for statues. Had he seen these people before? There was something about them that pulled at Pericles’ memory but he wasn’t entirely certain that he could remember what it was.

However there was one statue among the rest that he did recognize.

Pericles looked at the man curiously before deciding to land on his shoulder. His was as good of a place as any to rest as he tried to decide where to go next. But the moment he touched the statue, he came to life with a start.

Fredrick sucked in a lungful of air as he awoke as his other self, clearly startled. “Ah! Fuck! What just…? Professor Pericles? What are… Okay. That’s a weird feeling. I’m suddenly sober now… So that’s why they hate being touched.”

Pericles was forced to flap away, as his perch just came to life. “Fredrick! What were you doing standing so still like that!?”

Putting his hands out in front of him, Fredrick allowed himself to be a perch for Pericles to rest on so that he didn’t have to keep himself suspended in the air as he talked. “I was just at a fraternity party! A pretty wild one at that… I guess that you touching me here made me wake up… Well… Pass out in the real world… I hope they don’t do anything to my body while I’m asleep…”

“You’re not old enough to drink.”

“I know. But come on. I live in a frat house. You can’t honestly expect me to not participate sometimes at least! Besides, I’m not going to do anything too stupid. Pinky promise. Don’t be a narc.”

Pericles sighed. “Fine. But where are we?”

“Here? This is just where many people who’re trapped here decided to stay. It’s where I usually stay while my other self is awake. I suppose that you could say that this is where we all, ‘sleep’ so to speak.”

“Sleep?”

“Well… For me at least, it’s kinda hard and impossible to be awake in both dimensions? So when I’m awake here, my other self is sleeping. This is sort of a dream after all. And so that means that when my other self is awake, I ‘go to sleep.’ But it doesn’t really look like normal sleep… You getting this?”

“I think so…”

“Basically when you saw me standing here, my other half was awake and that’s what it looks like when I’m asleep in this reality.”

“Okay… And so who are all of these people?”

“Everyone else who has succumbed to the curse.” He began to point to the different parties. “Fernando El Aguirre and his men, the Hunters of Secrets, the Benevolent Lodge of Mystery, La Alianza Misterio, Fraternitas Misterium… And me... I was hoping that you would never get the chance to see them…”

“That is a lot of people.”

“Yes… The curse has claimed a lot of victims…”

“They look so realistic… Almost like they’re alive…” Pericles started to flap towards one of the Fraternitas Misterium and was about to land on his shoulder before Fredrick grabbed him out of the air. However his feathers managed to just brush the monk’s cheek.

“Pericles! You can’t just go up to one of them like that!” Fredrick scolded as the monk was startled awake. “They’re sleeping!” Turning to the monk he said, “Ignosce mihi, quia avis est amicus meus. Doleo pro eo. Doleo. Is novus est. Putat hoc malum esse somnium. Non credit hunc locum esse verum.” 

In return the monk said, “Scilicet concessum est. Vellem extendere et movere. Sed triste est videre proximum animal maledictioni patronorum succumbere. Sed si maledictus erit nobis similis et in principio sequentis coetus, cur iam hic coram eo captus es?”

“Ego sum Foris. Sextus socius sum. Numquam ero fragmen Cordis Onagri.”

“Ah. Video. Quam miserum est tibi vigilare amicos tuos, succumbere maledictioni circa te, quin possis adiuvare, Extraneus.”

“Maledictio nonrapuit eos. Nondum.”

“O! Id quod placet audire! Sed habeo quaerere- Anglice loqui possum. Paucis centum annis illud exercui. Quid vis mihi in hac lingua tam aliena a te loqui?”

“Sum valde perturbatus est hic amicus. Si insultare ei forte, sermone uti mallem quam non intelligat.”

The monk laughed. “Valde interesting responsum! Forsitan erit nice tecum loqui semel mortuus es cum ceteris nobis. Opto tibi optimam fortunam in eam convertendo et alios amicos tuos in via.” And with that, the monk started walking away, out of the room and out of sight.

“That was an actual person…” Pericles sounded shaken.

“Well… They’re all people…”

“All of them? So any one of these… People around us could just wake up, start moving around, and walk out of here?”

“Of course. I mean, not even everyone is in here right now. Actually a lot of people decide to not sleep here at all. So please be a bit considerate and try not to wake them up.”

