#Aranea would be whack to play

[captainadwen]

I have a strong suspicion that because Aranea, Iris, and Cor are momentarily playable, they were really intended to be party members at one point in development (especially Aranea who joins the party multiple times)

[a-panda-reads-act-omega]

ACT OMEGA PART 25

THE 04/07/17 UPDATE

THE DREAM IS NOT DEAD YOUR HOPE IS NOT LOST

IM A FUCKING LAZY PIECE OF SHIT

Hey wow, betcha didn’t think you’d ever see another one of these now didja? You can always count on me to disappear for like 9 days, come back one day and realize i got 10 followers, and fail to deliver promised effort. But hEY look who’s here now for another UPDATE.  Lets just hope I remember at all how to work tumblr.

And also gdi i forgot where we left off im gonna need to reread the last few pages

~one glance at a panel later~

oh y e a h its Aranea. Im gonna try to remain MATURE. PROFESSIONAL. And most of all, CALM. Because I really do like Aranea as a character. I just. Hate the stuffs she does a lotta the time.

Alright, time to hear about whatever Aranea knows. Looks like we’re starting off with a flashback of her getting destructified by the bish fish herself.

ARANEA: As a few of you may know, some time ago I attempted to 8reak free from the shackles of death and o8scurity 8y endeavoring to mold the alpha timeline to my will. The outcome notwithstanding, the crux of the scheme was that I would ensure the universe Lord English was 8orn into was never cre8ed in the first place, and thus completely avert his disastrous influence on all of reality. Of course, my actions would merely have resulted in a doomed timeline, 8ut I was confident in my a8ility to heal my “doomed” 8ranch to the point where it could functionally supercede the alpha timeline.

Y e a h yeah we all know about your fuckup. But actually that is kinda a helpful reminder of how it went down. God, it was so long since I’ve read normal Homestuck.

MEENAH: man this sounds just as nuts as it did last time you were glubbin aboat it MEENAH: smh ARANEA: Meenah! I thought you said there would 8e no interruptions?? ARANEA: I’m HARDLY proud of my conceited maneuver either, 8ut this is important context!

Aranea needs to hit the chill switch j e e z she snapped

MEENAH: yeah yeah sorry ARANEA: Thank you. ARANEA: That 8eing said, I am still fairly confident that the essence of the plan was well-founded. It just so happened my scope of understanding was far too narrow. My priorities were all askew. MEENAH: (no shit)

No shit indeed. A little life lesson; if you are conjuring up a plan that risks destroying the lives of everybody 

[Alright so everything past this lil note here was written on a different day thant the stuffs before it]

ARANEA: Her Imperious Condescension proved far more ten8cious an o8stacle than I had anticip8ed. Despite her many efforts to 8reak free from Lord English’s servitude, her determin8tion to see that universe made has always 8een in line with the preserv8tion of his eventual arrival. And so long as she continues to oper8 in his 8est interests, she will continue to draw considera8le power from her connection with him. A connection only he can sever. 

So I dunno if they’re talking about physical majyyk power or just position power, but if its the former that could explain how she was still alive. So basically my theory now is: The condesce will not die until Lord English is dead, or wants her to die. And depending on which actually happens, she might be a more direct threat than Lord English himself. We’ll see though.

VRISKA: (........) VRISKA: (Shit.)

wait huH WHat. Did Vriska realize she fucked something up, or is that just her reaction to the condesce’s advantages.

ARANEA: With the current st8 of things, it is far more efficient to simply address the pro8lem at its source. Which of course was the purpose of our original plan. Nonetheless, I grew determined to scour the Furthest Ring for more inform8tion on Lord English’s weaknesses. I had a hunch that there was likely much more to the story than I had initially realized. There were a number of differing theories linked to Lord English’s f8. Though each spun a unique tale, there was one central element common to all of them: a weapon. Presuma8ly, the same weapon that the Lord of Time is currently preoccupied with.

Alright, so IF Aranea’s stories are correct, then the house is going to be responsible Lord English’s death.  And about all these stories, I have a feeling all of them are gonna be true one way or another.

LE I think you gotta give it up buddy. I mean what are you even doing.

