#this could also be done with chuck e cheese

[no-see-um-incorrect]

The tags on this actually prompt a story of mine.

When I first saw Charlie’s video title and thumbnail before I knew he was a side character in bittersweet 

Completely based off of looks alone, I thought that he was a personified version of Chuck E. Cheese 

Like I thought, someone made a Chuck E. Cheese  human design and he was a character audio  just based off of looks

(Until I watched bittersweet and realized, oh no that’s not the arrangement)



[rupertholmes]

resisting the urge to buy weights rn. i need to go bear mode.

[devildom-moss]

You know that hit game FNAF?

I hope you do.

Anyways, could you write headcanons about how well the side characters would be at playing it?

Thanks <3

Okay, so I have never played this game - or really had any interest in playing it, so I watched some guy play one of the games, and I did a bit of research. Sorry this took so long! I did my best, though... I'm finally almost done with requests. I've got two more left (good news for the Solomon lovers).

The others playing FNAF headcanons (dateables + new sides)

Diavolo

Diavolo downloaded it after tuning in to one of Levi’s streams.

He found it amusing. Scary animatronics are so entertaining – although he thinks they’re more cute than scary.

Laughs in the face of jump scares and death. “Haha, look, Barbatos. The big fox one killed me. I’m dead now.” / “That’s very nice, My Lord. Did you finish your paperwork already?” / “. . .uhm.” / “You have ten seconds before we reenact your game. I’ll be the fox.”

Does not care about the lore. He’ll listen and might retain some details when Levi explains it, but he will not dig deep or look for easter eggs.

He kinda sucks, but he has a good time, and isn’t that what matters? He’s not super careful or watchful because it’s just a game. There’s nothing at stake, so he can relax and just mess around.

His favorite character is Foxy, and it’s genuinely as simple as “he’s red, and he’s a pirate.”

Barbatos

He has no interest in playing at first.

Slight aside: I think he’d like horror games, but he strikes me as more of a cinematic, artsy horror game guy – like Bramble or Little Nightmares. He also strikes me as someone who might enjoy farming sims, like he would love Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons. Pumpkin Panic would probably be a happy medium.

He’ll play if Diavolo, MC, or Luke ask him to; for anyone else, he’ll politely decline. Surprisingly, he’s not too bad. He’ll probably die once or twice, but he figures out what he has to do pretty quickly.

Barbatos doesn’t react to jump scares, and he avoids them as much as possible. He can play without moving his face – at least until one of the three people who could get him to play compliments him. In that case, he’ll smile a bit wider.

Nothing in that game could be more horrifying to Barbatos than Chuck E. Cheese – a real human world place where people take their children for some unfathomable reason. It’s run by a rat! That’s one of the reasons he won’t play if Solomon asks him too. One time Solomon loaded a Chuck E. Cheese mod version of the game that he asked Levi to make, and Barbatos nearly broke the control from fright.

Luke

The game is a little too scary for his liking, but he still plays it occasionally – just not alone. He gets more paranoid and jumpier for a few days after he plays, but he’ll insist that he’s fine to keep playing if anyone asks.

He’s not great, but he’s still the best out of everyone at Purgatory Hall. He tenses up and just either goes wide-eyed or starts yelling at the characters in the game, but other than that, at least he knows what he’s doing.

Luke likes all the toy versions of the animatronics because they look cute, but the nightmare ones freak him out.

A wave of relief washes over him once he beats a game. He’s so happy that he can finally turn the game off.

Simeon

This poor man does not understand how to play – at all. He forgets which keys do what constantly, so he can’t react fast enough.

It’s a very stressful experience for him when he tries to play – all 10 minutes or so before he loses. Simeon doesn’t get scared so much as he just repeatedly asks what he’s supposed to do with increasing urgency.

Simeon would prefer to watch someone else play, but overall, he isn’t that interested in the game.

However, Simeon does find the lore and story interesting, so if he watches Levi or Luke playing, he’ll ask them questions about the plot.

Somehow, watching Luke play makes him more anxious than when he plays – probably because he doesn’t want Luke to lose and be disappointed.

Solomon

Solomon enjoys it because it’s supposed to be dark and scary, but it doesn’t actually scare him at all – barring a few cheap jump scares. Still, he kind of likes it.

Unfortunately, Solomon kind of sucks. Like Diavolo, he finds the game so amusing that he just chuckles when things get stressful. He’s the type to hear or see something spooky in the game and do nothing just to see what happens. Okay, so maybe Solomon doesn’t suck, he just likes to see how the animatronics are going to get him – a real “oh boy, I sure hope I die” approach.

Solomon loves watching Luke play. It’s hilarious when Luke freaks out – and it’s even funnier to watch Simeon get nervous on his behalf.

Unironically thinks the nightmare versions are cute.

Thirteen

She hates jump scares so much.

She played once, and at the first jump scare, she let out a stifled shriek, pressed esc, put her cat ear headphones down, and left the room (to go find MC, probably).

No thank you. She doesn’t need that stress in her life. She will not try that again. She might watch someone else play but only if MC is there to comfort her or if it’s to laugh at Mammon for being scared.

She’s not afraid of the game, per se, she just doesn’t like being startled. She thinks the characters are cute, in a way - like creepy cute.

Raphael

He thinks it’s stupid, and he doesn’t understand why it’s so popular. Raphael doesn’t care for gaming in general – but especially horror. He doesn’t want to simulate a stressful situation for no reason. If he wanted stress, he’d call Michael.

Raphael will try the game if Luke asks him to, and he does alright, but gets bored right up until he messes something up and dies. You wouldn’t even be able to tell he was in trouble. An immoveable frown sits on his face the entire time.

When Luke asks if Raphael would like to try again, Raphael tells him that if he wants a spear-free computer, he won’t make Raphael play anymore. The message was received.

Raphael will only watch if Luke, Simeon, or Lucifer play, and even then, he would probably pass most of the time.

Mephisto

He doesn’t strike me as much of a gamer, either. If he does play games, he’d probably choose games that are visually stunning and at least semi-relaxing, like Journey or Flower (probably Zelda games too).

He would play it if Luke asked him to or if he wanted to do research on it for journalism purposes.

Mephisto does relatively well, but he likes to investigate a lot, so he gets a bit distracted and takes it slow sometimes. Unfortunately – or fortunately – he has a habit of stopping after losing once. He’ll pick up the game again some other day, but once he loses, he stops that game for the day. On one hand, Mephisto does not allow himself to get pulled into games that he loses, but it makes his progress slow.

When Mephisto plays, he bounces his leg the whole time to contain his anxiety. He appears relaxed, but he flinches at jump scares and his eyes widen when he’s actively trying not to die.

He’s super into the lore – call it journalistic curiosity or just call him a nerd.  

[decks-writing-blog]

Whatever the Fuck Benrey Is: Chapter One: Never Stayed Dead

Summary: Following the events at Black Mesa, Gordon ends up learning more about Benrey. He might even end up liking him eventually.

[A/N] This was supposed to be a one shot about Gordon and Benrey starting to get along; the start of a slow burn that still feels complete as a stand alone. And then I was gonna do more one shots along their relationship journey, each feeling complete on its own. I've done this with ships before to great success but uh... that didn't happen here. It just kept going until I had to start splitting it into chapters at which point I was invested in it. I have nothing planned so it might end up meandering at some point but that's okay, I'm working on chapter 7 now and still going strong and still enjoying writing it so the journey will take us wherever it ends up taking us.

Also, I know that Benrey seems to most often be portrayed as basically not taking damage from things but like, in the series because of how G-mod works, blood still sprays from him sometimes so I have chosen to interpret that as he takes the damage but then heals from it really quick. Which lead to other ideas that end up being rather important to how I write Benrey.

~

Upon getting hired at Black Mesa, Gordon hadn’t thought too much about the housing provided to the employees. It was a top secret research facility out in the middle of the New Mexico dessert, mostly buried under it, and a long multi-hour drive from the next nearest bit of civilization. Said bit of civilization being nothing but a small town that didn’t even have an airport. So of course the job had come with a place to live, anything else would’ve caused getting to and from work to take longer than actual work or require him and everyone else to camp out in the dessert above the facility. Now though, upon fast walking away from the Chuck E. Cheese – with Tommy’s birthday party over, capping the nightmare at last, he was finally free – he really wished he had a place to stay in Tuefort too.

Whether the living area in Black Mesa was still intact or not was hard to say for sure. But even if it was, based off the state the rest of the facility he’d seen had been in, likely it had been overrun with aliens and military goons, leaving it a horrid mess. One he wouldn’t want to clean up or just live next to even if the option had been available to him. Which it wasn’t thanks to how long the drive down there was when he didn’t even have a car currently.

Did he even have a job at Black Mesa anymore? If so did he want to keep it after all that? Even if the answer to either of those was ‘yes’ he didn’t want go back right now for sure. Not until someone else cleaned up the mess. Which should take a while, meaning he had plenty of time to think about it for now.