“Wait… These people… They’re all dead… And they have firsthand experience from the times that they lived in…! You must be fascinated and love this!”

“I mean, I kinda do but… Since they’re dead, they don’t really like talking to those of us who are still living for the most part. I’ve tried to have a few conversations with them, but they mostly tend to tell me to go away and let them go back to sleep.”

“Oh…  I wonder why I’m dreaming this… This would all be very interesting if this was real.”

“Pericles… Please stop listening to my other self… Isn’t it obvious that this is getting worse for you? Ricky says that you’re having this nightmare almost every night. Things like this don’t usually happen…”

“No. What you’re suggesting is fairies and curses and magic. That’s impossible. There has to be a logical explanation to this… Besides! I can’t stop now! We’re getting so close… Any day now, we’re finally going to land on the right coordinates…”

“And you think that all of this will be worth it?”

“Maybe. It’s a mystery. We’re Mystery Incorporated. We can’t just leave something like this hanging…”

Fredrick sighed. “I wish that I could, but I can’t make you stop… Pericles… It’s fine to let things be sometimes. To let things remain unsolved. Not everything needs an answer, and those answers don’t always have to be discovered by you.”

“Do you hear yourself right now? Do you actually believe that it’s better to let things just stay the way they are? When crimes are being committed and you’re the only one who sees beyond the theatrics… You think that it’s better to just let it go!?”

Fredrick remained silent. Pericles was right, but he wished so badly that he wasn’t. “It’s stubbornness like that that got me trapped in here, you know…”

“Fredrick, you know that we can’t let this go… If for nothing other than to stop future generations from trying to find this treasure themselves.”

“Fine… And what about the monster? Is being chased by the monster for the rest of eternity worth it?”

“None of this is real. That monster is probably just reflecting the image of the thing that we keep imagining is following us on our mysteries…”

Fredrick scoffed. “I based that costume off of what I saw in my nightmares. In this nightmare. Not the other way around.”

“Costume…?”

“Something has been following you…” There was a heavy shame in his voice. “And that something is me . That ‘Freak’ as you’ve all started to call him… That’s me…”

“That’s not true.”

“I mean… I don’t think that I have any chance of convincing you otherwise anymore… But please reconsider. Please at least just humor the thought that all of this is real.”

“Maybe.”

“... That’s all I ask… Just… When you wake up, ask my other self how my hangover is, would you?”

-

And things just kept going on like that. Pericles, Fredrick, and the gang would continue their work on the scroll during the day, while by night Pericles had nightmares that he was being pursued by a monster which were broken up by the occasional conversation with a different Fredrick who would try to sway him into stopping the search for the treasure. But one day, everything changed.

When Pericles awoke in the Sitting Room that night, he found himself in the same room where he had left Fredrick in the night before as he awoke in the real world. That didn’t tend to happen. And sitting on a chair near him, Fredrick sat. Usually they had to find each other. But here he was. He was already awake and when Pericles came to life in this dimension there was a great sadness in his eyes as he turned to look at the bird.

“Fredrick? You’re already up? You’re here… How did you know where I was going to wake up?”

“You never left…” There was a somber tone to his voice.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The curse has claimed you… That… Thing has made you another one of his puppets, just like me… You’re trapped here… I’m sorry, but you can’t say that I didn’t warn and try to stop you…”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am. When you woke up in the real world today, you just stayed here… You’ve always vanished before. But not this time. Some part of you was left behind last night… Your waking self isn’t getting it back… I’m really sorry…” His voice was so weak when he said those last words...

“But this isn’t real.”

“Did something feel off about you today?”

The bird tilted his head in curiosity.

“You almost don’t recognize it at first. At least that’s what I experienced. You just feel a little off. You say or do some things that you wouldn’t expect out of yourself. You start thinking a little differently and after a while, it feels normal. But when you come back here, you can feel a difference. There’s just a little bit of emptiness in your waking self’s heart that isn’t felt nearly as strongly here. No one told me this, mind you. I had to figure it out on my own. Something must’ve felt off about you today. For me it was being rude and doing things that I never thought that I could ever be talked into doing… And I would just do them on a whim.”

