#the insomnia monster

[therizino-ao3]

Hermit Horror Week 2023

Day one: Game Mechanics

Summary: Bdubs wants to sleep. Something deep and primal tells him no.

Read on ao3

Contains: Insomnia, general creepiness, sickness, weird time shenanigans

It is getting late.

And, if you know anything about dear old Bdubs, you’d know sleep is his thing! Wake at nine, sleep at nine. He is the Sleep Master, the Sleep King, the Sleep Champion, even. If someone has an issue with something sleep related, say, insomnia or sleep paralysis or pain in the morning, they come to him. He won’t lie and say sleeping is always easy – sometimes getting in the right mood for rest is really hard! – but he has a whole bunch of tricks just for that. There’s never been a night where he hasn’t gotten a wink of sleep.

Until now.

It’s stupid, there’s nothing wrong. Well, there should be nothing wrong. He’s tried everything, but nope, no effect. He’s so tired it’s a struggle to keep his eyes open for longer than a few seconds, but as soon as he begins to drift off, a stinging, intangible fear grips him and jerks him awake. He feels almost sick – his body begging him for rest and not allowing a drop of it. Time feels weird. He stares at the clock on his bedside, his vision so blurry he can’t make anything out. Hours or minutes could have passed and he’d be none the wiser.

He does have a – well, calling it a theory makes it sound more concrete than it is, it’s really more of a hunch. He has a hunch what’s behind all this: Etho. The only thing that’s changed about his Monolith from last night to now, is Etho moving into his basement. Hah, what would Cleo think of that? She’d probably make some joke about how, of course he’d be staying up late thinking about Etho. Very fricking funny. Bdubs suspects it’s actually some evil redstone thing Etho has done, a weird prank. What better to mess with Bdubs with other than his favourite thing - sleep? Well, he’ll be having words.

It takes him a further five minutes to convince himself to get up, and as soon as he does, he regrets it. His legs can hardly carry him and the world won’t stop spinning. He heaves himself across the room to the stairs, just now beginning to understand the difficulty of his mission. Thankfully, the further he gets from the bed, the better he feels. But, it still isn’t easy.

He shuffles down the steps, one foot at a time. He must be several flights lower by now, surely? He didn’t bring any torches with him and he can hardly see a thing. The sky outside is dark and foggy and endlessly black. As he meanders his way past some crates (in a very inconvenient but very aesthetically pleasing location), he thinks. Knowing all things to know about sleep, he’s picked up some legends. One says that it’s physically impossible to sleep when you’re near something unsafe – something your animal brain recognises as bad, that is, like a natural predator. It’s stupid. Etho isn’t a scary beast, he’s just an insanely cool guy! Bdubs doesn’t even know if it’s true, he’s never had the chance to test it, y’know, being smart enough not to fall asleep when next to a creeper or whatever. Besides, there are some stupid legends out there. Like the myth you swallow seven spiders a year in your sleep. But, he can’t get the idea out of his mind. He wants to. He dreads to think about the questions it raises. Yet, deep in his gut, he knows it’s right. He can’t sleep because his body is protecting him; there’s danger lurking nearby.

And nearby he goes! He opens the door to the basement. He did some great work making it atmospheric, he thinks, though right now the atmosphere really isn’t helping. He sees Etho on the staircase down, the one with the big drop either side.

Etho is standing there, illuminated in the candlelight, his dark clothes soaking up the shadow and his pale skin appearing ghostly, pure chiaroscuro. He’s staring right at Bdubs, or, staring at the place Bdubs happens to be standing. His eyes are wide and glistening.

“Hey, um, Etho,” Bdubs stumbles over his words, “How’s it going?”

“Hmm?” Etho snaps to attention, “Oh hey Bdubs! What are you doing up so late? Have you given up on being the Sleep King?”

Etho’s familiar mannerisms soothe him, instantly, and he feels a tension ebb from his shoulders that he didn’t even know was there. He’s about to reply to Etho, with some false annoyance and silly voice, but, something’s still not right. Etho stands there, same place. He hasn’t moved. Bdubs thinks about how much taller Etho is than him, and how he’s probably a faster runner than he is, and how he could probably definitely take Bdubs down in a fight. He doesn’t know why he’s thinking about that. Etho is staring at him. One of his eyes are red, which is such a weird detail to think about. Etho got it blinded somehow – for the same reason he has a scar – and later replaced it with a redstone eye of his own design. Bdubs knows this. Redstone glows in the dark. The eye is glowing. It’s watching him.