Instead he kept walking, trying not to think about anything other than finding Tuefort’s one hotel, if he could just remember where it was. He should still have his wallet on him under the HEV suit and thus some money, hopefully enough to rent a room long enough to figure things out.

Dressed in a blood splattered suit of what was essentially orange armor and with a hand that was hopefully not too obviously a gun at first glance, he got curious looks from passersby as he made his way down the sidewalk. There were quite a few people about too; the town was abuzz. Likely that had something to do with the military flying over to get to Black Mesa. Luckily, despite their intrigue, no one stopped him to ask questions about who he was or what he thought about the military. Tuefort’s one claim to fame was being a weird place filled with weird people so he could hopefully continue to pass as a normal type of weird person that had nothing to do with anything important. So he avoided eye contact as much as possible and held his gun hand close to try to disguise it as such.

He’d have to do something about it eventually though. Walking around with a gun for an hand might not be illegal – this was America after all, gun laws were way more lax than was probably wise – but it sure was weird. People would ask about it for sure and he didn’t want to talk about it. Could anything be done about it though? Was taking it off and replacing it with proper prosthetic an option? … If not then he would have to…

“Hey.”

He jumped, snapping to face the ally he was passing by, pointing said gun arm at the figure leaning against the wall within. Quickly, he lowered it; he couldn’t just go around pointing his gun at anyone who startled him even if the voice had sounded uncomfortably familiar. Except well, it wasn’t just the voice that was familiar.

“Benrey!” Gordon snapped the gun back up. “Why aren’t you dead? You’re supposed to be dead.” It was a struggle to keep his voice down but he didn’t want to call undue attention.

“What? Who told you I was dead?” It sounded like a genuine question but with Benrey who could possibly tell if he was genuine about anything?

“No one. We killed you or… or I thought we did.” He should’ve known better though, huh? Benrey never stayed dead.

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re a cheater but I’m better now. So where you headed? Off to steal something?”

If Gordon shot him, how much trouble would he get in? … Probably more than was worth it considering Benrey couldn’t die, not permanently anyway. “No. I’m looking for a hotel ‘cause I need a place to sleep for a while before I try to find out if any part of Black Mesa’s still operational and if I also still have a job there if so. I don’t have time for you so I’m just gonna leave now.”

Maybe it was a mistake to turn his back on whatever the fuck Benrey was but Gordon didn’t really care anymore and did it anyway, resuming heading down the sidewalk. If Benrey wanted to kill him, he would do it and Gordon couldn’t do a single thing to stop him apparently. So he was just going to do his best to not let Benrey bother him and hope that would convince him to finally leave.

“You’re headed the wrong direction.”

Gordon skid to a halt, turning to look back at Benrey as he stepped out of the ally. “What?”

“Hotel’s down that way, on the other side of town.” Benrey pointed in the opposite direction Gordon had been heading.

“Are you sending me in that direction so I’ll walk all the way to that side of town, find no hotel, forcing me to walk all the way back to this side of town again before I finally find it?”

“No. Why would I do that?”

“Because you want to make my life a living hell.”

Benrey stared at him in silence for a several seconds. Had his eyes always been that yellow and Gordon was just now noticing or was it a new thing? “Whatever, I don’t care if you believe me or not. I’m just trying to help an old pal out. Which I didn’t have to do after you cheated to beat me up. Uncool, man, uncool.” Well at least he wasn’t unphased by his defeat. Not that him being bitter about it really helped Gordon much. If anything that was bad as it gave Benrey all the more reason to target him.

“You know what? Fine. If you know where the hotel is, take me there, lead the way.” Gordon flourished his good arm in the direction Benrey had said the hotel lay in.

“Why? You planning to steal something once you’re there?”

Far too tired to play this game, Gordon didn’t take the bait. In hindsight, he should’ve never responded to such nonsense, it’s clearly what Benrey wanted. Well, with defeating Benrey for good off the table, Gordon was done playing his games. He wasn’t going to be a fun target anymore. “If you don’t know the way, that’s fine. I’m fully capable of finding it on my own.” Though he would really rather just have someone bring him there, even if it was Benrey, so he could finally get a shower and a full night’s sleep that much sooner.

More of that silent thoughtful stare, his pupils narrowing to slits. How Gordon had ever missed the fact that Benrey wasn’t human was a mystery. What was he though? Gordon would love to know but at the same time it was Benrey. No doubt he’d make any attempt to study or experiment on him a massive pain in the ass.

“I’m waiting. You gonna lead the way or no.”

“Well uh… I don’t know where it is exactly,only that it’s on the side of town closest to Black Mesa, which is over that way.” He pointed again and it was indeed the direction Black Mesa lay in.

“Great, awesome, thanks for the help.” Gordon started in that direction. If it was a trick, he’d already been walking so long already it hardly mattered. And if not, it’d get him to a place he could rest that much sooner. So it was probably worth the risk.

“You’re welcome,” Benrey said as he fell in step with Gordon, sounding as if he hadn’t picked up on the frustration and sarcasm at all.

Gordon turned his head to look at him, intending to tell him to leave but bit back on it. It wouldn’t make him leave and might give him opening to be more annoying. So instead he clamped his mouth shut, turned to look solely where he was going and kept walking. His only hope of escaping Benrey was no longer being a fun thing to play with and that meant he had to do his best to ignore Benrey and all his attempts to be a nuisance.

The silence between them held for maybe a grand total of two whole minutes before Benrey broke it. “So when’s your hand gonna grow back?”

Gordon took a breath to respond but again bit back on it. He wasn’t raising to the bait. Benrey was trying to make him angry by bringing up his missing hand again.

“I mean I know humans heal slower and stuff, it’s why everyone’s always taking my juice, ‘cause they’re impatient and don’t wanna wait, but it’s been days now so it should be starting to come back, right? Unless it can’t ‘cause the gun’s there now. I could cut that off for you if you want. Unless you wanna keep the gun, it is pretty cool. You have to promise not to steal anything with it though.”

Gordon should stay quiet, really he should, Benrey was talking nonsense, again. But even with how exhausted he was by the events of the last week, or however long that nightmare had lasted, he couldn’t just not be curious. “What do you mean ‘everyone’s always taking your… juice’?”

“I mean they’re always taking my juice. What else could that sentence mean?”

“What are they taking your juice for?” And what did he even mean by ‘juice’? But one question at a time.

“To put in health packs and stuff so they can heal up real fast when they get a boo-boo. You should really pay better attention when people are talking.”

Gordon skidded to a halt, too shocked to be annoyed by the implication he hadn’t been paying attention. “You mean the healing stuff in the health stations and health packs that Black Mesa makes are filled with your… juice?”

Benrey continued on for a couple more steps before realizing Gordon had stopped. He turned back to face him. Before he could get a word out though, Gordon interrupted.

“And before you accuse me of not paying attention again, I am paying complete and total attention. I just want clarification because I was told it was just a compound one of the teams in Black Mesa invented in a lab. There was never any mention of any juice from any… whatever the fuck you are.”

Benrey frowned, smacking his lips a couple times in seeming thought. “I told them to tell people. But yeah, they take my juice, mix it from something to make it go further and last longer, then put it in the medkits and stuff.”

He could still be lying, trying to mess with Gordon through making him believe he’d injected himself with Benrey’s ‘juice’ a fuckton of times over the years and especially in the last week. But on the other hand, he did undoubtedly have some crazy regenerative properties, healing from gunshot wounds like it was no problem, so of course someone in Black Mesa would try to harness and use that if they could. And from what he knew, a not insubstantial amount of Black Mesa’s funding had come from selling those medkits, often through shady channels if the rumors were to believed.

The realization that Benrey had been at Black Mesa as far more than a security guard wasn’t surprising as he was the exact kind of thing many of the scientists there liked to poke, study, and use. What was surprising though was that they’d managed to contain him. Congrats to them, if only they’d managed to keep him locked up.

Shaking off the shock, Gordon resumed walking. Though he moved slower than before; he was tired and not done with this conversation. So this time, Benrey falling in step next to him was exactly what he wanted. “Okay, knowing I’ve been injected with your… juice is kinda gross. I guess how gross depends on what exactly you mean by ‘juice’. Is it your blood or… or… where do they draw it from?”

Benrey shrugged. “Why do you wanna know? Gonna try to steal some to grow your hand back faster?”

Would straight from the source be enough for such a thing? The medkits and health stations could do a lot, up to and including healing bullets wounds as he’d learned the hard way, but they couldn’t grow back lost limbs. That had been stressed pretty hard in training to prevent people from getting too reckless. But even straight from the source could… “No. I may not like you but stealing your blood or… whatever you mean by ‘juice’ wouldn’t be something I want to stoop to.” Even if he did have some right to because it was Benrey who had caused his arm to get chopped off in the first place. “Gotta try to return to having some sense of morality now that I’m outta that nightmare. Besides, I doubt it would work. Unlike whatever you are, human limbs don’t grow back once they’re cut off. If you’re quick and the cut is clean enough it can sometimes be reattached but that’s the most anyone’s ever been able to do even with the medkit goo.”