Pericles’ eyes flicked to the floor. Fredrick was right. Something had felt off about him today. He spoke more frankly and cruelty to his friends than he usually did. And for some reason he wasn’t looking at them the same way that he had been for years. He didn’t understand it, but he was seeing his friends in shades that only highlighted their flaws. He chalked it up to him not getting enough sleep the night before and being tired. But maybe Fredrick was right.

“When you wake up as your other self, focus on what that missing part is. I wasn’t able to prove that this was all real before but now… You’ll feel that emptiness… I’m sorry that I pulled you into this…”

-

That next day, Pericles did feel a difference within himself, though he was having a hard time putting his feathers on exactly what it was. But soon that fell to the wayside as a new mystery had fallen into their lap. Something had been sulking around down in the Crystal Cove caves and that night, it was an easy job of capturing it and sending him off to the police for processing.

Mystery Incorporated were chatting, laughing as they wandered the caves, knowing a shortcut home through them, still basking in the glow of their victory. For his part Pericles was quiet as he sat perched on Ricky’s shoulder. He was feeling troubled. However their celebration was cut short when they heard a rasping laugh echo around them.

The group all froze in their places as they looked around them for the source of the noise, except for Pericles who took flight to get a better view of the caves around them. Suddenly the darkness around them felt oppressive and the light from their flashlights too dim. They had solved the mystery. Right? They thought that they were in the clear that there was no more danger. What they didn’t realize was that someone had been watching them go about their usual routine with intense interest, waiting for them to let down their guards.

“Long have I been watching you. Since that first day down in the pews.

The lost treasure of Crystal Cove, Into its tale you foolishly dove.

As you’ve ignored that kindly verse Warning you of the treasure’s curse,

You must cease your searching now, Or your life will end. Of this I vow.

I’m here before you to make you see, That the next Freak you’ll face is me.”

The voice seemed to be coming from all around them as they continued to shine their flashlights into the dark to catch a glimpse of whatever this thing in here with them was. Brad put an arm in front of Judy to protect her, not realizing that she had already turned to watch his back. Ricky for his part shrank behind Cassidy, grabbing her arm, ready to start pulling her away at the first sign of danger while she stood firm, unafraid. Pericles was still fluttering in the air in between the two couples.

“Who are you!?” Cassidy demanded, taking a step towards the darkness. “Show yourself!”

They heard a shuffle of feet and rocks clattering as they came loose under some kind of weight. Before something heavy landed in front of them.

The group shined their lights on a thing that could only be called a monster. It was so much like Cassidy’s drawings, only horrifyingly come to life. A cruel smile spread its way across its broken mouth, leaking into its crooked eyes.

“Who… What are you?!” A shaking Ricky asked from behind Cassidy, his grip on her arm growing tighter as his worry for his friends grew.

It let out a rough, heaving laugh. “No name.” It's movements were unnatural and jerking. “You!” The thing pointed at Brad with a long, gnarled fingernail.

Brad looked concerned. “Me?” he asked in a rather alarmed tone.

The creature nodded. “Called me, ‘Freak.’”

“Oh! Uh… Sorry about that! But I didn’t actually know that you were… Real...”

It let out a chuckle that could easily be mistaken for a cough. “‘Freak.’ Sounds good. I like.” The Freak took a sliding step closer to them. “I am the Freak of Crystal Cove. Leave. Stop searching for the treasure.”

“The treasure?”

The not quite human-looking creature nodded. “You.” It looked at them all evenly. “Not ready for the curse.” It shook its head. “Stop. You still can.”

However if anything, that made the group want to dig their heels in even more, and it showed clearly in their manner.

“No listen? Fine. I protect treasure. Treasure is mine . You will regret. I watch. Always. See you soon.” The last sentence was said in an almost sweet kind of tone.

The group only had a second to react before the Freak darted between them, taking them by surprise. Cassidy tried to come at the monster, but Ricky pulled her back, and while Brad and Judy both went in to grab it, they missed.

All of them falling to the ground, they looked at eachother, shadows thrown across their faces.

“What was that?” Ricky asked with a shaking voice.

“... The Freak…” Cassidy let out a resigned sigh pulling her knees closer to her.

“Hah! I told you that he was real!” Brad couldn’t help but to burst out, just making Cassidy shake her head.

“Alright, Brad. You were right… I was wrong… That thing…” Cassidy trailed off as the others looked at each other in the silence.

