Brainbent

Welcome to the St. Lobaf Residential Treatment Center, located in the beautiful green hills of Northfield, Minnesota. The sign on the freeway promises “Cows, Colleges and Contentment” in this charming city, and we think you’ll agree.

—The welcoming brochure

"OH BULLSHIT. LITERALLY. THIS PLACE SMELLS LIKE A HOBO’S ASSHOLE DRYING IN THE SUN AND IS FULL OF DOUCHEBAGS IN SKINNY JEANS WHO CAN’T DRIVE FOR SHIT. AND FARMS."

—Karkat's review of the above.

As one might have guessed from reading the character sheet of Homestuck, many of the characters are...not all there.

So, a fellow named VastDerp (aka, the author of Kagerou) reasoned that if they were in Real Life, they'd probably be institutionalized for their own good. And really, doesn't that sound like Slice of Life right there?

So it came to pass that he and his fellows (including a growing segment of Recursive Fanfiction) did write the expansive hybrid of a Tumblr Blog and Alternate Universe Fic known as Brainbent, covering the life and times of several young adults as they deal with both late puberty and their own mental illness, and the put-upon but highly competent staff of St. Lobaf as they attempt to deal with them.

Residents and staff, in order of bios (though not appearance):

• Karkat Vantas: The bitter and miserable focus character, institutionalized at St. Lobaf after his anxiety, depression, and anger management issues eventually drove him into fistfighting a cinderblock wall. (Spoilers: the wall won.)
• Sollux Captor: Bipolar genius, readmitted after a particularly dark downswing in his moods led to a drug overdose. Also, he has two dads. Current custodian of the FUSB (Fucking Ugly Stuffed Bee), and the only one who seems to like the hideously coloured plush monstrosity, although he does get extremely vocal about it not, in fact, being a bee.
• John Egbert: A prank-obsessed young man who is the only one with an Ambiguous Disorder, mainly because the readers aren't sure what to diagnose him with. The prevalent theory is schizophrenia. ("he thiink2 were iin a viideo game.") Also the first guy to pry Karkat out of his room.
• Equius Zahhak: By-the-book orderly whose main job is to pry the patients apart with his STRONG arms. Also, he likes knitting.
• Tavros Nitram: Wide-Eyed Idealist intern, and former patient of St. Lobaf's. Perpetrator of the FUSB (he sewed it, Dr. Pyrope picked the colors, Kanaya refused to go near the thing and makes it known she had no part in its creation), though he wanted it to be called Beeatrice.
• Dr. Terezi Pyrope: The Adult Child Head of Staff, and the youngest to hold that title. Highly-competent psychiatrist despite having earned the title of "Doctor Tongue".
• Kanaya Maryam: Self-admitted to St. Lobaf's after her anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder became unmanageable. Fashion designer and fanfiction hobbyist.
• Jade Harley: The only resident who isn't suffering from a diagnosable mental illness, she was admitted to St. Lobaf's as part of her reintegration into society after spending most of her life in a bunker built by her Crazy Survivalist grandfather. Is not a feral child.
• Gamzee Makara: One of the longer-term residents, self-admitted for extreme depersonalization and perception issues. Has been reprimanded for smuggling or attempting to smuggle certain contraband substances into the institute. Excellent cook.
• Vriska Serket: Histronic and borderline personality admitted after she lost her arm and eye in a motorcycling accident. Has earned the loathing of the staff. Enjoys wearing pirate outfits and antagonising people.
• Dave Strider: The albino youngest resident, recently taken by protective services after his Bro was arrested on unrelated charges. One of the more uncooperative residents, not speaking for months after being admitted.
• Feferi Peixes: Overseer of the female ward. Described as a "cheerful little drill sergeant". Enjoys fish-inspired fashion, breeds koi, installed duck pond on grounds before getting permission for duck pond.
• Nepeta Leijon: Aspie Catgirl, one of the more functional residents. Suffers from acute sensory processing disorder, which caused her to suffer a nervous breakdown in college, hence why she's in St. Lobaf's.
• Rose Lalonde: Self-admitted amateur psychologist, and unique for having diagnosed her own problems before she even got to St. Lobaf's (alcoholism and mother issues).
• Eridan Ampora: The shyest resident, admitted after detailed plans for a school shooting was found in his journal (though he says he never had any intentions of carrying them out). Has a strange attraction to Feferi, to the point where an elf version of her appears in his amateur fiction.
• Penelope Messenger (PM): Head Nurse, and ruler of the front desk. Hands out mail to residents. She also collects stamps. Attracted to WV.
• William Valentine (WV): Older Sidekick of Terezi's, and veteran of Desert Storm. Attracted to PM. (They met at a Firefly convention.)
• Aradia Megido: Sollux's platonic better half. Not a patient at St. Lobaf's, though she regularly talks with Sollux.