“Wait, what do you mean? Of course it’s gonna grow back, it just takes longer ‘cause all your healing stuff takes longer for some reason.” Did he really not know or was he messing with Gordon, trying to get an angry raise out of him? Either way the only thing making it easy to resist the temptation to shoot him in the face was the fact so many other people were around and would see.

“No. It’s never growing back. It physically can’t grow back. My hand’s gone for good and there’s nothing I do can do to change that.” It was old news by now but saying it out loud made it more real somehow. A tinge of panic threatened to crawl up his throat and take his breath and thought away. A part of his body was gone, chopped off and replaced with a gun of all things. A tool good only for hurting and killing.

He had to stop walking and step to the side to lean against a nearby building so he could focus on just breathing. In and out… in and out… he wasn’t having a panic attack today. He was far too exhausted to put up with that. He’d freak out about it again later! Right now he just needed a place to rest and relax and that was the only thing he was going to be thinking about until he got there. Nothing else in the world existed but that goal.

It took a couple minutes but he eventually steadied himself. Full blown panic attacked averted – for the moment at least – he took one last deep breath before looking up again. Benrey stood before him, his expression unreadable as the watched Gordon. “You for real? It ain’t gonna grow back?”

Gordon was tempted to resume walking and hopefully leave him behind but… “You seriously thought it would?”

“Yep. But… I guess that explains why it’s been taking so long, huh? Humans are even weaker than I thought. Oops.” There was an emotion in his voice that his natural monotone made hard to place. “Guess you’re just gonna have to be Gordon Gunhandman now, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Don’t think about it too much! Gordon pushed off the building and resumed walking towards hopefully the hotel. He could be angry at Benrey for thinking the whole thing was just a prank, causing nothing but mild inconvenience, later when he had more energy. The sun was starting to dip towards the horizon, the sky darkening. In another couple hours it would set and the cold would creep in. Hopefully he’d be clean and in a real bed by then. While they were still walking though and to change the subject… “Do you give them your… juice,” gosh, he couldn’t believe they were still calling it that, “willingly? Like do they pay you?”

Benrey was quiet for a few seconds before replying. “They let me go wherever I want in the facility ‘long as as I cooperate.” Implying they’d otherwise force him to and then keep him locked up in whatever kind of cage they’d invented that could hold him. So no, he didn’t do it willingly, he just didn’t want to say that right now. And honestly, Gordon couldn’t blame him. Who would want to admit that kind of thing to their enemy?

Silence settled between them after that. Gordon still had questions but was too tired to try to find a way to ask them that might actually get him some sort of answer from Benrey. And perhaps, maybe, just maybe, Benrey was finally feeling guilty enough about the hand thing to make him uncomfortable enough to want to stop talking for once. That sure would be nice. Either way they didn’t exchange another word until Benrey pointed out the hotel up ahead. Thank all that was still good in the world, he hadn’t been lying about the direction.

It was old and visibly rundown on the outside. The inside though looked more modern and even if the carpeted floor looked like it could do with a deep clean, it wasn’t bad. In all it was all exactly what one should expect from cheap hotel in a small town in the middle of nowhere. To Gordon though, it might as well be the gates of heaven.

He beelined for the receptionist’s desk, before he got there though…

“Hello Gordon!”

He stopped, turning to see Dr. Coomer, Bubby, and Tommy, seemingly waiting for him as they stood from the plush chairs set off to the side.

“What took you so long?” Bubby said before turning his glare onto Benrey. “And aren’t supposed to be dead.”

“He doesn’t stay dead, remember?” Gordon interrupted before Benrey could reply and probably start something. “It’s annoying but there’s nothing we can do about it so try not let it bother you and maybe eventually he’ll get bored and go away. But why are you guys here?”

It was Tommy who answered. “Because Mr. Freeman, Black Mesa, isn’t exactly a cozy place to live anymore right now so um… we came here, looking for rooms. We wanted to invite you too but um… you ran off so fast we didn’t even know which direction you went in. But uh… it makes sense you’d come here, right? ‘Cause it’s uh… the only hotel in town. So we were waiting for you.”

“We weren’t sure if you had money to pay for your own room,” Dr. Coomer added. “So we discussed it and decided we would wait for you here to ask if you need the financial assistance. So Gordon, do you have need for us to pay for a room for you? We haven’t paid for our own rooms yet because we thought you might want to be our neighbor after all we’ve been through together.”

Gordon wouldn’t have thought they’d take the time to think he might need help affording a place to sleep for the night. They’d even sat here and waited for him after he’d rushed off and left them behind at Chuck E. Cheese. People going so far out of their way for him wasn’t something he’d ever experienced before. It was almost enough to bring tears to his eyes.

“They waited,” Bubby cut in before Gordon could do more than take a deep breath to hold back the tears, “I wanted to hurry up and get a move on.”

“He was about to get up and go looking for you,” Tommy said in an almost whisper that Bubby had to have heard though he seemed to be set on pretending he hadn’t.

“Thanks. I…I appreciate it a lot, like… yeah. But um… I should still have my wallet on me and its got my debit card in it so I should be fine. It’s uh… under the suit though. Which, I’m probably gonna need help taking off since there’s not a thingy to take it off anywhere here for obvious reasons. So uh, actually…”

“I’ll pay for your room tonight,” Tommy cut in as he trailed off.

“Thanks, I owe you one.” A big one because gosh, Gordon would just about kill for a real bed right now.

“What ‘bout me?” Benrey of course hadn’t left. “Do I get a room too?”

“Of course, I’ll pay for a room for you too.” Tommy didn’t sound at all bothered by Benrey’s presence. Not too surprising, they’d seemed to have been friends before the resonance cascade. Apparently things hadn’t changed too much.

“Well, let’s hop to it.” Dr. Coomer didn’t seem bothered either as he started for the receptionist’s desk. “Daylight’s wasting, as they say.”

Welp, seems Gordon’s time with the Science Team wasn’t done yet. He… didn’t mind though. Despite everything, he had grown fond of them and they’d been through a lot together. And they were willing to wait for him and help him out and willing to talk to the receptionist to sort out the room situation, meaning he didn’t have to. What more could he possibly ask for in friends?

“We’re currently in the middle of a big renovation project,” the receptionist was saying as Gordon, trailing along at the back of the group, caught up. “Between that and everyone here to attend the Cacti Enthusiasts Conference, there are currently only three rooms available. So, um, some of you are going to have share for at least tonight. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” Dr. Coomer was apparently in charge of the transaction. Maybe not the wisest but it was probably fine. He turned to look at Gordon. “Hello Gordon! It turns out, some of us are going to have to share a room.”

“That’s fine. I don’t care.” They’d all been sleeping in the same room since they’d met anyway. Sharing space for a little while longer wasn’t going to hurt any of them. Just as long as Gordon didn’t end up rooming with Benrey anyway.

“Dibs on bunking with Feetman.” It was almost as if Benrey had just read that thought and decided to ruin the mostly good vibes Gordon had just been feeling because of it. “Gotta make sure he don’t steal nothing.”

Gordon lifted his gun arm, pointing it at Benrey’s face. He held it there for a grand total of two seconds before lowering it though. “Fine. I don’t care.” Getting upset was what Benrey wanted from him and he wasn’t giving him that. Never again. … And besides, revealing he had a gun for an arm and Benrey was some kind of something that wasn’t human would call attention to them from the authorities. Bad in general but after how many US soldiers they’d killed, lying super low for probably the rest of their lives was wise. So he wasn’t going to cause a scene. Even if that meant putting up with god damn Benrey. If Benrey killed him in his sleep then so be it, he barely cared anymore as long as he got to sleep properly in a real bed for several hours beforehand.

~

After some discussion it was decided Dr. Coomer and Bubby would share a room too and Tommy would get one to himself because he was paying for two of them and, “Sunkist will want to share with me when she catches up.” They weren’t neighbors but they did luck into all being in the same hallway even if one of them was way at the end of it while the others two were closer to the opposite side.

They all gathered in the far room first, ostensibly to help Gordon take the HEV suit off. The only one really helping though was Tommy, though Bubby did talk through what he knew of the suit’s built in fail-safes should it need to be taken off manually which helped a lot. Dr. Coomer offered to take it off for three Play Coinstm but not wanting to go into debt in a currency he had no idea the rules of, Gordon had declined.