As a quick aside, in case any of you were wondering: For the moment, English poses very little threat to us. His attention has shifted to matters far more urgent than terrorizing our small gathering. That is to say, he is entirely focused on the weapon.

Yeah no shit. I just think. He should maybe kill you and then get back to that. LIke. Is he an idiot.

The utilities and nature of this weapon are still shrouded in mystery. That alone should have 8een something of a red flag, 8ut I digress. It was said that the Lord of Time once trapped inside it a 8and of heroes who had challenged him, and that they were destined to 8e released from their prison and finish what they started. It was also suggested the weapon was a juju that had 8een in Lord English’s possession, which upon outlasting its use, thereafter functioned purely as the instrument of his demise. Others assumed that was merely a tool meant to unleash some sort of coup de grâce. At another point all signs seemed to indic8 the weapon was in fact a person--the ghost of the Lord’s long dead female counterpart, whom he had killed to assume control of their shared 8ody. The counterpart he would stop at nothing to eradic8 all traces of from existence.

Jesus fucking Christ that’s a lot of possibilities. Alright, so if all of them are correct, that means: The juju is dead!tier calliope. It’s Lord English’s weapon and weakness. There are four heroes inside. And it will also kill him with the final blow. I have no clue how any of that is possible but whatever I’ll take it.

After my thorough investig8tion, I can tell you with confidence that all of these things are true in one way or another. However... we put the pieces of the puzzle together all wrong. We entirely dismissed the tale of the Lost Cheru8 and assumed that the weapon must be the very juju we discovered in the void. We expected it to wipe out Lord English in one fell swoop through some am8iguous onslaught.

OK so what the fuck. The juju ISNT the weapon. well, in that case I’m gonna assume that the weapon is the god tier clock. That’d make sense, I guess. That’s how he killed godtiers, and it will serve to kill him as well. Yeah, that works out. I just don’t know who the four heroes are and how it’s Calliope. Or I’m entirely wrong but come on the god tier clock would just make SO much sense.

LORD ENGLISH FUCKIN’ CHILL. The house ain’t killing you now is it? Just. WALK AROUND AND MURDER THEM. Or don’t cause that’d piss me off.

As you can see, these preconceptions were entirely unsu8stanti8ed. Lord English has 8een weakened, 8ut remains undefeated. However, that does not mean the weapon failed to perform its proper function. The truth of the weapon is as such: It is a juju that once 8elonged to Lord English as a powerful tool that once used, thereafter could only 8e used against him. When English was challenged by a party of valiant and worthy warriors, he resorted to the juju to entrap them and cast them aside. Then he 8anished it to the void in an attempt to prevent it from 8eing found. This was a fools' errand, as we cleverly managed to loc8 the weapon regardless. It unleashed SOMETHING upon him, and now... 8oth remain. It’s likely many of you were aware of this inform8tion already. The rest, while far more enlightening, will 8egin to delve more into the realm of conjecture. 8ut I am confident in my deductions.

Nothing much to say here, that’s basically exactly what I predicted. I guess all I’m still not sure about is what the weapon actually is. 

Aw it got all cleaned up and mosied of to the void.

As far as I can discern, the juju draws its power from a source completely 8eyond our current comprehension. 8eyond Lord English, 8eyond Skaia, and perhaps even 8eyond this plane of existence altogether! Perhaps it even plays an invisi8le role in shaping reality as we know it. Whatever its true n8ture, it seems that Lord English himself also draws some measure of power from that same source. It may very well 8e the origin of his unconditional immortality and of how causality itself appears to 8end to his will. So. What did the juju do? I 8elieve that it severed his connection to that higher plane. And along with the destruction of one of his other power sources--the Green Sun--he has 8een left vulnera8le, unsta8le, and perhaps even finally mortal.

oly shit, does that mean they can just CHARGE on in and whack ‘em up? AND HOLY SHit. IF VRISKA HAD JUST GOTTEN A gOOD ROLL HE’D BE DEAD

AAAAA

a.

RIP. Paradox Space. Forever-Wherever.

