#I shant focus on anything for a bit

[bitchfitch]

Im stopping all of my self management strategies leading up to my big boy cardio appointment next week bc theyve been very good at masking symptoms during emergency visits and I just. Want to be treated. and not have my survival skills be used as a reason to deny treatment. and by God man. it's already fucking Hitting.

If I'm the joker for a bit this is why. I'm very sorry I promise to be nice again in like a week.

[grapecaseschoices]

[yoitscro]

First thought: Homestuck^2 should've just been called Beyond Canon, and more people should call it that. 

The 2 was put on for chuckles; HS trending the day it was announced with it being a sequel spoke enough about how such a thing shant be underestimated, and why Homestuck is ABSOLUTELY more than just our small twitter crowd (and the scrap of us still on tumblr). I say that because remembering the Beyond Canon part slightly reassures me about the fact that this is a fanwork that will do some weird shit, and things I don't agree with, but isn't something that I have to subscribe to enjoying all the way with how I engage with Homestuck.

Homestuck 2 is not the canon continuation. Homestuck 2: Beyond Canon, is an OFFICIAL continuation.

Not having it on such an important stool and as the only content we all are only allowed to digest should come from both people who obsessively dislike it, and people who defensively support it. If a character says they kick babies then I can say, hey that's weird, maybe not great writing, but I can pretend they don't in my content, and i dont have to send threats or call people cishet white men for it! and, it's an absolutely great thing that we were all encouraged to create our own ideas without anyone who's influenced us to do so squinting their eyes when we actually go through with it. Glad I don't have to put this story up to the expectations of being a sequel to a 11 year, worldwide IP that's shooketh the internet landscape since it's merely optional, Death of the Author persists, and ideas aren't just dominated and revolved around the perspective of a 1% in this entire fanbase.

That said.

As an OFFICIAL continuation versus a canon one, HS2 is ok. It certainly has that fanfiction vibe, and a story it wants to tell. I can't really tell what that story is since we have like, 10 sub plots rn though. There's not a real a clear indicator on where the focus of main conflict is that connects all these stories together.

I thought that the prose in replacement of Vriska's battle was jarring, but not teeerribly surprising for the format HS2 is going for. It's more so using drawings to compliment text versus Homestuck's usual of panels being side by side with visual importance, or even itself being the one compliment. It sorta feels weird tho that it brought old fans back in with art just for them to get sneered at when they get a bit upset that there won't be main staples of art known to progress the story forward. 

Also people who mock people for “having to read homestuck” knowing there’s language barriers and struggling focus from those who’ve been use to something that was never so dense, are ridiculous.

Personally this could be solved by knowing how old flashes worked, having way more artists on the team, maybe even an art director if not already, and noting that we're not asking for the next Cascade. Rome wasn't built in a day, but Rose Ride sure was, and Homestuck’s animation is absolutely not the same as a 12-24 framed 12 minute cartoon. That, or just snuff the illustrative art as a whole since it's very clear on where the focus is.

I’m sure you’re not here trying to see my opinions on how the outer workings are though, versus plot.

Uuuuh, let's see. Yiffy's still a name I don't care to use until I eventually get tired of any of my art that do not show up in tags. This is fine and not as offensive as people are saying it is. Minors who want to cosplay this character don't have to call themselves this character. Not wanting to be one letter away from accidentally entering a very NSFW space of twitter is fine. Also the lot of people call Tavros, Tavvy.

I hope Kanaya's anger at being cucked is actually seen versus being implied through fan guesses and another character having to say she was.

Roxy needs to be more of an involved character. Where are they during all this?

Jane should have a mention of her relations to HIC being a main/bad influence on her current parallels to Alternian dictatorship.

The PRE-RETCON GROUP should have a fun one-shot update for fans who like them, since they oughta be around if they fell through the ghost hole. Most of them. The sprites that aren't Jasprosesprite should also show up too, since they're around.

Aaaaaand I think we should be extra careful going into the future when it comes to the alien rebellion. It's weird that a lot of the writers are white and toy around with concepts that can be a not so great parallel to racism. Currently not great timing rn! If the characters are going to remain aracial, but with them still doing not much to reference other non-white earth cultures or getting new hair cuts that have different textures (looking at you, Rose), we shant make the species with actual biological benefits a racism commentary. the xeno joke at least had a play on words. If any writer has happened upon this then a, please don't get mad at me again haha, and b, consider having more black writers or directional assistance on your squad. You know who they are.

In the future. I casually want the ghost from the Dream Bubbles to be shown since it's a big elephant in the room to not have a single one of them in the bg despite a load of them appearing from the ghost whole. Don't gotta give them speaking lines, especially the dancestors. I personally don't know if I want that right now.

I also hope in the future that we don't get HS content that is only going to revolve around HS2, if it's optional enough to engage with without being the only option. That's why PQ could ended a bit better for me, and why I hope it's not the main thing that's keeping Hiveswap on the backburner. I don't think it's farfetched to consider that multiple HS content could come from more than just one team; to relieve work load, but to also strengthen the idea that Homestuck can be a various amount of perspectives when it comes to the ideas fans have. The most dedicated fans leading the direction of the story is not just a handful of them. If anything, at least acknowledge the massive ass fan projects going on once in awhile to showcase the different avenues.