Partway through the process he regretted declining that offer. The suit was designed to be taken off by a machine, the means to take it off manually had been an afterthought. A just in case the world ended and thus said machine had no power and/or had been destroyed. Not exactly something anyone thought was likely to happen given Black Mesa largely being underground, making it suitable as an impromptu bomb shelter, complete with a host of backup generators not connected to the main power grid. His strong hand being replaced with a gun made it even more difficult, resulting in Tommy doing most of the work of taking it off. Making it a mortifying ordeal; he needed help getting undressed like some kind of giant toddler.

But finally after way too long, the suit was off and in a pile on the floor next to him. He suddenly felt much lighter and less sturdy, like a slight breeze could blow him over. His clothes were a rumbled, horrid, sweat stained mess but he was free at long, long last. “Thanks Tommy, I owe you big time.”

“Don’t… don’t worry about it Mr. Freeman. But, um, maybe you should take a shower before going to bed. Not that um… just, you know… a thought.”

“You stink,” Bubby said.

“I’m afraid he’s right, Gordon,” Coomer said, putting a hand on Gordon’s shoulder, “you smell like you’ve bathed in the concentrated stench of all the locker rooms in the world combined.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Gordon could tell them that they all stank too because they did but sans the suit, he did smell substantially worse. Other than the part at the waist that could be moved aside to allow the wearer to use the toilet, his body had been encased in metal for days with no break. During which he’d been running around and getting his literal hand cut off and having the single most stressful experience of his life, resulting in quite a lot of sweat that had had nowhere to go. So he did indeed reek to high heaven and as hard the bed had called to him earlier, it was now nothing compared to his need for a shower.

“I’ll uh, go do that now. Thanks again Tommy for paying for the room tonight and uh, helping get the armor off. We’ll talk more tomorrow morning, I guess. Goodnight.” With a chorus of good night from the three of them, Gordon stepped into the bathroom.

Hot showers were always nice but this one was downright magical. Even the hotel’s cheap soap and shampoo felt luxurious and smelled divine. It was awkward using his left hand but he was getting used it to and thus fairly quickly got some sort of a hang on it. He could adapt, he could make it through this. The nightmare was over, he’d survived it, everything was going to be okay now.

He washed himself multiple times, trying to get rid of every bit of dirt and grim that had stuck to his skin. Rinsing and repeating until he felt rubbed raw, then he just stood there under the hot water. It would’ve been easy to stay like that for hours and hours if not for the way the hot water easing his sore muscles also reminded him of his exhaustion. If it were the kind of shower that doubled as a tub, he’d likely have just lain down in it and gone to sleep. So it was probably for the best that it was just a stand up shower as that would’ve been dangerous and awful once the water ran cold.

Instead, with a longing sigh, he turned the water off and stepped out. The provided towels were scratchy but clean so he barely cared. Once he was about as dry as he cared to bother making himself, he took one look at his discarded clothing before putting on one of the hotel’s bathrobes instead. It was also stiff and scratchy but it was be better than going nude because he’d rather burn his old clothes than put them back on. Tomorrow he’d coordinate with the others to get them all clean clothing.

Upon stepping out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth with just his finger – the hotel had toothpaste but no toothbrushes so that was another thing he needed – he took two steps towards the bed before stopping. Somehow he’d forgotten Benrey had called dibs on bunking with him.

“You steal that?” He asked as he looked up from where he sat on one of the room’s two chair’s next to the room’s one bed. It was a big bed but still… oh no. Maybe, hopefully, he didn’t need to sleep though.

“No, it comes with the room. You can and should go take a shower now too.” Gordon gestured towards it.

Benrey lowered the remote he’d been presumably flipping through channels with based off the fact that the TV was and playing what looked to be a infomercial. “Huh? Why?”

To get him out of Gordon’s hair long enough for him to fall asleep but also…“’Cause you’re nasty.” Even if whatever he was didn’t sweat and thus body order wouldn’t be as much of an issue, he’d been through some pretty disgusting places in Black Mesa and thus needed cleansing regardless. “And don’t put those clothes back on either also because they’re nasty. There’s another couple bathrobes in there instead. We’ll get clean ones tomorrow sometime. And when you’re done, if you’re gonna kill me in my sleep, please do me a favor and at least wait until I’ve slept for like… five hours before you do it, okay?”

Benrey opened his mouth to respond but before he could get a single word out, Gordon snatched the remote from him, earning a, “Hey, rude,” instead of whatever he’d been going to say. He then turned off TV before flipping off the light and crawling into bed, keeping the remote with him to make it harder for Benrey to steal it back. Benrey said something else, his voice a protest, but as soon as Gordon’s head hit the pillow he was already starting to drift off, making his exact words indecipherable. He’d deal with Benrey tomorrow, right now he really, truly didn’t care anymore.

Chapter 2: But You Owe Me

[skyblueartt]

Can you describe your William and Henry personalities?

OHH sure thing!! It’s like having OCs with less steps LMAOO because we honestly know so little about their personalities before all of the horrors happened! I just make things up lmaooo- kinda just taking my favorite things I’ve seen from the fanbase as well as me just makin up some stuff because why not. I’m still relatively new to this fanbase so ah whatever, fuck it we ball!! Here’s my own personal interpretations of the guys

I’m also at work rn shhhh haha

William- I feel like he is VERY very charming. Eerily charming, even. Smooth talker, can say things that make him appear very personable and likeable. Is it all an act? Probably. Especially after he takes up his new “hobby” after his son dies. I feel like the man is a natural born performer. I imagine that he has a flair for the dramatics and probably has a great stage presence. I mean, he is a performer at the restaurant after all! I also like the idea that William is very egotistical, but deeply insecure. Idk, just think that’s interesting! Also- this guy is VERY eccentric and just an all around like weirdo, like I’m sure he’s very known around town. That whacky British guy who co-owns that chuck-e-cheese place popular with kiddos who is also really fuckin intelligent cuz he makes robots. Like. What a fuckin guy. Even though he’s a bit of a weirdo, since he’s so damn charming, nobody would ever think it possible for him to become this notorious fuckin killer. Terrifying! I also like to think that William has a bit of a strange sense of humor. This is self indulgent because I love dark humor and funny villains 😭

Henry- ah MAN I feel so bad for this guy. I wish we knew more about who he was before the murders! From Fnaf 6, I gather that he’s remorseful, feels guilty, sad, exhausted, and just fucking done. But who was he before everything? Idk! Personally, I LOVE to make him a nice guy who just got every damn thing in his life taken away from him, because that’s just really sad to me LMAO. :( I think Henry could look intimidating sometimes, right, like he’s a bigger guy with a beard and whatever- but he’s actually a really kindhearted guy. To me :’) though he could absolutely beat somebody up and win everytime. For sure. somebody once described him as “the personification of a bear” with how he looks and that’s so fuckin cute. I feel like he’s also got a sense of humor, and I adore imagining that he’s the only Mfer out there to encourage William’s weird ass jokes. He balances Will out, I imagine! Like yin and Yang. Not as sociable as William, I’m sure he’d rather just chill by himself with his robots (bro fuckin loves building robots). But with his loved ones, he’s super kind and funny and just a cool guy- just like, a cool dad or uncle figure. Probably would hug me so tight that I couldn’t breathe, and tbh I love that. Although AFTER Charlie’s death….oh BOY. I headcanon that he has a lot of bad coping mechanisms (alcohol), definitely shut off from the rest of the world, the “color from his life” is gone. Depressed in every sense of the word. I could yap more but I think ya get the jist!! (In my head, it’s fun to imagine Henry and post scoop Mike reconnecting because damn their lives were both ruined by the same guy. Traumatized found family!)

Not my OCs but damn do I treat them like they are😭 they are very fun characters to write and draw!

[allergictocolor]

Character Profile - Thing T. Thing

"The Thing is often observed watching the family through the balustrades of the balcony over the living room. We don't know quite who or what he is, but, whatever, he's the soul of good nature - at least, he grins perpetually and may occasionally whimper." - Chas Addams

You may have noticed a weird little guy peeking at the family from odd places in some of the comics I’ve already posted in previous character profiles. It’s okay if you didn’t see him. He’s easy to miss. In case you missed him, I’ve circled him below:

That‘s the original Thing. Charles Addams created him as a silent observer of the family. He’s never fully visible, just poking out from the bars of the balcony or a closet, or mostly buried in the snow. He serves no purpose. He isn’t a butler like Lurch, or a helping hand like Thing was on TV. There’s one comic with a sign posted in front of the mansion reading “Beware of the Thing”, which may refer to him or may just be another silly thought Charles Addams had. Nevertheless, it was used in the 1960s sitcom.

There was a comic with some helping hands switching records while the family relaxed at home. This was probably the inspiration for the hand in a box that was Thing in the sitcom. He was in a dark, plain box in the pilot (and therefore the opening credits) and a more ornate box later on, as shown below.

It wasn’t initially made clear whether there was more to Thing than what the audience could see, perhaps in some metaphysical sense. We could see an arm as far as the elbow at times, but no more than that, and never a second arm. He almost always emerged from a box, but not always the same box. He could travel between boxes in all rooms of the house and out to the mailbox. He even came out of a safe, from behind curtains, and other odd places.