Needs More Love.

---

Tropes used in Brainbent include:

• Aerith and Bob: The only time a name is remarked on as unusual is when a young Vriska is visited by her aunt Mindfang. The latter legally changed her name.
• Abusive Parents: All over the damn place. The AU makes no secret of the fact that many mental illnesses are exacerbated and/or caused by dysfunctional families. That being said, the majority of the residents have Good Parents, but the abusive ones tend to stick out.
• The Alcoholic: Rose; it was her way of coping with her mother's perceived passive-aggressive abuse and extremely high standards.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Problems with bullying drove Eridan to first use brass knuckles to attack another student, and then make the school shooting plans that got him admitted to St. Lobaf's. Nepeta's autism means that she has trouble keeping up with what her peers consider normal behavior, like wearing makeup and not pretending to be a zombie when you're in middle school. Homophobic bullying may have played apart in the suicide attempt in Tavros's backstory.
• Ambiguous Disorder: As mentioned, nobody knows what John's doing there. He checked himself in, though.
• Anything That Moves: Gamzee, in typically chill fashion, seems to be down for sexytimes with pretty much anyone who's interested. Sollux is similar, except that he's embarrassed about sleeping with Vriska while on a manic upswing.
• Berserk Button: Due to her SPD, certain scents and sensations press Nepeta's. It's actually how we're introduced to the comfort room - one of Kanaya's perfumes nearly causes her to have a seizure.
  • And apparently, Cake-In-A-Mug for Gamzee.
  • Badmouthing Aradia in any way in front of Sollux is grounds for an immediate punch in the head. Karkat, unfortunately, did not work this out until slightly too late.
• Brutal Honesty: The reason Karkat's attempt to point out that Sollux may be unhealthily dependent on Aradia gets him punched in the face.
• Crazy Prepared: Because she was raised by her Crazy Survivalist grandfather, Jade picked this up. The supplies she packed before venturing out of the cabin after her grandfather died were extensive but could still be easily carried by herself and Becquerel (her Big Friendly And In No Way Supernatural Dog) and she lists several uses for condoms likely not intended by the manufacturers. They're good for gun maintenance, apparently.
• Disabled Means Helpless: Vriska invokes this when she hits on John by asking him to help her with her bra strap.
• Dysfunction Junction: The fic effectively removes the middleman, being set in a mental institution. Almost every character is in some way dysfunctional. Even the staff are...strange.
• The Fashionista: Kanaya.
• Friend to All Living Things: Gamzee's general affability extends to things like caterpillars and frogs.
• Gentle Giant: Equius. Sollux also calls Gamzee this by name because he is incredibly tall and can (according to Karkat) hit like a freight train, but almost always maintains the demeanour of large, sleepy, friendly dog.
• Harmful to Minors: Dave's Bro makes porn at home and leaves sexual implements all over the place.
• Heroic BSOD: Certain triggers, such as one of Kanaya's stronger perfumes, can send Nepeta into this. Dave goes into one after the hearing that determines whether his Bro can have custody of him goes badly.
• Hollywood Personality Disorders: Most of the portrayals of mental illness are relatively sensitive, but it has received criticism for its stereotypical and stigma-reinforcing portrayal of Vriska's HPD and BPD - though it's possible Vriska herself is playing into the stereotypes for her own obscure amusement. In-story, her diagnoses vary and conflict.
• Hospital Paradiso
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Karkat admits this early on, and then immediately tries to take it back.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Equius with Nepeta and Dr. Pyrope with Dave.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Karkat, as in Homestuck canon.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Kanaya, as in Homestuck canon.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Aradia for Sollux.
• The Mad Hatter: Most of the residents are aware that they have serious problems, and several of them specifically refer to themselves as crazy (or similar labels) with various levels of sincerity. Vriska in particular self-identifies as a crazy bitch. Also, as previously mentioned, several of them checked themselves in.
  • The exceptions seem to be Dave, who maintains that life with his Bro was awesome, and Eridan, who's annoyed that he was committed for plans he claims he would never have carried out.