It's been too long, he should have replied by now. With everything to say, he settles on, “I, uh, can’t sleep.”

“Alright,” Etho doesn’t blink, “And?”

“Well, I don’t know! I thought you might have something to do with it! It only started when you got here,” he’s back to playing with his usual fake temper. His voice is loud and echoes through the chamber.

“Not anything I’m doing purposefully,” Etho replies.

“Hmmph,” Bdubs feels like he should be saying more. He just really wants to leave, “Alright then.”

Etho doesn’t say anything as Bdubs turns around. Bdubs doesn’t hear him make any noises, either. Before he knows it, he’s back in his room. He can’t even remember the trudging climb back up the stairs. He should. Time feels weird.

He lays back in bed. If he could, he’d be sleeping over at someone else’s house tonight but, well, he’s the only one that’s bothered to build a bedroom. Most of the hermits are insomniacs. Including Etho, he supposes, who was standing there in the dead of night doing… What was he doing? It doesn’t matter. The point is, Bdubs can’t sleep, and he still doesn’t know why.

#in case it isn't obvious: the game mechanic here is the “you can't rest there are monsters nearby” message #hermithorrorweek2023 #hermitcraft #hermitcraft fic #ethoslab #bdoubleo100 #bdubs #insomnia #i will be doing all the hermit horror days btw! stay tuned :) #therizino writes

[xysidhequeen]

Should I take this as a sign I should sleep?

Yes.

Will I instead continue reading the fic I, in a rare moment of intelligence, downloaded?

Yes. Yes I will.

#also hey AO3 is down #remade a twitter solely to be sure my internet hadnt gone down #the responses as always are golden #fuck you sleep im going to read my all time favorite fanfic again #and i never reread anything so its quite obvious how much i love this story #i cant sleep without medicine anyways so its fine I can let the insomnia win #the sleep hasnt made me feel BETTER anyways #just gives me weird dreams about alien monsters and shit #anyways back to fanfics

[smoothie-needed02]

°∗𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐞∗°

[LATE MINI COMIC / OC x CANON]

(god, these fuckin gay-ass bugs)

#monsters university #original character #charles t. amos #javier rios #GAY IS A CRIME/j #monsters university comic #monsters university oc #Insomnia is being a bitch haha😋😋 #Mini comic #Oc x canon

[thestar-markedfool]

I just think it would be neat to have a monstrous lover right now. Regardless of The Horny, I long to be squished beneath a mass of muscle and warmth (and maybe fur or scales). Safe. Loved. This partner may make strange sounds with their large teeth, or maybe a guttural vibration that's actually just a happy purring. And it would be perfect. The right ambiance to fall asleep to.

I dunno man, I just think that having a monstrous lover would fix me.

#i hate hate insomnia #terato #teratophillia #this is a yearning post so i guess it more like #monster kisser #monster lover #jester's privilege to yap

[loveyouanyway]

🖊️🖊️🖊️

let's see. ugh i wasn't expecting someone to send an ask until later. my morning brain is fog. but let's do this 🫡

"Buck, baby. You gotta rest, okay?" Eddie gently reminds Buck. They're back home after a relatively easy but long 24 hour shift and Buck's restless. Sometimes the adrenaline mixes weird with his medication and he can't sleep. He wants to but his brain won't turn off. He just has the desire to do so much and sleep seems like a waste of time. It seems like Buck didn't hear his best friend or he's just ignoring what he said. Eddie brings his hand to his shoulder and places his thumb on Buck's collarbone like after the tsunami. "Please. For me? I sleep better with you."

send me 🖊️ or like any emoji u want and i'll reply with some sentences just for you 🥰

#HOW DID I WRITE THAT SO EASILY #rawie monster 🖤 #thanks for the ask <3 #nolan writes #insomnia fic #wow what a great name #buddie #tears of love fic #buck x eddie #buddie fic