Thing’s full name is Thing Thing Thing, stated by Morticia in an episode of the sitcom. According to his Wikipedia page, he’s called "Mãozinha" (Little Hand) in Brazil, "Cosa" (Thing) in Spain, "Dedos" (Fingers) in Hispanic America, "Mano" (Hand) in Italy, "La Chose" (The Thing) in French speaking countries, "Eiskaltes Händchen" (Ice Cold Hand) in German, and "Rączka" (Small Hand) in Polish. My husband likes to say that his full English name is “Thing Tentertainment Thing”. I’m not sure if people younger than 30 will get that reference. Is Chuck E. Cheese still traumatizing America’s youth?

In the 60s, Thing was played by Ted Cassidy, who also played Lurch. I don’t know if they did this because he was 6’9” tall and that made his arms long enough to reach through the boxes. Some people have noted that his height made hiding his massive body more difficult when shooting those scenes. Then there were times when Lurch had to interact with Thing. In those cases, a crew member filled in. So presumably, anyone could have done it. But it was usually Cassidy. In the credits, it said that Thing was played by “Itself”.

No one ever explains Thing’s whole deal in the TV show, where the rest of him is, or how he does anything. He gets the mail, hands Gomez cigars and lights them, makes cocktails, helps Morticia with her knitting, and does so many other helpful things around the house. When the family goes to court, he goes along in Gomez’s briefcase. And in a flashback, there’s a portrait of his parents, a male hand and a female hand. So we can safely assume that he is just a hand. Of course, the effects in the 1960s didn’t exist to have a severed hand running around. They had to use the boxes because there was no alternative.

In the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, of course it was easy to just draw a severed hand out on its own. So once those came out, it was established that Thing is just a hand. Then in the 90s movies, the technology existed to make that become a reality in live action. In the musical, an actor pulls the curtain aside while obscuring the rest of their body, thereby “playing” Thing. Later on in the musical, Thing is a prop hand on a pillow. And if you’ve seen the behind the scenes footage from Netflix’s Wednesday, you’ve seen the amazing body work that Victor Dorobantu did, in addition to CGI, to bring Thing to life.

How does he see? How does he drive a car? There’s basically no explanation for any of that. In the 2019 3D animated film, sometimes there’s an eye on Thing’s wrist, but not all the time. In the 60s sitcom, Thing falls in love with a visiting woman’s handmaiden Lady Fingers. It’s clear to the audience that he’s taken aback by her beauty, so he can definitely see her. We’re just never told how. How he’s able to do anything is, according to 2022’s Wednesday Addams “an Addams family mystery.”

Is Thing a right hand or a left hand? It depends! Ted Cassidy almost always used his right hand, but would sometimes use his left “to see if anyone would notice.” In the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, it seems to have depended on whatever the animators felt like that day. It could change from right to left, even within the same episode. In the 90s movies, he was always a right hand. In the 3D movies, he’s a left hand. In Wednesday, he’s a right hand once more.

The most surprising thing about Thing isn’t that one severed hand can do so much; it’s that he manages to steal almost every scene he’s in. Must be that five-finger discount. I can’t wait to see him steal more scenes (and who knows what else) in season two of Wednesday some time in 2025.

[therealcrustythecat]

*you find a mysterious pizza from a the chuck e cheese connected to the dumpster (or ig a nearby one since the building probably changed in the past 46 years) theres a sticky note on the box that reads "u shod com back, i miss u -big C"*

Aw nice, food!

And uhh, I wish I could go back and see everyone again, but I think I've done enough damage to them all

Seem it's been hard for them with me gone

Also, Chuck would NEVER right a note like that, it's too nice to me to be a note from him, so I don't really trust it...

And I'm definitely not near the Pizza Time Theater, I'm FAAAR away from it, but why I am is a story for another time

[im-s0rry]

Deltarune Secret Boss Concept You Can Steal 2

I had a weirdly lesser done concept for an Ice-E's Secret Boss today. I know we all love our Ice-Es but as secret bosses (heck I have one too) but I had a pretty fun idea for an idea for an Ice-E's Boss. And it revolves around an old tale, stop me if you've heard this before. In several arcades, new arcade machines were wheeled in by strange men. These machines were said to be addictive and had adverse effects to playing the game too much. Eventually, as soon as the machines were wheeled in, the same men came to wheel the machines out. But the damage had already been done, several kids were harmed psychologically thanks to machines, and their effects still haunt us to this day...That's Right, I'M TALKIN' POLYBIUS! A Polybius Secret Boss would be super fitting for a Chuck E Cheese-esque pizza joint with arcade games and stuff and it'd be weirdly fitting to have a game that effects people's minds as a type of character who's mind was effected by knowing they were a/in a game. The character would kinda be like Jevil, locked up in the Parts and Services Room of Ice-E's and begging to be let out. Originally, they were just a regular arcade game, until a suspicious man appeared and told them what was really going on. Soon the people that played the game started noticing weird bugs and glitches, but were also weirdly drawn to keep exploring it to find out what loomed under the surface. The machine was thrown into the Parts and Services for repairs but never got around to it. If you choose to fight them, they'd probably use the Purple Soul and now you could do...something with them. Don't really know what though. I hope you found this idea fun and use it for a potential Ice-E's Dark World.

[clarajohnson]

the magicians s2e1

i so enjoy seeing quentin coldwater in peril

fucking random ass candy house that'll never come back into play

it's a little hard to kill me at the moment :-(

jesus the way he says "thank god, alice" is really kind of devastating he's so transparent sometimes

margo is ruthless she's my best friend in the entire world

sometimes they say things in ways that are so much, like, you know they're lines of dialogue. like "wellspring smoothies," nobody would say that. i love tv :-)

not enough being done about PENNY'S MISSING HANDS

WE MIGHT BE COMIC RELIEF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i always hesitate to give this show any credit because it is 90% loose ends but i do like the beast choosing to talk business with julia at a... discovery zone? a chuck e cheese? because he's in kind of insanely malformed arrested development

FENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

she is immediately a character man i like fen so much

"oh my god those horses are so beautiful. i just really love horses." and that's why she is my babyest best girl ever ever ever ever ever

love el's flower spell. i feel like some aspects really kick up quickly in season 2, for example, the magic becomes much more interesting!

sorry i really like julia this season she's awful and justified

the beast is reminding me very very much of hannibal lecter this watch. sixth finger nice suit etc.

river watch guy why do i get a bad feeling about him what don't i remember

ah but i did forget that she really did sew his hands back on. so much private brutality goes on in this show.

it's a good point penny that IS a natural resource on public property

sorry but i do not believe at all that margo could be cowed by an asshole like that i actually find it kind of insulting

el's smile when margo calls high queen I WILL CRY

is everybody excited to cry during this coronation :-) i'm excited for the crying :-)

i love fillorian royalty nineties trivia "dude that is crazy vague"

alice and margo both know "hold on" by wilson phillips because they are romantic soulmates

quentin playing with the straps of his backpack... kiss me on the mouth autistic boy

did anybody else get kind of flustered when eliot did the dirty dancing monologue. like other than alice who was clearly really flustered.

sorry but it's so so so fucking significant that q is the one to crown el and i love how immediately el cries and i love destiny is bullshit and i think it's so beautiful and i love it and i do not love "the spectacular" because to make eliot's life's purpose into spectacle discomfits me but i also love very much "this feels as natural as underwear" AND I ALSO LOVE the way he is so happy and proud of margo, the way everything they say to each other is public but also encrypted so only they can understand it completely and i love the moment he crowns alice and they come to sort of an understanding, this common ground, the way he doesn't love her but cares about her, also the fact that margo asks to crown q in a moment of "cleaning slates" and that she can see him so clearly, they're an underrated dynamic and i will always love king quentin the moderately socially maladjusted because to margo the important things couldn't ever be public they should never be known to others, your public title can be a joke so the deep lovey stuff can be kept sacred between friends. THIS IS THE SCENE OF ALL TIME.

royalty, bitches

i'm happy that alice gets to do extraordinary magic yk

well we don't have to work very hard to understand what they're saying by making alice not only pluck an apple from a tree but grow the tree herself

idk if i believe that julia would even consider voluntarily shedding her shade

tick pickwick my best frenemy tick pickwick

i'm glad we made it to the castle i love whitespire

sometimes the show makes jokes that make me believe they hadn't planned very far ahead because "spells for trapping tomato-eating garden fairies" does not make me believe they had the idea of actual magicians fairies yet

i would like to be known as... the champagne king

quentin is leaning against that doorframe as flirtily as he can manage

i think you should probably hug me right now :-( i'll also be okay if you just give my ass like a liiiittle squeeze :-)

[corvidcall]

What is fnaf about I thought it was just a horror survival game but there's lore???

i am assuming this is an earnest question but i want you to know that for a moment i genuinely thought you were pranking me LMAO

fnaf was kind of The Originator of what people like to now derisively refer to as "mascot horror", which is usually typified by having some sort of child-friendly character(s) that secretly house Dark Lore. yknow, your Amandas the Adventure, your Poppys Playtime, etc.

but fnaf is kind of Known for Having Lore. thats matpats bread and butter! (it also has a reputation for being really convoluted lore, but I dont really agree with that. I think its only convoluted because matpat and co refuse to believe that anything in the games might be a joke or a metaphor or just. entirely retconned. this is why game theory is my enemy. The other part of the problem is that the game's creator, Scott Cawthon, very much was not planning the lore out before the game started, and was really just laying the tracks directly in front of the lore-train, so I PERSONALLY think it's foolish to search for a lot of foreshadowing when he didn't have a lot of ideas about the fore he might be trying to shadow, yknow?)

the very very short summary of the Lore is that two guys made a Chuck E Cheese style childrens animatronic restaurant, which was popular once upon a time, but one of the founders (William Afton, aka Purple Guy, aka Springtrap, aka everyones nasty boyfriend who sucks) murdered a bunch of children, whose souls now possess the animatronics. All the games are dealing with the legacy of this, in some capacity or another.

