Insanely Ever After

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here."

Insanely Ever After is a rather expansive roleplaying community based on Tumblr.

The concept is fairly simple - the setting is an unspecified insane asylum built in a large manor house somewhere in America. It has all the tropes of an insane asylum - doctors, patients, orderlies, pills and therapy sessions. All relatively normal, right?

Oh, wait. All those doctors, patients and orderlies are characters from the Disney Animated Canon, and pretty much all of them suffer from mental illnesses that stem from their original story, or close to it. Simba of The Lion King is suddenly not the cute little lion cub, but a young man with a foul mouth, a penchant for theft and a fierce hatred of anything to do with rules. The Mad Hatter is a man with five different personalities, completely independent of one another, Gretel suffers from an eating disorder and |Hercules might well be convinced he's a god, but no one is particularly certain, given that he occasionally flies into delusional rages. Not so conventional anymore and not such a big opportunity for a happy ending.

Needless to say, this RP basically runs on Darker and Edgier, and there's more angst, crying and emotional turmoil that you could shake a stick at. This, of course, makes the few brief moments of light even more wonderful. Probably for the best, especially when it comes inevitably crashing back down to Earth again. As well as that, there are, of course, Lots and Lots of Characters. Really, lots. Somewhere close to 40, and consistently growing, given that apparently the potential cast list numbers well past twice that.