[brown-little-robin]

How self-insert-y do I want to get with this new oc 🤔

#okay SO she's a former priestess (read: beaurocrat) in training #but then she gets irreversibly possessed by a mild-mannered raccoon monster and they have to coexist while their #shared body is breaking down under the strain of trying to keep up with its two inhabitants (human and monster) #the question is: what do they latch onto as a diversion #a way to expend the new excessive energy that is literally slow-cooking them alive (they get fevers & they have insomnia) #(and the only way for them to survive long-term is to find SOMETHING TO DO that will burn that energy) #my original idea was to have them get into a board game and I had a whole plan for that. but it didn't feel quite right #and now I'm eyeing the idea that they might..... do pottery #would that be self-indulgent?? probably?? but also it's so cool and it would be perfect for themmmm #what plot would work with that though?? HMMMM #PONDERING #MUSING #ET CETERA #Robin speaks #new oc is already so much like me. do I Really want to make her a potter too

[ickypuppi3]

i just think he’s neat

#the face of a fisti- [gunshots] #billy hargrove #why is he so so so so so pretty i don’t understand #steve was def replaying this in his dreams #monsters and gay thoughts lurking insomnia must’ve been insane

[monstersandmaw]

non-drider fans who follow me, you can come out again now. I've reached the end of my drider reblogging frenzy. i'm going to go write the drider lad commission, and then maybe make some dinner so you're safe from spooders for now

#drider #sorry for anyone who's not here for spooder monsters #i know there are a few of you who can't stand them #i just think they're neat #but i get it as someone who used to be HIGHLY spooder-not-cool #actually loving driders helped me be way more chill about real-world spooders #i can catch and release spooders now without having a meltdown #mainly because they're harmless (house spooders are huge by UK standards though) even if they're a bit spoopy #if i had to deal with an actual danger spooder i might not be chill #oh man catch me waffling in the tags again #this is what a week of very very little sleep does to a ghosti #insomnia whoop #anyway no more drider reblobs for now

[cashmere-caveman]

Christian Wiman, Darkness Starts | S1E6, Bad Moon Rising | S2E8, All God‘s Children | Ian Strange, Suburban Intervention | S1E6, Bad Moon Rising | S1E3, Ghost Town | Christina Marie Brown, Ghost I

#being human #annie sawyer #would u believe me if i said i actually meant to finish my 'monsters embody the possibility of failing' mitchell post and instead made this #if it seems incomplete thats bc i only used sceenshots i already had instead of rewatching and taking new ones where fitting bc im lazy #but god i love when being human leans into the whole gothic ~u are the house and the house is u~ storyelling angle #one day i'll make my annie post (this is the annie house post) and then it'll be even more appropriate but !!! #the house as horror !!!! the home as the place of violence instead of the shelter from it !!! #also annie not letting go of the house bc it was the last place she was a real person !!! #the house not letting go of her bc it stores and remembers everything she herself is incapable of remembering !!! #she is the house but also her own person but also that place is so intrinsically hers that to the others it IS her #(to some extend at least) #also owen not taking care of the house as he didnt take care of annie. #but also any and all parallels between mitchells later sometimes v agressive behaviour and owens abuse #the bristol house tainted by annies death and the welsh house tainted by the bt20.... #wheres that one poem thats like if u were raised in a house w an angry man there will alwas be an angry man inside your house #and even if there isnt u invite him in #sickening. anyway these tags have deviated so extremely fucking far from the post sorry lads insomnia makes me ramble #once again i present u: me thinking abt a show that went on air fifteen years ago as if it had finished yesterday. enjoy #being human uk #cavetext #triothesis #caveweb

[wolfsteax]

corners

#my art #my characters #costume #costumes #horror #monster masks #masks #monster #creepy #liminal #insomnia . wolfsteax #loosejaw . wolfsteax

[btheleaf]

4 days??? 20 hours is already too long to go without sleep :(

:)

#anon #anon ask #insomnia anon #i know its too long to go without sleep #i survived with the help of a friend #turns out when you tell people about the ceiling monsters they let you sleep in their bed and cry on them all night 👌 #and then it turns out that crying on someone all night allows you to sleep for a couple of hours

[dirtytransmasc]

I haven't posted about Avatar in a *hot* minute, but, I have been infected with the hyperfixation again and the incessant urge to just hit Spider with the projection/trauma stick is driving me feral.