The lore mostly is found in easter eggs and minigames you get when you die. And also the books, which I've never read, and you cant make me read. It gets squirrellier as it goes on, getting into mind control, trying to achieve immortality using child souls, robot daughters.... tbh I mostly just ignore a lot of the stuff that I think is dumb, because what I am personally very invested in is Mike Afton, the player character of 2 of the games and the son of William "the man behind the slaughter" Afton. He's never done anything wrong except for that stuff he did.

The Fnaf movie is coming out October 27th, and none of us have any idea how much (if any!) of this lore will even be in the movie. The main character is named Mike, but he might not even be Michael Afton! It could be a different, unrelated Mike, because Scott Cawthon keeps giving characters the same names even though they have no connection with each other, and I hope he never stops because it makes me laugh every single time.

Anyway, I'm not going to go in-depth with the lore here, because I'm probably not a very good source for it anyway. (There's a lot of stuff that people consider really important canon that I entirely discard, on account of it being, as I said earlier, dumb. And again, no one can make me read the books.) but if for some reason you have a burning desire to know more, I would really recommend Sagan Hawkes' Five Nights At Freddy's: A Retrospective series

anyway. uh. tldr

[theonethatyaks93]

Where I've Been These Past Few Months

Hello Tumblr. I'm back! You have probably been wondering where I've been these past few months. I mean, no major posts, no re-blogs; I basically went cold turkey. Well, a lot of things happened that kinda drained my energy. I had some hellish friend drama, my family life hasn't been the best, and I just needed to take a posting break from both Tumblr and AO3. I also took a break from the PaTB fandom so I could expand my horizons with other things I'm interested in. But now, for the 30th anniversary of Animaniacs, I'm returning to posting for the fandom until the end of the month. I'm going to be hopefully writing some more PaTB fanfiction (there's an idea in particular that I'm excited about) and my goal is to get ideas that I had planned done (i.e. more essays, ranking lists, other special posts). I also have a few announcements for my followers that are listed below:

After September, this blog will be changed so that all my fandoms can be incorporated. So, this blog will no longer be dedicated to solely Pinky and The Brain. For everyone who came for my essays, I thank you so very much for all your support and appreciation. And I'm hoping you'll stay for all my other hyperfixations. Don't worry! I'm not leaving the Animaniacs community; it's just my blog will include more things I'm interested in. I'm also hoping this will get more people to see my work.

A few ideas I had planned are now cancelled due to lack of interest. Brain Week is the biggest cancellation on my list. I just don't have the time right now and I've lost interest in the idea recently. My fanfiction "When He Loved Me" will also not continue for the time being. I've had so many other ideas for other, much better fanfics, that I haven't have time to work on this one. Some ideas are still ready to go, such as my reviews of the PaTB comics and my ranking of every reboot episode/song. And of course, new essays about certain aspects of PaTB and Animaniacs are in production. Also, I have a new multi-chapter fanfiction currently in planning, so the first chapter will probably be released in the upcoming weeks.

Below are some introductions to a few fandoms I'm planning on exploring (Ps: for some posts I'll make for these fandoms, you don't need to be in the fandom to understand what's going on):

The Owl House is a show that was released in 2020 on Disney Channel. It's famous for it's LGBTQ+ characters and it's insane world building. The magic lore, beautiful animation, and memorable characters have made this show a phenomenon with millions of fans and a dedicated community of people who use this show as a comforting tool. I've been involved with the fandom since 2021, where I fell in love with the show after discovering the LGBTQ+ themes. As someone who recently discovered their sexuality, this show connected with me. I even made some close friends through this show. I'm very excited to start discussing it with all of you, and maybe I can get some people into the show.

The Rock-afire Explosion is an animatronic band dating all the way back to 1980. For people who follow me that are familiar with the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, you may or may not know that these guys are one of the major inspirations behind the video game. The restaurant the band performed at was called Showbiz Pizza Place. The RAE became staples of many people's childhood (including my mom's) and were beloved icons. Though their rival company Chuck E. Cheese would replace the band, their memory lives on through private collections, and even a few public venues. This is actually the oldest fandom I've been involved in aside from My Little Pony. I've loved this band since 2019 and have been wanting to discuss them for a while. I know many people on Tumblr aren't familiar with the band, but that's my goal. To give my followers something they've never seen before, and might become interested in. Seriously, The Rock-afire Explosion have some great music and are so full of character. I might even make a series reviewing their showtapes along with old Chuck E. Cheese tapes. This show is underrated and I believe that giving you guys some exposure to them might give you a new topic of interest or just something new to learn about.

I also might do some reviews for other shows that I want to watch like She-Ra, Dead End: Paranormal Park, Steven Universe, The Looney Tunes Show, Amphibia, The Ghost and Molly McGee, DuckTales 2017, The Dragon Prince, and more. So, basically, this is becoming a generalized animation review blog on occasion, with my fixations being places at the forefront. I'm hoping these expansion plans help to give me motivation for posting more, and will give my followers a wide variety of content to look forward to.

That's about it for updates to the blog. And yes, I changed my username. Once again, I sincerely apologize for my absence in these past few months. This break was what I needed for my mental health and I feel motivated enough to continue posting. Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me, I'm eternally grateful. So, to everyone who views this post, I'm back and more than ready to be active again! I'm excited to engage in fandom things again! See y'all soon! Narf!

[opheliajupiter99]

Random Fanfic Update

Just as a further update, I decided I'm going to make this FNAF-like OUAW fanfic a lot longer than most of the others I've done, more like, chapter based, so I'm writing it in Google Doc instead of just a normal Tumblr post. As such, I'm not sure how long it'll take, but I'm working hard on it, so I hope you guys like it!

Also, you guys have any ideas for a title for this fanfic? I've got a working one, but it'd be neat if I could make it more...snappy, ya know? I mean, Hootsie going to Chuck E. Cheese is literally canon in the campaign, same as her having a Flypad and all the other little tidbits about her sprinkled throughout, so I feel like I could make a more flowing title.

To help with said title acquirement (and to further hype/tease this story) I'll mention that the story'll be about AU Hootsie, AU Dunkin (the legendary depressing boy himself), and AU Mishka (If you don't know who Mishka is, hopefully this story won't end up spoiling too much about her lol) going on this little romp of horrors.

As you all probably know, having gotten to know me and my writing pretty well at this point, it'll be plenty dark, but it shouldn't get TOO bad. FNAF's always been more psychological than gory, after all.

[anthonybialy]

Joe Biden Decides Not to Run Again, He’s Informed

But who will keep inflation going?  Joe Biden’s unceremonious exit from alleged service serves as the first good thing he’s done for America.  Of course, his transition to president of his local Chuck E. Cheese came by coercion, so don’t worry about crediting a wholly unspectacular dunce who’s gotten every last thing wrong with Darth Vader-style decency at reign’s end.

Trump-style reality show drama was a kindly example of bipartisanship on the way out.  Nobody could determine if Biden was still in the race.  Jöedinger’s cat demonstrated quantum mechanics in a White House that doesn’t grasp economics.

A president who spends most of his waking hours holding conversations with his action figures is ostensibly still in charge of our lives.  Democrats think government should run everything and the president should run the government.  Also, they spent every moment up until late last weekend assuring the nation that Jell-O-brained Biden was the most qualified human imaginable.

The dedicated flunkies who claim the prototypical statesman dropped out to benefit America also assure you their choice is performing his present work tasks despite only being occasionally lucid around lunchtime.  The guy who’s not fit to apply for the job in question continues to staff it.

Yet refusing to quit near the end is the least worst problem about a failure from the start.  Biden declaring he’s started a decline that would leave him unable to be effective by the second term’s end is the least worrisome part about dropping out.  The problem remains how doltish he was when he won.