"Hey Cro, you sure have bitched about this alot. Do you have anything good to say? Why don't you stop reading if you hate it so much!"

Not every comment needs to be golden, love. Again, some of these decisions I eck at, but ultimately they're just words on a computer that I'm not holding anyone at gun point to do, and I'm curious to see how the story handles itself going forward, since again, it's just a fanwork. Sometimes I wish to not only see where the plot goes, but to see a writer's craft in action.

Good Things:

The Art. Again, please have more artists. It'd help so much, especially since the main one is also double timing for VE. That said, HS2 sticks out to me because of the way the color composition is used. Aside from hair and other tiny things, I haven't seen black used a lot, which makes colors pop. It's really nice to look at. I hope we get more sharper styles of character in the future, since it builds on nostalgia and makes the trolls feel much less like they're from Repiton, but I can deal with it for the most part. I also like that one panel where the omega kids and vriska are talking in the dark room, and based on where they're standing, the text aligns. Tasty as hell.

Meat and Candy still do hold neat logic in the direction the stories go. Candy, while it could be more tasteless in some areas, is chaotic and too much of a good thing. Meat is having something a little more straightforward, though I'm not sure quite yet where it's going. I always found Candy to be the part of the epilogue that actually entertained me the most, from how much of a surreal Robot Chicken skit at 3am it felt. Sometimes the jokes slapped real nice and made me wonder, going in, how is this monkeys paw gonna play out and, hopefully, make people laugh or smirk like they got a good roast at themself?

The slightly episodic feel of each update is what I wanted from the Epilogues, so it's interesting to see that play out when it comes to switching different perspectives.

The bonus updates get points for featuring characters that a lot of us have been wanting to see for ages.

Hopefully this isn't unpopular, but I think the tension of Yiffy's introduction was nicely composed and written (ignoring some of the things I wish for Jane). It leaves you with enough want to see what'll happen next time. You could also say that despite her growling and making a lot of noise, it's not actually bad writing: I see it as the audience being forced to see her in the same perspective that Jane see's her; a dog. Upon no context we're seeing the same thing while knowing things are obviously off, and once we see this character in a new environment where their personality shines, it'll have a bigger impact her own character being humanized. So I like that.

Okay, I think that's all I got. I improv wrote most of this; hopefully I won't be taken out of context since I don’t think that HS2′s writing should ultimately be a judgement of the writers as people, nor treated as if they should hold the same unhealthy work environment that Andrew forced himself to do when writing the og comic. And I'm still like, donating to the patreon and everything, lol.

[runs away]

edit: i was going to put the cw as another positive thing for the comic...but...yeaaaah.

[hecate-herself]

Coffee shop AU

Kai finished cleaning the glass mug and stacked it with the others before turning to the man leaning on the cafe counter. "The usual Vale?" He asked, Vale nodded, the other man looked tired and watched as Kai set about making him a pot of coffee. "New case?" "Missing child. It's the father but I just need to find the evidence." He said. Kai put the pot on the tray and picked out one of the mugs, Vale always had the same mug, a black one that declared that he was the world's okayest detective, much to Kai's amusement. "Motivation?" "Child custody battle. He went missing whilst in his mother's care." Vale said. A slice of coffee cake was added to the tray and a small jug of milk before Kai slid Vale the tray. "Thanks." "Shout if you need anything." Kai said.

The coffee shop was small and out of the way on a small alleyway frequented by a small collection of regulars that let him keep the place running. He didn't want to ask his family for money to keep the place open. Vale often came in and worked, sat by the window so that he could people watch when bored. There was Coppelia and Kostchei, a pair from the local old people's home, practically ancient but somehow still feisty and arguing every other time they came to visit. A handful of students that drank enough black coffee to keep the lights running. Silver, who flirted with anything and everything and drank the worst combination of coffee, cream, sugar and toffee that could ever have been concocted. Kai had only made it at his request and after trying it, agreed that Silver was definitely lacking in taste buds and probably wasn't in the possession of a fully functioning pancreas. And her.

She was a new comer. Dark hair and dark eyes, lips curling as she read whichever book she had brought with her today. She ordered something new each day, usually tea, there were plenty of different blends for her to try. She didn't seem to be a fan of the sweet things, though she did order the lemon cake a few times so she at least seemed to like that. He kept meaning to ask for her name but he found himself a little bit tongue tied around her which, for Kai, was new. He was a flirt with most women, but she made him forget how to do that. Vale had watched from the corner in mild amusement. Kai gave him decaf the next day.

The bell above the door jangled and he looked up. There she was. "Good morning, what can I get for you today?" He asked. She looked up at the board, deciding what tea she wanted to drink. "Morning." She had an accent that he could it place. "I can't decide. What do you recommend?" Kai turned to look at the board. "Hmm. I have a new blend actually, I haven't tried it yet. It's raspberry and black tea. Would you like to try that?" "That sounds good." She had an easy smile. "Great, I'll bring it over once it's ready." "How much do I owe you?" She reached for her purse. "It's on the house, just let me know if it's good enough to put on the board." He said. She sat at the table opposite Vale and got out a book and opened it.