Now, I understand that some of you may 8e wholly unaware of the destruction of the Green Sun. It happened only recently, so don't worry. I will be sure to fill you in. I think that the more o8servant of you may have already managed to take a moment to look up at the infinitely-fracturing void that surrounds this 8u88le. If you haven’t, I suggest that you do so now. That “g8ping hole” in the Furthest Ring is what is known as The Pocket. It is the work of the final piece of the puzzle: the Lost Cheru8.

Yeah, Calliope wrecked that green sun. The only disappointing part of this is the possibility of an affect on Jade.

Ohhh that’s cool art. But yeah, what’s deadiope doing now anyways? Is she more dead?

part of me is actually not sure if she was dead to begin with or not. I forget. OOPs.

We were far too quick to dismiss her role in this story, though our h8ste is ultimately inconsequential. She was always 8eyond our grasp, and she would have done her duty just as readily, no matter our thoughts or feelings of her. 

Spellcheck thinks h8ste is a word but not 8eyond. ok. And yeah, in retrospect the  whole hunt for calliope was pretty pointless.

The Lost Cheru8 turned out to 8e another manner of weapon in her own right. She was also far more than that. Her mere existence is something of a miracle. The Muse of Space should have never emerged victorious in the 8attle against her more determined male counterpart. And yet, she defied the odds stacked against her just as deftly as Lord English had. In some lonely offshoot timeline, she asserted her iron will and managed to predomin8 over her 8rother. She played the game that was 8uilt for her to lose, and she made The Choice that her 8rother would never have possi8ly made.

Man MOS Calliope is fuckin badass.

She’s so smol

The Lord of Time, upon meeting with his Denizen, took the path of the Conqueror. The Muse of Space, given a similar opportunity, took the path of the Martyr. And in doing so, she dedic8ed her life, and her su8sequent death, to the Conqueror's destruction.

Man that’s just a pretty sad existence. I mean, YAY you get to be the hero and all. But FUCK you’re gonna die for it? Then what’s the PO I N T

I 8elieve that, on some level, Lord English knew this. His relentless quest to find and destroy her was as much a la8or of self-preserv8tion as it was of h8tred. 8ut this too would lead to his undoing. The Muse used herself as 88, goading him into his misguided ramp8ge across the Furthest Ring while simultaneously forging a path for us to cl8im his long-forgotten juju.

Oh wow. So She kinda knew about the ghost army all along, and was super dedicated to helping them find the juju. She was pulling ALL the fuckin strings here.

And so the Lost Cheru8 w8ed patiently until all the other pieces were in place for her final gam8it. She travelled to the Green Sun to fulfill her destiny as Lord English’s foil.

SHE’S FOILED ALL HIS PLANS.  H A H.

Okay yeah, so she died when destroying the sun i guess.

lil green SWORL.

There, she performed her final act as the Martyr. She cre8ed a singularity which a8sor8ed the incredi8le mass and energy of the Green Sun. The singularity 8ecame so dense and so powerful that it tore a cataclysmic rift into the very fa8ric of paradox space. The Pocket will continue to rip apart and consume reality until nothing is left. And Lord English is no exception.

What does this mean for the kids then? And the new universe.  Are they all temporary due to this fuCKIN HOLE

godDAMMIT

Hey don’t you fucking look cool.  You’re not allowed to look cool.

So you see now, don’t you? Our failure was not in defeating Lord English. It was in stopping the rest of reality as we know it from 8ecoming collateral in his destruction.

I’m a little confused by that, but I’m guessing it means they were supposed to find a way to protect everything from being destroyed. Huh.

ALRIght. Whatever. this was fun. Im SUPER sorry for the delay on this, but hey it was a pretty long update so maybe that makes up for it.

Se  E Y A L A  T  E R A  L L I  G A  T O  R 

[seashellkittyatsunset]

Home is Where the Heart Is

          The sunlight beating down from the heavens was harsh against Ignis’ back as he ran, dodging around a couple of bushes that had the nerve to be growing in his path. Duscae was quite the beautiful region when things weren’t so hectic but that wasn’t the case this day. He could feel his panic building and try as he might it was hard to stifle. His heart was thundering in his chest and his head was throbbing from the exertion. It was supposed to have been a good day, spent with friends and family at their yearly camping trip, yet it had turned into this disaster.