The stubbornness taking this long to subside is the quasi-incumbent’s defining characteristic.  Fuming like a Warner Brothers cartoon character?  Making everything personal?  Putting his interests ahead of the nation’s?  Are you sure this is Joe Biden we’re talking about?

Determining the approach of the replacement candidate will be the first perfect AI prediction.  Such an easy guess constitutes no victory for the cyborgs who’ll replace elections and civilization.  Economy-kicking, America-enervating policies remain identical.  The White House’s platform will not change with a different Democrat any more than Biden is going to start writing his own tweets.

Biden’s not running anymore.  Someone tell him.  I bet the letter’s plagiarized.  Neil Kinnock left office first.  Continuity remains if anyone feels anxious about the sudden need for a new president or the fact the guy who isn’t running still gets the Oval Office’s comfiest chair.  The Biden White House’s greatest innovation is rendering Biden superfluous.  Whatever person holds the official title is irrelevant.  It’s a triumph for a specific type of principles.

The executive branch has already been run by committee for most of this term.  But the panel has created way more egregious constitutional violations than its existence, so don’t fret.

Barack Obama walked off his eternal lieutenant figuratively this time.  Don’t wait for apologies from operatives who called you a Fox-hugging conspiracist meanie for noticing Biden couldn’t think or walk straight a few weeks ago.  The same people who said Biden wouldn’t leave the figurative stage claimed he left  the literal stage all by himself.  It’s a good thing they got all the lies out of their systems.

A coup is in character.  I’m as shocked as you are that Democrats who thought cramming through the forced purchase of lousy insurance would disregard their own primary.  Any member who quaintly thought voting advice would be heeded by a party renowned for mandates surely appreciates the precedent.

The agenda remains.  Whether Kamala Harris is appointed her way to the nomination or there’s a second plot to overthrow the first, the mouthpiece for compulsion will run on the same pushy ideals.

A person never suited to be president won’t be one anymore.  One candidate leaving irks one staying.  Donald Trump will somehow pout even more.  A Democrat who’s marginally better at forming sentences is a big deal since presidential elections are now about the preferred style of getting bossed around.  Removing the addled option offers the best chance to win against the one who’s semi-coherently angry.

Biden won’t have the chance to beat Trump twice.  Simultaneously, the vengeance tour has lost its villain.  A rosy campaign featuring each hope-filled hopeful vying to be slightly less awful than the other created the precisely expected environment.  Likewise, a mutually inspirational example of attempting to win by claiming the other sucks shows that even enemies share common traits.

The patient dropped out on the medical advice of Doctor Jill Biden.  The need to grift only loses out to disappearing opportunity. Those who urged a deteriorated executive born before D-Day to stay were motivated by the utterly selfless goal of using access to power for siphoning easy cash.  Democrats think everyone else also only profits by skimming.

The true test of familial loyalty takes the form of seeing if they keep praising their meal ticket even after the cafeteria’s closed.  Gramps is upset the chicken nuggets are gone by the time he gets there.

Only one campaign survived an assassination attempt.  Biden exhibited resistance to cognitive functioning during his technically successful presidential run.  A mental meltdown wasn’t going to stop the White House cabal from pretending the puppet could perform complicated tasks like shoe-tying.  The faction who idolizes politicians couldn’t find a better one to explain why paying tuition is a moral burden only for those who didn’t attend college.

It’s reassuring to know how many minutes we have left to treasure the Biden presidency.  That’s unless he gives up on giving up in five minutes.  The supposed leader of the free world wouldn’t shock anyone if he announced he forgot he dropped out.  This canceled series has felt like having George Costanza as president, so showing up to work after he quit would be in character.

Smirking about how the most selfish president possible put the country first is merely one of the final lies from Biden’s dwindling diehards about a rather mendacious term.  Framing the diminished nitwit as a dignified commander for resisting bailing as long as possible so his family could continue to mooch is no more of a lie than his ideology.  Biden would think he was being complimented if he thought at all.  Not plotting anything out is his legacy.

[iamthespineofmybook]

Listening to an episode of Food Theory about the decline of "eatertainment" venues (places like Chuck E Cheese with food and some kind of entertainment) and it actually gave me an idea for a potentially new eatertainment idea:

Tentative name: Dinner and a Movie (too generic)

Premise: a sit down restaurant where the tables are put into movie theatre screen rooms for people to eat and watch a movie at the same time. Each screen would have three sections: stadium seating for people mainly seeing the movie, a dining area for people wanting dinner also, but don't mind having guests around, and private balcony rooms for romantic dinners where the customer just wants to eat and see a film with their partner(s) (or potential partner(s)).

The private rooms would 100% require reservation, but the other two would be walk in available as well as reservations. As talking during a movie is discouraged, ordering in the dining area would have to be done via tablet, rather than someone coming to the table and asking how things are or if you've made your decision.

The private rooms could also have a volume dial for the speakers, so that if the customers want to chat as much as watch the movie (or more than) they can turn it down a bit.

[decks-writing-blog]

Gordon Swap Chapter Fifteen: Epilogue

Chapter One

Previous Chapter

~

The juxtaposition of having just gone through the worst week, day, hour of his life to attending a birthday party at a Chuck-E-Cheese was jarring to say the least of it. Surely it couldn’t be real. Maybe he was dying again. A slow one this time that allowed his brain time to come up with this strange fever dream. It was going to end in a blink and they’d be back fighting that thing in that horrid room with no exit. There wasn’t much that could be done about other than to go along with things until it happened.

Perhaps as proof that this wasn’t real, other-Gordon’s attempts to lead the way out resulted in finding the exit locked, earning a pointed look from Tommy’s dad. No real admonishment required; he had them here as long as he wanted and there wasn’t anything they could do about it.

In their usual oddball fashion, Bubby, Dr. Coomer, and Tommy didn’t take long to accept their new situation and set to enjoying having the whole Chuck-E-Cheese to themselves. How they still had the energy was a mystery. Benrey joined them of course, bringing the kid – Alyx was her name apparently – with him after Barney and other-Gordon had gotten as much information out of her as she apparently had. She’d been with her mom – other-Gordon apparently knew her too as did Barney, though less personally – something bad had happened, she didn’t know what only that they had to hide. Next thing she remembered was being on the tram and being told to keep Benrey occupied. A fucked up thing to do to not just take her away from her mother but to also subject her to Benrey.

Gordon would’ve been mad about it except it wasn’t real, couldn’t possibly be, and thus he was too tired to feel much about it at all. So he just sat with Barney and other-Gordon and waited to finish dying again. Or if this was somehow a real thing that was actually happening, waited for it to be over so he could find somewhere to curl up and fall asleep. After that? He had no idea, nor did he really care.

A look out towards the window and the barren parking lot outside revealed that the sun still looked as if it were in the same position as when they’d arrived. It felt like hours had passed though. Long enough that Tommy had done a whole ‘thank you for coming’ birthday party speech that Gordon had barely paid attention to a little while ago now. Surely whatever this was had to end soon, one way or another.

At least the pizza was good. Not good quality but it was hot and filling and that made it the best meal he’d had since before the Resonance Cascade. And maybe it was proof that all this was real no matter how not real it felt and thus the nightmare was over too. He wasn’t going to believe it for sure until he’d had a long sleep though. Which would hopefully…

“But you can’t. That’s not fair!”

Gordon looked up and over. Tommy was talking to his dad again. He’d raised his voice, making it impossible to not hear with the music never having been turned back up after his speech.

“Especially not after inviting all of them to the party,” Tommy continued. “I’m sure you could…” Whatever he was going to suggest was cut off as Gordon blinked.

Oh no! This was it! He was going to appear back in the middle of the fight. It wasn’t over, he was still…

The darkness faded. He was back in the tram car hurtling through darkness. Benrey wasn’t here this time though, neither were Alyx or his alternate. It was just him and Tommy’s father standing before each other at the front of the train.

“What the hell was that about?” Whatever they’d been arguing over, Gordon was inclined to side with Tommy. Doubly so since context implied he was part of the ‘all of them’ that had been invited to the party.

“A minor disagreement. Nothing you need to concern yourself with Dr. Freeman. I’d not intended for the party to end so… abruptly but he forced my hand. For that I apologize.” He didn’t sound particularly apologetic. “Now, onto business. You didn’t…”

“No, I don’t wanna get ‘onto business’ or whatever the fuck. I don’t care or even want to know what you want with me.” Curiosity about what his deal was be damned. Gordon was done with all of this. “I just wanna go home.” He didn’t have enough energy to put as much demand into his words as he’d have liked but he did his best.

Unsurprisingly the guy didn’t look even the slightest bit moved. “I have job offer for you. I hadn’t planned to initially but despite the different circumstances changing things, you did do a commendable job in the end. Not as good as your counterpart but enough that having you ‘on deck’ as they say, might be worth the effort.”