Kai waited for the wafer to boil before getting the tea out, he needed the water to cool a little to not scald the tea. He could feel Vale watching him as he picked out one of the nice tea cups for the woman, it was one of the few that he had with matching saucers. He set up the tray and poured the water over the leaves. "Here." She jumped, having become completely engrossed in the few minutes she'd been reading. "Thank you." She said. "You know." Vale was still watching him, with a smirk probably. "I know all the regulars names, but I don't know yours." "I'm a regular?" "You've been here nine times in three weeks. That makes you a regular." "You have a lot of tea." She said with a shrug. "Irene Winters. You are Kai, right? I heard someone speak to you the other day." "Right, Kai Strongrock... Huh." "Please tell me that there aren't three musketeers round here." She said, smiling. " "I hope not." Kai said. "Enjoy the tea."

He glared at Vale as he returned to the counter, he had washing up to do. Irene had her back to him but he watched as she set her book down and poured a cup of tea. She curled her hand around the teacup. It was cold outside and she felt the warmth returning to her fingertips. She inhaled the steam before taking a sip. Vale said his name and he blinked suddenly having to focus again. "Milk?" He asked, knowing the pattern. Vale nodded. "You finally found out her name then?" He asked, speaking in Russian. "I did." Kai responded. "And gave her free tea." "It’s better than Silvers attempts to flirt." "I will give you that." Vale said. "It's better than you freezing up again." "Shut up."

"Strongrock." Vale said. "What?" The sudden change in his tone, the switch from mocking to analytical was always alarming. "Did you see the book she was reading?" "No." "It was in Russian." He reached over the counter to pat his shoulder before taking the milk and returning to his table. "You absolute..." "Would now be a bad time to mention that I am a translator?"Irene asked in completely flawless Russian. Kai wondered how red his face was and wished that he could hide behind the counter. "No, that would have been a while ago." He managed to choke out.

She smirked, and turned back to her tea and book and Kai wondered where to hide a body. Vale would know. He pulled out his phone and texted him. Vale ignore the phone for ten minutes before he reached over and flipped it open. Of course he had a flip phone, he kept smashing the more expensive smart phones when he ended up running into trouble. Kai heard him snort before sending a response. 'I'm not helping you cover up my own murder.' 'but it would make me feel better' 'Can you not use punctuation?' 'shant' 'you are the worst.' 'capital letter vale' he didn't respond to that and Kai shoved his phone away, and made himself his own cup of tea to drink. The perks of running your own cafe was that there was always a lot of tea on hand. No wonder he couldn't sleep most nights, too much caffeine from too much tea.

He must have been in the back room sorting out stock when Irene finished because she was gone when he came out, a message was left for him, scribbled on an unused napkin. 'It's sweeter than what I normally drink. But not too bad.' her handwriting was flawless cursive, finishing with a flourish of green ink. He was about to toss it when he noticed ink showing through from the other side and flipped it over. '0774562837. Call me?' her number. "What are you grinning at?" Vale asked as he took the tray back to clean up. "She left me her number." He pulled his phone out and immediately saved it before he could lose it. "Turns out that tea works pretty well." He cleaned the tray and put things away and checked his watch. Lunch rush would be in half an hour.

'hey its Kai from the cafe. Sorry about earlier' he hadn't expected a quick response but a minute later his phone buzzed. 'I didn't mean to eavesdrop but my curiosity got the better of me.' Kai changed the keyboard of his phone into Russian before sending the next message. 'So how many languages do you speak?' 'Fifteen. You?' 'seven. Father travelled a lot for work so I picked them up.' 'same,but it was both of my parents.'

Vale got a sandwich just before the lunch rush started, and then Kai was swamped by businessmen buying coffee to go. He shoved his phone into his back pocket with a mental note to ask when Irene was free for dinner once he was done.

[flawedconqueror]

Unwind

When I share an article I share a little bit of myself and I am subjected to scrutiny. I shared one of my most personal articles yet. The tone was that of a battered woman. The inspiration was the likes of my own childhood, Marcia Clark, Bernie Sanders, Nicole Brown and other martyrs. I think we have an obligation to fight and speak for the powerless in these situations. It is greater than what I think of myself. It is greater than promoting a brand. Rather, it’s a cause worth fighting for. I hope, in essence, that people understand the gist of the article and not me. If anything, I would have loved to publish anonymously but I shant. 

Today I saw Jasmine Jagdeo. She was my childhood friend. She probably doesn’t remember how close we were when she moved to Sheppard. I was fearful of saying hi. I am prone to stay in my fabricated shell. However, I have been more intentional in getting out.

Which leads me to YA. After feeling squeezed and wrenched like a towel. I guess I still hurt. Jesus, I’m not ready to go. To be frank, I feel I have to focus on my own. Maybe that’s not the Christian thing - but hey it wasn’t the Christian thing for them to let me figure it out. I forgive them, but I am staying in my own lane.