         “Dude! Slow down!” A voice called out to the harried man and he turned, nearly colliding with a low branch in his haste. His old friend, Prompto, was hurrying to catch up with their older friend, Gladio, right on his heels. Ignis finally came to a stop as the other two reached him and all three of the companions paused to catch their breath.

         “Man, I thought I was a fast runner!” gasped Prompto, bent over at the waist with his hands on his knees and wiping his scruffy chin.

         “He’s giving you a run for you money, that’s for sure.” Gladio huffed along with them, running a hand through his hair, part of which had come out of his ponytail. “Iggy’s a man on a mission. Doesn’t get more serious than that.”

          “Quite right, which means we must keep moving.” Ignis was irritated at having had a delay, the trail growing colder with every second, and went to go back to his chase when a strong hand grabbed his right arm. Looking with his good eye, he could see it was Gladio.

          “We’ll find ‘em Iggy, but don’t run yourself ragged looking for them. We’re as worried as you are.” Though both he and Ignis bore similar troubled looks on their faces, Gladio was right. It would not be good to be in a frothing state at this moment.

          “Yeah! With us on the case it’ll be a cinch!” A smile cracked Prompto’s mien as he finally stood upright, throwing the two of them a thumbs up.

          “Right…” Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, Ignis shoved his shades back up on his nose and squinted around, Prompto and Gladio doing the same. The brightness was not doing him any favors and was hurting his eyes something fierce; especially his left one which had just recently regained its sight. He closed it in hopes it would diminish the pain but kept his right eye open, searching. Finally he spotted a scrap of cloth lazily waving in the breeze off of a bush’s limb and hurried to grab it. Studying the flowery pattern, he knew they were on the right track.

          “This way! And don’t dally!” Ignis took off towards the thicker part of the forest with his comrades following close behind. They had spent the next couple of minutes running north until the scared kwehs of a chocobo and shouts of children reached their ears. His heart plummeting into his feet, Ignis was the first to break through the tree cover to the scene now unfolding.

          A vicious pack of Coeurls had cornered three black chocobos towards an outcropping of rocks, the birds trying to keep them away with angry squawks and pecks. Hidden behind the mounds were several mops of hair just barely visible over the top, trembling in fear. Jet blacks, dirty blondes, light brown, silvery blondes…

          With a roar, Gladio unstrapped his greatsword from his back and charged at the cats, taking a huge swipe at the group to make them scatter. Prompto wasn’t too far behind, unholstering his pistols with a steely look in his blue eyes as he started firing to further disrupt the pack. Ignis leapt into the fray last with a snarl, whipping out his daggers and expertly hitting the eye socket and neck joint of one of the offending animals and fully capturing the beasts’ attentions. They worked together like a well-oiled machine as they effectively dismantled the animals’ own unity, their years of experience hunting and fighting giving them the advantage. A well-aimed kick from Prompto sent a Coeurl staggering where Ignis awaited, his daggers giving off a flash as they sliced through the cat’s jugular. Seeing its brother’s fall, another was ready to pounce at the man’s exposed back before a gigantic blade came slicing through its spine, bisecting it clean in two as Gladio came up from the side. Within minutes of the fight starting it had ended, the dead bodies of the pack lying strewn across the clearing and the comrades standing none the worse for wear.

          Several curious heads soon popped up from behind the rocks, and seeing that the coast was clear and the three men that had come to save them, the kids rushed out all at once with their chocobo guardians following to greet their rescuers.

          “Daddy!” Two raven haired children were quickly swept up into Gladio’s embrace, the man giving them a huge bear hug with his sword planted forgotten in the ground.

          “Pops!” Twin blondies tackled their father Prompto to the dirt, with him barely having enough to time holster his guns before his girls were on top of him laughing.

          “Papa!” The remaining three, two sliver-blondes and one brunette, were encircled in Ignis’ arms in a warm embrace, his daggers safely strapped back to his legs. He crouched on his knees and buried his face into them, his heart finally relieved of its stress. The chocobos gave happy kwehs and nuzzled their masters along with the kids, ruffling their feathers in contentment now that the danger had passed.

          “Just what were you all doing out here?” Ignis looked down at his children, searching their faces for answers. His oldest, Lucie, was the first to speak up.