• Motor Mouth: Sollux in a manic phase.
• Mismatched Eyes: Sollux still has 'em as a human.
• Missing Time: Dave's derealization.
• Neat Freak: Kanaya and her OCD.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Aradia is perfectly content to live in a funeral home, and doesn't see why Sollux is afraid of the place.
• Noodle Incident: Subverted with the events that lead to Aradia finding Vriska's panties in Sollux's bed: As it turns out, she took advantage of one his manic moods after the patients saw a movie.
  • Also subverted with the cake incident that led to Gamzee and Sollux getting banned from the kitchen.
  • Subverted once again with Tavros losing his cool with Vriska. Vriska was being a pain when everyone was sick by flicking albino Dave Strider's lights on and off repeatedly (Dave is extremely photosensitive). Sickness + Vriska antagonising one of the more unstable residents does not a happy Tavros make.
• No Social Skills: Karkat has trouble being nice to people even when he wants to.
• The Pollyanna; Tavros. The only thing to noticeably crack his cheery demeanour was a Noodle Incident that involved Vriska (which is probably all the explanation we need). John, too, never seems to get upset by anything.
• Primal Scene: A preteen Dave walked in on his Bro having sex on multiple occasions. He doesn't consider it a big deal.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Gamzee got his scars from one. He's not even mad about it.
  • Vriska can get like this too - and beyond. One of her previous crushes had to actually move after she spread a rumor he raped her.
• The Quiet One: Dave refused to talk at all when he first arrived.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Equius is fond of knitting.
• Room 101: Inverted. The comfort room is a physical Happy Place with a camera attached for when a resident needs to be shaken out of a Heroic BSOD.
• Room Full of Crazy: Sollux once wrote down his complex plans for dealing with a game that destroys worlds to make universes for its players. But he ran out of paper, so he had to include the table. And the floor.
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Jade knows an awful lot about wilderness survival, but she'd met all of one person for most of her life.
• Self-Harm: Karkat bloodied his knuckles punching a wall, and Dave puts out cigarettes on his arm.
• Shown Their Work: The authors really go the extra mile to show what the inside of a well-funded and well-run mental hospital is like, not to mention their research on mental illness.
• The Shrink: The St. Lobaf staff is made up of type 3s, but Tavros mentioned having to deal with a type 1 earlier in life.
• Sick Episode: On one occasion, pretty much everybody ends up sick at the same time. The major exception is Karkat, who spends his time acting like a "grumpy mother hen."
• Stepford Smiler: Gamzee's almost always happy, friendly, and relaxed, even about things like the ex-girlfriend that scarred his face.
  • Vriska puts on a mischievous, puckish personality who seems to be proud of her multiple diagnosis. It's also almost directly stated in several places that she's struggled with suicidal thoughts and has little-to-no self-identity, most of her mannerisms taken from her Auntie Mindfang. Also, she isn't actually a Biker Babe-it's said in one of her backstories that she actually hates them, but learned to ride one purely to impress a guy.
• Stepford Snarker: Karkat and Dave. Karkat's snarking style overlaps with Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Dave's with Sad Clown.
• Sunglasses at Night: As an albino, Dave has to wear his sunglasses all the time so he can see.
• Training from Hell: Bro put Dave through this sort of thing. It did improve his coordination (which helps considerably since Dave can barely see; his depth perception is bad), and Dave doesn't mind it, but most everyone else agrees that it was a form of abuse.
• Ugly Cute: The FUSB. It's horrible. It's ghastly. It's dreadful. It's possibly independently mobile. ...But somehow, it's still pretty cute, especially when Sollux falls asleep cuddling it.
• Unreliable Narrator: It's important to remember that many mental illnesses distort your perception, so fics narrated in-character and the residents' tales of their past may or may not be one-to-one accurate accountings of events.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Karkat and Sollux.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: The way most residents treat Pancake Day, and Nepeta treats the bacon served that same day.