I just want to give him a shit ton of issues man. I want to make my sweet baby boy baby miserable. I love him so I have to make his life as hard as possible.

like making him absolutely unwell and giving him a list of chronic illness/disabilities (on top of the ones he already has from being human on Pandora) wouldn't fix me, but it'd do something that'd make my brain feel a little less implode-y 🤷🏻

Edit: small disclaimer for anyone who doesn't know me, I am disabled, hence why I said projection, I just feel like I should mention that, or the tone of this post feels a little uncomfy

#I think spider has earned some chronic pain #and tummy problems #and migraines #and insomnia #and a fucked immune system (cause I think living amongst Aliens and having little to no exposure to a large germ/people pool to form- #immunity from and then being forcibly dragged from his little bubble to Bridgehead and then out with the recoms and then to the SeaDragon- #through the tainui villages and then finally the metkayina village. I just *know* his immune system is one sniffle away from crapping out) #and like. he was tortured. with a brain machine. so he can have a hand tremor and absence seizures or something. #and light sensitivity. he can have that too. #and he's probably super dissociative and/or maladaptive to cope (both is good. both is very good) #and give him a rolled ankle thats like 8 years old that he never let properly heal and just acts up constantly #and nasty scars from tending his own wounds as a kid #and give him a complex with hygiene from being neglected as a kid and constantly feeling dirty but literally not knowing how to make- #himself feel clean cause no one taught him basic life skills #also. give him autism. just cause. #all on top of his massive guilt complex that makes him feel like his unworthy of life/feel like a monster 25/8 #just for funsies #y'know you in a *great* place when you do this to your favorite little guys 😃🤗🫶👍 #(this may be a cry for help) #(I think the scariest part is that these aren't even all my ideas. just my favorites) #spider socorro #miles spider socorro #miles socorro #avatar #atwow #I love how this is my first post back into this fandom. it says greta things about me

[bl4sphemy-archived]

samael has the WORST nightmares like, he will literally wake up SCREAMING

#ptsd innit :(( #theyre mostly abt his trauma #but also his fear of failure and everyone hating him #but yeah he will literally SCREAM and then be like ''oh sorry haha nightmares'' #RIP WHOEVER SLEEPS WITH THIS MAN #⛧ study. —— 𝖙𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖒𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖈𝖍𝖚𝖗𝖈𝖍. #honestly he doesnt sleep much and suffers from insomnia #so the rare times he does sleep he gets nightmares :( #bro cant win #he drinks a lot of monster i think LMFAO #nightmare tw #ask to tag

[onbearfeet]

*opens AO3 on phone*

*scrolls own profile*

*pounds imaginary table*

WHY is the scene I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER WRITING not HERE FOR ME TO READ RIGHT NOW?!

*remembers that one's in the upcoming story, which is still on my laptop*

*decides it's bedtime*

#fanfiction #werewolf by night #bucky barnes #the series is now called Monster Mash #so #monster mash #monster mash wbn #the scene is bucky and elsa having midnight confessions over insomnia tea #elsa is not the first bloodstone bucky has met

[vivi-ships]

I'm sure it's been done before but I made a meme

#please im so tired #monster energy #save me meme #insomnia #memes #i am so bad at tagging posts send help #is there a crash course on tagging posts correctly?? #that was a joke but there probably is actually #caffeine #caffeine addiction #idk dude #silly #sillyposting

[groovygladiatorsheep]

Esperance ✨my error x dream child !

Credits :

Dream belongs to Joku

Error belongs to loverofpiggies

Info :

- Loves to hums, when you hear it, you’ll think about how you heard it before, but never remember the name. As if the only proof they ever existed was him singing it.

- Has two siblings he lives with !

- bones turns white when glitching

#mdraw #ship child #fanchild #Esperance #error x dream #dream x error #insomnia #insomnia child #insomnia ship #i love em sm #ref #fun fact : did this watching monster high