Tropes used in Insanely Ever After include:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Magic and Mirror's dad, who in the course of one conversation and a few paragraphs of description easily managed to come across as the most unpleasant man in the entire world.
  • Cinderella's step-mother, obviously, falls into this trope, but this being the roleplay it is, the abuse is taken way Up to Eleven.
  • Terrence's dad, too, who managed to convince his son that he was the reason his mother committed suicide.
  • Kovu, too. He's not really spoken much about it, but when your adopted father is Scar, pretty much king of the Manipulative Bastards, this is a given.
  • Then there's |Barbie. Although her parents weren't physically abusive, her mother's constant pressure on her to be better, prettier and skinnier is one of the major contributing factors in her eating disorder.
  • It isn't just restricted to the patients, either. Nurse Lexous was the child of an affair between a king and one of his maids, and she was forced to do the same job growing up. Her father basically denies all knowledge of her, and doesn't afford any kind of care to her wellbeing, shipping her off to work at the insane asylum. Kind of subverted, given that she's actually one of the more measured characters in the roleplay.
• Achey Scars: Thumper's wrists.
• Adults Are Useless: Most of the characters are young adults themselves, but aside from a couple of exceptions, the doctors are largely incompetent and insensitive to the patient's needs.
• Any Torment You Can Walk Away From: Subverted. A lot of things in the asylum have large negative consequences, and although people may try to invoke this trope, it never really succeeds.
• All Gays Are Promiscuous: Technically, Horny!Mad Hatter will go for any gender, but when he plays for that particular team, he certainly fits this trope.
• All Psychology Is Freudian: Subverted. In the several months it's been running, there have been a total of no mentions of Freud, or his theories.
• Anything That Moves:
  • Maid Ruby, the hospital's resident maneater.
  • Horny!Mad, too, one of The Mad Hatter's five personalities.
• Attempted Rape: Prince Eric to Cinderella. Made, quite frankly, doubly awful given the reason she's in the asylum and reason Eric gave to legitimize himself.
• Betty and Veronica: For Thumper, where Cinderella is the Betty and Esmeralda is the Veronica.
• Big Eater: Tramp. Given that he used to be homeless, it kind of makes sense that you never really see him without food.
• Break the Cutie: Fawn is a sweet innocent pixie who is kind to basically everybody she ever meets. She is also haunted by hallucinations of a man who threatens to sexually abuse her, and harm her friends. This came to a head when her delusion talked her into slitting her wrists.
• Broken Bird: Pick a female character. Pretty much any female character. They all have their moments, although Mirror and Nala definitely lead the flock.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Doctor Sweeney. A coffee swilling, romanticizing, cigarette smoking therapist who performs magic tricks, has dialogue that's practically made of snark, has a black belt in karate, and used to streetfight. He's also having sex with one of his fellow doctors. Did I mention he's played by Robert Downey Jr? He's also pretty much the most sensitive, competent doctor in the entire hospital. Tied to Ultimate Job Security
• Chekhov's Gun: Esmeralda hoarding her sleeping pills behind her mirror becomes a tragic one when it comes to Thumper's second suicide attempt.
• Comes Great Responsibility:
  • |Hercules tries his best to live by this trope, even if he finds it incredibly stressful.
  • In a more mundane example, Doctor Sweeney might well be a Bunny Ears Lawyer, but he has a strong belief in the fact that he is a doctor, and he has a responsibility, first and foremost, to his patient's welfare.
• Darker and Edgier: Pretty much the entire concept. It's the Disney canon with a giant dosage of real life horror.
• Defrosting the Ice Queen: Terrence and Mirror, although it sort of works both ways.
• Demoted Memories:
  • Both invoked and subverted by the many Disney Princesses, some of which are happy to accept that they aren't who they thought they were, some who demand that they be treated with the respect affording their position.
  • Entirely subverted in the case of |Hercules, who believes his memories are real, to the point of psychosis, flying into rages whenever his past is disputed.
• Destination Defenestration: |Hercules' go-to threat. He's never actually done it, but it's only a matter of time.
• Destructive Romance: Terrence and Mirror's relationship began like this, but in the following weeks they've gotten steadily better.
• Dr. Feelgood:
  • Subverted hard with Sweeney, who pretty much refuses point blank to prescribe unnecessary drugs.
  • May well be invoked with some of the NPC doctors, given that here Adults Are Useless, and the medical care is largely ineffectual. Sweeney is pretty much the Only Sane Man.
• Drama Bomb: Everything seemed to be going well. Relationships were springing up left, right and centre, character development was largely positive, everyone was the closest they could get to happy. Then, in one week, Flower took an accidental overdose, Fawn's hallucinations intensified and she slit her wrists, and then It Got Worse with Thumper's genuine suicide attempt. It was pretty much a Wham Week for all involved, and things haven't improved yet.
• Dramatic Shattering: |Hercules versus a wooden doorframe turned into this, for both the wood, and the bones in his hand.
• Dying Declaration of Love: Ella pulls one of these on Thumper when he's being wheeled away after his overdose.
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Given the cramped conditions, concentration of attractive people, even boy to girl ration, and at least three or four incredibly sexually charged patients, this was kind of inevitable.
• False Friend: Maid Ruby to |Barbie, at least when they were discussing Herc. Actually, Maid Ruby to pretty much everybody, except a select few.
• Fool for Love: Terrence and Mirror, the two biggest Deadpan Snarkers in the entire asylum. Put them together, they're just a pair of massive softies.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: And definitely not played for comedic purposes, either.
• Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: Wendy, Terrence and Fawn by way of their medication (although Fawn doesn't really need it.)
• Happily-Failed Suicide:
  • Invoked with Flower, who was driven to taking an accidental overdose, and after recovering, viewed the action as stupid, vowing never to do anything again.
  • Thumper, however, subverts this trope. After his genuine suicide attempt, he tells anyone who tries to talk to him about it that he wishes, and thinks, that he should be dead, however happy he may seem on the surface.
• Heroic BSOD:
  • |Hercules had one after having a psychopathic episode. He punched a doorframe so hard that it shattered his hand, and the wood, and then walked around with a busted hand full of splinters for a full day before he let anyone near it. Or him.
  • Thumper, in the few days leading up to his suicide attempt.
  • Fawn, in the few days following hers.
  • Push any of The Mad Hatter's personalities a little too far, and expect a miniature one of these, before he switches back to someone else.
  • Both Cinderella and Kovu have Acute Stress Disorder which can cause this if they think about the traumatic events in their past - Ella's step-mother allowing her to be raped, and Kovu's manipulation at the hands of Scar.
• Hospital Hottie: Pretty much the full compliment of nursing staff. Sweeney, too, given that his face claim is Robert Downey Jr.
• Intoxication Ensues:
  • Terrence, when he first takes his pills. He's normally sulky, foul mouthed, and generally unpleasant. On drugs? HUGS FOR EVERYONE.
  • Pretty much half the asylum fell into this when Ella found alcohol in the kitchens.
• Like Brother and Sister: Flower and Thumper regularly hug and kiss, and have spent the night in bed on at least two occasions. Some people are surprised when they aren't dating, but given that Flower and Thumper practically grew up together, they're this trope through and through.
• Like Confession: Thumper does this to Esmeralda, in French no less.
• Loved I Not Honour More: Herc looks like he's heading towards invoking this with Barbie, although it's slightly subverted that he doesn't really have a duty, he just imposes one on himself.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl:
  • Alice. Doesn't help that her face claim is Hannah Murray, better known as Cassie from Skins, the poster girl for this trope.
  • Fawn, too, the young, intensely optimistic fairy from Pixie Hollow.
• Ms. Fanservice: Maid Ruby. Definitely Maid Ruby. Doesn't help that she's played by Alexandra Breckenridge.
• Must Have Caffeine: Doc Sweeney.
• Must Have Nicotine: Quite a few, despite the fact that they're in an insane asylum. Remember, Adults Are Useless.
  • The Cheshire Cat.
  • Terrence.
  • More recently after his suicide attempt, Thumper. He's a poor smoker, but he thinks it helps him relieve stress. Doesn't help that his best friend is Terrence.
• No Medication for Me: Quite a lot of the asylum.
  • Alice, who suffers from ADHD finds that she becomes passive and sleepy on her meds, and generally refuses to take them.
  • |Hercules is prescribed anti-psychotics, but doesn't touch them, fearing that they'll distance him further from Mt Olympus, and, in his words, "steal his soul."
  • Thumper took anti-depressants for a while, but stopped after finding that nothing worked.
  • Esmeralda suffers from almost literal High Octane Nightmare Fuel, so she keeps herself awake by choice. She has sleeping pills, but refuses them.
• Old Dark House: The asylum is pretty much one of these. More than one patient has lampshaded the fact that it's the sort of place where serial killings regularly happen.
• Parental Substitute: Doctor Sweeney for Fawn
• Punch a Wall:
  • Hercules pulled this after one of his episodes. Poor wall.
  • Esmeralda did this too - the wall didn't suffer as much, but it was still quite severe.
• Psychotic Smirk: Psycho!Mad Hatter packs one that could scare off a lion.
• Sanity Slippage: Pretty much a description of how the patients wound up in the Asylum.
• Shout-Out: Given that it's based on the Disney canon, shout outs to the actual movies are fairly common.
  • Hercules told Buzz that back home, there was a cartoon produced about him, with slightly unrealistic proportioning. Buzz found the whole thing much too funny for Herc's liking.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Kuzco. No one really knows who he is, and very few people genuinely like him, yet he still acts as if he's the Emperor he used to be.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Kovu and Sweeney in the gym. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming because beforehand, Kovu had been impartial to Sweeney at best, and downright rude to him at worst. It shows a real turning point that Kovu opens up enough to be able to engage in that sort of conversation.
• Split Personality: Mad Hatter. He has five - one is an oversexed near-predator, one is a hyperactive man child, one is a complete psychopath, one is basically The Snark Knight in a top hat, and one is...actually a pretty reasonable guy.
• Stalker with a Crush: Prince Eric to Cinderella. It Got Worse.
• Tag-Team Suicide: A variation. The last week in January saw three suicide attempts in as many days, first Flower taking an overdose, followed by Fawn slitting her wrists, and Thumper taking Esmeralda's sleeping pills, in what was dubbed Suicide January.
• Team Dad: Doctor Sweeney.
• Team Mom:
  • Lexous, from the hospital staff.
  • Lady, out of the patients, to the point that Terrence and Fawn call her Momma, and when Hercules broke his hand and was still in the aftershocks of psychotic break, she was the only one he let near enough to bandage it.
• Therapy Is for the Weak: Quite a prevalent opinion among some of the more stubborn patients.
• There's No Place Like Home: Hercules' original motivation for trying to help everyone was to get back to Mt Olympus, but he's recently become much less interested in becoming a proper God, and more interested in helping his friends.
• The Shrink:
  • Doctor Sweeney falls comfortably into a Type 3.
  • Nurse Vivian, a sweet young girl from Oz might be veering towards a Type 2, but it's early days yet.
• They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason: It goes without saying that there are more issues in this building than you can shake a stick at. Getting a patient to say more than two words about their problems to a doctor is like pulling teeth, and for most, even talking about it with friends is a Very Big Deal.
• Trauma Conga Line: Practically runs on this.
• Unreliable Narrator:
  • Given that he's been diagnosed with psychosis, |Hercules is this whenever he talks about being the son of the Gods.
  • All the characters from Pixie Hollow, too.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • See the Mad, Terrence and Thumper example below.
  • |Meg and Hercules definitely fall into Type 2.
• With Friends Like These...: A mild example in Terrence, Thumper and The Mad Hatter. One's a major depressive, one is deadly opposed to rules, and the other has five different personalities. Needless to say, the relationship between the three is rather up and down at times.
• Work Hard, Play Hard: Doc Sweeney - the most competent, dedicated doctor in the asylum, who also drinks and smokes like a sailor, rocks a karaoke machine, and used to be a street-fightin' man.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Thumper and Flower, given that their forest burned down in a fire.

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