“What kind of job? And why the fuck would I take it when you just said I’m the worse version of myself? That doesn’t exactly make me feel good, you know?” Even if it was a thought he’d had multiple times, he wasn’t going to sit back and let someone else say that to his face.

“You’re going to take it because refusing will put you in a… bad position, let’s say. One you’re not likely to survive. Which I’d hate to do at this juncture. Tommy’s mad enough at me as is but I’m sure he’ll come around. Especially once he learns that your assistance in killing the Nihilanth may have drawn attention to you and your pals that you don’t want. So, by not merely putting you back where you came from, I’m doing you a favor, Dr. Freeman.”

“Attention from what?”

“I’m not at liberty to say. Now, do you accept?” He took a small step back before looking towards the tram door. It opened as soon as his head finished moving. The portal through it looked the same as before but presumably it didn’t lead to Chuck-E-Cheese this time but instead to whatever this mysterious job was.

Gordon had gotten into the habit of looking towards his alternate for a queue on what to do when in a dangerous situation – which this certainly counted as. He wasn’t here though, leaving Gordon stranded and weaponless. … Or no, not weaponless.

He looked down at his alien hand, flexing it as he did so. Would it do anything to this guy? He was obviously quite powerful. It was probably worth a try though, right?

Looking backing up he charged and a second later shot a bolt of lightning at suit guy. At this range, it hit him squarely in the chest. It went straight through but… he didn’t even flinch. There wasn’t even a mark on his clothing afterwards.

“Did you really think that would work?” He was unfazed.

“I was hoping it would do something.”

“Last chance, Dr. Freeman.”

On one hand Gordon didn’t trust this guy and wanted as little to do with him as humanly possible. On the other, if he was going to be dropped into a situation ‘he wasn’t likely to survive’ if he declined then he should, right? He could come back but it hurt and was still scary. The less he went through that, the better. Plus, without friends in a dangerous situation, he’d die a lot more. So… it wasn’t really much of a choice, was it? After taking a deep breath, he walked through the portal.

***

The juxtaposition of having just gone through the worst week of his life to attending a birthday party at a Chuck-E-Cheese was jarring to say the least of it. Surely it couldn’t be real. There was no way that this was how the nightmare ended, right? He certainly wasn’t asleep though. And he had enough slow deaths due to gunshot wounds to know this wasn’t a hallucination caused by blood loss induced delirium; those had an entirely different, even less coherent vibe. So it had to be real.

Attempting to leave resulted in finding the exit locked. Tommy’s father gave him a look for it but didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. Checking other exists would likely result in the same so Gordon didn’t bother.

In their usual endearing fashion, Bubby, Dr. Coomer, and Tommy didn’t take long to accept their new situation and set to enjoying having the whole Chuck-E-Cheese to themselves. How they still had the energy was a mystery. Benrey joined them of course, bringing Alyx with him after Barney and Gordon got as much information out of her as she seemed to have. She’d been with her mother, Azian, something bad had happened, she didn’t know what only that they had to hide. Next thing she remembered was being on the tram and being told to keep Benrey occupied. That didn’t bode well but there wasn’t anything Gordon could do for Azian right now other than help keep an eye on Alyx.

As soon as he’d had a rest, he’d look for her first and then Eli and Kleiner. Hopefully they were all okay. If they weren’t then… Gordon would cross that bridge when he got there.

A look out towards the window and the barren parking lot outside revealed that the sun still looked as if it were in the same position as when they’d arrived. It felt like hours had passed though. Long enough that Tommy had done a whole ‘thank you for coming’ birthday party speech a little while ago now. Time was frozen out there. The man in the suit was not to be trifled with. Not that that was new information.

At least there was food though. Gordon had never been a big pizza guy but maybe he was finally starting to see the appeal. It was hot and filling, making it the best meal he’d had since the start of the Resonance Cascade. The worst of the nightmare was over. It was time to rest and then he’d find his friends and Alyx’s parents. Everything was going to…

“But you can’t. That’s not fair!”

Gordon looked up and over. Tommy was talking to his dad again. Something he’d been doing more and more as the party had dragged on. Apparently they had important things to discuss. And whatever it was this time, he’d raised his voice for it.

“Especially not after inviting all of them to the party,” Tommy continued. “I’m sure you could…” Whatever he was going to suggest was cut off as Gordon blinked.

Upon opening his eyes again, he was back in the tram car hurtling through darkness. It was just him and suit guy standing before each other at the front of the train again.

What had that argument been about? This guy had understood his signing earlier so maybe he should ask. “What was that about?”

Suit guy spoke over his signing after barely giving his hands a glance. “I’d not intended for the party to end so… abruptly but he forced my hand. For that I apologize.” He didn’t sound particularly apologetic. “Now, onto business. I have a job offer for you. “

This was where Gordon’s alternate would’ve come in handy. He’d have a far easier time making his frustration known. But if Gordon was just going to be talked over, what was the point of trying to say anything? Especially when he was already so tired?

“You have the option to refuse but doing so will put you in a… bad position, let’s say. One you’re not likely to survive. Which I’d hate to do at this juncture, Tommy’s mad enough at me as is, but it is technically an option.” Suit guy took a small step back before looking towards the tram door. It opened as soon as his head finished moving. The portal through it looked the same as before but presumably it didn’t lead to Chuck-E-Cheese this time but instead to whatever this mysterious job was.

This wasn’t much of a choice, was it? Accept or die. Assuming suit guy couldn’t take his come back from the dead power from him, he’d just come back. Potentially over and over again, depending on the situation exactly. Death hurt. He was done with it, hopefully for a long while. So… taking a deep breath, he walked through the portal.

- - -

| Subject: Freeman

| Status: Hired

| Awaiting Assignment

- - -

***

- - -

| Subject: Freeman [Backup]

| Status: Hired

| Awaiting Assignment

- - -

***

- - -

| Subject: Coomer

| Status: Hired

| Awaiting Assignment

- - -

***

- - -

| Subject: Bubby

| Status: Hired

| Awaiting Assignment

- - -

***

- - -

| Subject: Calhoun

| Status: Hired

| Awaiting Assignment

- - -

***

- - -

| Subject: Benrey

| Status: Contained [Attempted; further observation required]

- - -

***

- - -

| Subject: Alyx Vance

| Status: Returned

| Awaiting further assessment

- - -

~

[A/N] I can make no promises, in part because if I do it, it won't be until January before I start writing it, but I have ideas for a sequel; this group going through Half Life 2 and its episodes next. I feel like them going as a group would change the story in ways that would be interesting to explore. Also another thing I really wanna write is the Science Team meeting Eli, Kliener, Mossman, and maybe Magnusson, and such a fic would be the perfect way to get them to meet and interact. Again, no promises; as interested in the idea as I am right now to the point of setting up for it in this epilogue, I gotta work on Xmas stuff and then rest for a bit (I do a lot for Halloween and Xmas and it's basically back to back so I always rest at the end of the year). But it might happen so maybe look forward to that sometime next year but don't hold your breath for it.

[the-invisible-queer]

OK so off of the top of your head, do you know any other relatively obscure stuff they've done?

Off the top of my head is ROUGH

Also "obscure" is subjective because during the original fixation I never had cable so every performance I got to see was obscure because I had to HUNT on Yahoo Music, Google videos and YouTube (which wasn't owned by Google) yet.

Nick has said he enjoys writing country music. Hes written for Thomas Rhett and he wrote a Christmas song for Shania Twain - don't ask me for the songs because I don't have them at the top of my head

Which AGAIN when am I getting my JB country album?

Nick was on Broadway when he was a kid

Joe wasn't on Broadway but he did do theater as a kid

They've done so many weird obscure comercials

Before the band:

Nick with the Chuck E. Cheese commercial

Joe and Kev in the Burger King comercial

Kev did a commercial for something I cannot remember but I know I've seen the commercial which means Kev is probably the first Jonas I ever saw

And many more that I can't think of and some I probably have never seen - they've been in showbiz for a WHILE

After the band:

They did random commercials. I just saw one with Mama J taking the helm. It was for something similar to Lunchables.

They sang the National Anthem at the White House several times once for the Easter Egg Roll, then for "Celebrating Women in Sports Tee Ball"

They performed at Miss Teen USA

Co-presented an award to Miley at the TCA

The trio co-hosted either the KCA or the TCA one year and Nick has hosted on his own a few times I think

They did a lot of private party performances

SO MANY MALL PERFORMANCES

They performed at my local mall in 2006 and I'm upset I didn't know because I could have met them

I could have been one of the OG stans they still recognize to this day

THE MOST OBSCURE WILD OUT OF POCKET

White man Nick Jonas performed at the Latin Grammys

I still haven't watched the performance

I don't know what song he could have possible performed

But that is a thing

I'll gladly claim Nick for the Latinos