It was Judy who broke it. “Where’s Professor Pericles?”

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Shameless Prologue

I thought that I couldn’t love anyone. But then I had you.

I thought that I wasn’t anyone. But then I loved you.

Before you, I thought I had no one. Because of you, I got to have everyone.

It’s such a shame…

Because even though you loved everyone. You didn’t have me.

[Full story can also be read here on AO3]

[maniacwatchestheworld]

I am trans and now that orange man won presidency again, I need to be deeply annoying to everyone and anyone that voted for him.

If you're upset about the election results... I highly encourage you to just go outside and scream for a bit. Just go out there in public and just. Scream. Scream to the sky where everyone can hear it. This sucks. Let's not be quiet about it.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

I am very VERY tempted to make the Fred Jones' Parents' polycule in the Sims right now. :p

Problem is that I know next to nothing about Victoria and William (if I am to do the full polycule! Which of course, I must!!!) and I have about -4 interest in watching Velma to find out... Maybe I should just make things up about them just for fun lol.

Also is there any way to make a child of the polycule that is related to everyone...? (Except for Fred Sr because its funny lol.) I just think it would be deeply funny if Fred is the biological son of 6 parents.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Just out of curiosity, if you were to be a goon for a Batman villain, who would you want to hench for!???

Because like... Just because one Rogue or another is your favorite, that does NOT mean that you'd want to work for them! Like Two-Face may be my favorite Batman Rogue, but I would NOT want to hench for him! There would just be too high of a probability of getting murdered! If I manage to piss Harvey and Two-Face off, I have abouts a 50/50 chance of them killing me. I would pretty much only be willing to hench for 40's Two-Face... You really have to balance how much you like the rogue with the survivability of being their goon, with employment opportunities. And since I'm not a twin, I don't like my odds of surviving being one of Harvey's goons!

For me personally.... I think that I'd like to hench for ManBat! Kirk seems like a decent guy, I don't think he'd kill me, nor would he be particularly interested in putting me in danger, and hey! Sometimes he actually does hero work instead of villainous work! But mostly I'd like to hench for him because... Hey! Free horrific body modifications! :D The more changes I experience on T, the more I want to be just an absolute freak of nature! And not only would Dr. Langstrom have someone to experiment on if I henched for him, but I'm getting PAID to become an utter freak of nature!??? HELL YEAH!!! This us nothing but a win for both if us! And I'm more than happy to get Kirk some of that sweet, sweet, wholesale fruit! :D

So who would YOU like to hench for out of Batman's rogues!???

[maniacwatchestheworld]

I'm late to posting this, I know. But I still very much wanted to share my pumpkin this year!

So here it is! I mostly wanted to carve the symbol of the Society of the Blind Eye, but figured that was probably too simple... So I combined it with the idea I had to carve Bill into it! After all, that kinda feels like what the whole MO of the Society of the Blind Eye is... HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!!!

And of course, the long exposure made the lighting look absolutely unreal! So here's a shot that's closer to how it actually looks like in real life.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Just gotta say... It's kinda wonderful to see DC proving just how incredibly WRONG the Harley Quinn Show was with their assessment of the Scarecrow- Killed off in season 1 for being "too one-note." Like, Jon has lots of fans for a long time for good reason! But it kinda feels like it's only been more recently when he's actually been more living up to his potential!

Funny enough, I think that Jon may be one of the few characters out there that can actually benefit from a bit of Tumblr sexymanning! It adds nuance and silliness where many writers couldn't be bothered to put it in! And honestly, no one does Scarecrow better than the fans. u.u (Points to the Scarecrow Sexyman Tournament where the iteration from the fan podcast won. :p ) And honestly, you Scarecrow fans are so incredibly valid for loving your strange little freak of a man! I absolutely love that for you all! And honestly, it really does feel like you guys are getting some GREAT stuff lately! Jeff Goldblum Jon in Echos? That story from "I Know What You Did Last Crisis" where Jon basically hooks a couple up through the use of Fear!?? Now if only you silly little freaks could get more Audio Adventures Jon!!! I really do hope that you Scarecrow peeps are having fun lately! ^.^

Like, I'm a Two-Face fan through and through. And Harvey is only now FINALLY at long last being able to get to live up to his potential as a character! And personally I hope that Scarecrow fans are next on the docket to get their due! :V