          “We’re really sorry, Papa…” she pouted, her green eye shining in apology while the other was covered by her eyepatch. The scrap of fabric he had found had belonged to her skirt, and he was grateful to see that his daughter was otherwise unharmed. She shoved some of her silver blond hair out of her face before she continued. “We were just taking Ebony, Midnight, and Blacky out for a ride when those Coeurls jumped us and the chocobos just took off…”

          “Yeah, but you sure showed them jerks what for, Daddy!” Belladonna, Galdio’s daughter, piped up from the shelter of her dad’s arms with a grin. Her older brother, Ratree, shushed her quickly. “Sissy! Don’t use a bad word!” She was quick to respond with her tongue out before earning a stern look from Galdio.

          “You rascals gave us one heck of a scare, that’s for sure.” He sighed, ruffling their hair before setting them down and sheathing his sword onto his back once more. He then picked them both up again with one arm, depositing them onto Midnight and grabbing the reins.

          “Awe, we didn’t mean ta!” Lillith frowned, her and her twin Cuprum having already clambered off of Prompto, allowing him to get up.

          Cuprum had her arms crossed, nodding in agreement with her sister. “Shucks, it’s not like we WANTED to scare ya n’ the uncles, Pops.”

          “We know, but that doesn’t make us any less worried about you kids.” Prompto huffed, helping his girls onto the back of Blacky who trilled quietly in preparation to return to their camp. “I swear, your mom was about to whack me with a wrench for letting you guys outta my sight…”

          “Auntie Cindy must’ve been kidding!” Ignis’ second child, Julian, was looking incredulous as he spoke, glancing down at his father for reassurance from the saddle on Ebony. He was practically the spitting image of the man, right down to the way he arched his eyebrow inquisitively. Except for his silvery hair, which he had inherited from his mother. “Right, Papa?”

          Ignis, letting out a small groan as he placed his youngest, Fraxinea, onto Ebony’s back behind her brother, just smirked at his son. “I’m afraid not, Julian. Your mother had much of the same sentiments and would have used her lance to skewer me, if she hadn’t been, ah, “indisposed” at the moment.” He chuckled, knowing that Aranea would’ve still done it anyways had he not taken off with Gladio and Prompto at that moment.

          “Is Orpheus giving her trouble again, Papa?” Lucie furrowed her eyebrows together and shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “He really needs to be born soon so he can stop giving Mama so much grief.” The oldest out of all the children, she always made it her business to look after everyone and so was maturing as quickly as her father did when he was her age, speech patterns and all.

          “He will come when he is ready, my dear.” Ignis gave her a kiss on the cheek, and took the lead of Ebony, guiding the small group back out of the forest.

          “At least Cereus isn’t doing that to our mom now!” Belladonna said in reference to her and Ratree’s youngest brother, who had just been born not a month ago. Ratree elbowed her and they nearly broke into a fistfight until Gladio stopped them.

          “ENOUGH, you two. Save the sass for when we get back to the campsite…” His long legs were keeping an even stride in the direction of the haven, though he was exasperated at his children’s usual antics.

          The warmth of the sun’s rays bathed them as they made their way towards their encampment at a much more leisurely pace than moments before. Ignis couldn’t help but smile at the sight of his children chattering on top of their ride. Fraxinea could only babble along with her siblings, her brown ponytail swinging in time with Ebony’s strides. In no time they were back to safety, the rest of their loved ones coming to greet them. Cindy instantly chastised Prompto whilst smothering their twins, causing him to just sheepishly apologize. Belladonna and Ratree cooed over their baby brother Cereus with their cousins Jared and Amaryllis begging them to come and play as their parents Iris and Talcott watched with matching grins. Gladio got a soft hug from his wife in gratitude for the rescue and a genuine smile from Cor for a job well done. Aranea lastly hobbled over to her small family, Biggs and Wedge close behind, and they along with the children devolved into a pile of hugs with Ignis in the middle.

          The scarred man counted his blessings as he pulled his wife close, feeling their son kick his side from within her; surrounded by the most precious people in his life. Giving Aranea a soft kiss and seeing the sunlight dance in her eyes as she laughed, perhaps he had been too harsh the sun…