#Skaia Hates You

[charlezarrd]

🎮📚🎶💯🌈❤️💔💙🍔☕️🤔🧐🤓😓😞 for ALL CHARACTERS IN GIGACROSS (I’m kidding that would take a month, dealer’s choice of OC)

For this ask, I’ll be using Abel Kneller, a character from SHY.

Abel is a fifteen year old boy, the (adoptive) son of a powerful russian mafia family, who’s father decided he was done with crime, and moved the whole family out to a cabin in the woods.

Abel’s major character influences are The Son from Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, The Beast from Over The Garden Wall, and Andrew W.K.

🎮— what are three of your oc's favorite hobbies?

Given the setting and nature of SHY, he sort of has to be into video games. He also reads a fair amount, specifically horror of all kinds. However he does not enjoy horror movies and prefers action/thriller movies.

📚 — what level of education has your oc most recently completed/is currently in (GED, undergraduate, grad school, phd, etc)?

Given that Abel is fifteen and lives in the woods, where he’s being homeschooled, there’s sorta your answer there.

🎶— what type of music does your oc like? do they listen to music very often?

Abel listens to mainly Rock and Grunge, but occasionally EDM as well. He owns an electric guitar but doesn’t know how to play.

💯 — share three random facts about your oc that others may not know.

A part of his influence from The Beast is that he has an amazing singing voice.

Abel’s love of horror and action is an expression of his cowardice, because of the numerous deeply-held phobias that he has. He should probably see a therapist, but again. Middle of the fucking woods.

A lot of Abel’s moveset is named after things from Hotline Miami or Andrew W.K.’s music.

🌈 — what is your oc's sexual orientation/gender identity? what pronouns do they use?

Abel is straight, demisexual, and uses he/him pronouns. Unfortunately, he is terrified of betrayal so he hasn’t built up enough of a connection with anyone to experience attraction.

❤️— what are three of your oc's positive traits?

Taking a pass on this, too difficult, sorry.

💔— what are three of your oc's negative traits?

Cowardly, Violent, and Gullible.

💙 — does your oc have any cool/special powers and/or abilities? how are they with magic, if it exists in their world?

So many. Like actually it would be really hard to list them, so I’ll just go with two: Abel can override reality with itself by refusing to believe a particular reality warping ability happened, essentially causing it to not have happened. Wanna cast fireball on him? You can’t do that, he doesn’t believe in it.

Second, is that he has an invisible circle around him at a 25 foot radius, that when enemies step outside of it in combat, he can teleport in front of them.

🍔 — is your oc good at cooking? are they good at baking? which one do they prefer?

I don’t think Abel’s good at cooking but I don’t think he’s bad either. Like he could probably bake a potato. Which isn’t a high benchmark but. It’s a benchmark.

☕️ — does your oc prefer coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk, water, or some other drink? how do they like to take this drink (ex. coffee with milk, hot chocolate with whipped cream, a specific kind of tea, etc)?

Knowing how jittery Abel is, he probably downs like 6 or 7 energy drinks a day. I’m not sure if he even tastes them.

🤔— what are some of your oc's quirks/mannerisms?

I’m not sure I need to answer this with all the other stuff I’ve got. He probably cracks his knuckles a lot though. That’s not that quirky.

🧐— is your oc more logical or emotional?

Oh emotional for sure. Mostly fear.

🤓 — is your oc chatty or quiet? are they at ease in social situations, or are they more shy?

Quiet. In social situations, he’s usually too shy to open up, and it takes a while. Given that he starts as an antagonist.

😓 — is your oc open-minded or stubborn? are they inquisitive or do they prefer to keep to their bubble of knowledge?

Stubborn as hell, not even a little curious.

😞— does your oc attract others, or do they tend to be left alone?

Well, he’d LOVE to be left alone, but given that he’s a minor antagonist and in charge of a significant location in the plot, people won’t leave him the hell alone.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Hamsteak? Again? God, everything happens so much, but at least we're done with Vriska. And I can copy and paste text again. Wowsers. Anyway we're out of hell and now we're with The Moms, in a suspiciously green-and-orange environment.

ROSE: This is an impressive shield. ROSE: I don't think I've ever seen you make one this size before. JADE: ive been practicing! JADE: if i stay focused i should be able to keep it up for quite a while.

Oh hey, starting us right off with Deepest Lore, as Jade can apparently make shields. We've never really seen her "natural" Witch of Space powers in the original comic, since she was using First Guardian powers the whole time (or no powers and just gadgets like the soothspecs, back before everyone became X-Men). I've been wondering what she could do au natural, and...apparently it's shields? Would not have called that, but sure.

JADE: between yiffys capture and rescue and finding dave... JADE: like that... JADE: i just feel like my life flashed before my eyes and it made me a little crazy! JADE: after being unconscious for a bit things feel way clearer now

It's still weird to me that Dave's "death" was so recent to the characters. That was in the epilogues! We made a sequel series since then! It got cancelled! Then it got revived! It was a long time!

JADE: after being unconscious for a bit things feel way clearer now ROSE: Nothing beats a rump to the skull for mental clarity. JADE: the mistakes we made are so obvious to me now JADE: embarrassingly obvious!

Being unconscious is Jade's natural state, so naturally it heals her. Also I detect a justification for a small change in Candy Jade's characterization here, like she'll be acting differently that she has been and this is the excuse. Lets stick a pin in that thought, though.

JADE: this whole situation is my fault and even though it just keeps getting more frustrating and shitty im going to do right by you JADE: were going to figure this out ROSE: Are you sure it's prudent to keep this amateur marriage counselor performance up? JADE: rose... JADE: youre taking this seriously JADE: right? ROSE: I don't know what you mean by that.

I really do like this characterization of Candy Rose, though (which is apparently also a slight retcon from the original plans, according to the writer commentaries). None of this is real, so she doesn't give a shit about any of it. Her mid-life crisis is worse than John's.

JADE: though playing stupid and cajoling her into slapping me around for catharsis wont work anymore JADE: well have to think of something else... ROSE: Jade, I've been compliant with these clumsy machinations partially because they weren't all that consequential at the time, but you need to cut your losses.

Oh we are hard retconning Candy Jade's personality here. She's not an emotional wreck at all, at least part of it is her clumsy attempt at being Machiavellian. Are they building up to changing Yiffy's backstory, far and away the least popular idea in HS2?

JADE: "ohhhh bluh bluh blah i can see the fruitlessness of all our clumsy insignificant thrashing in fates cosmic current" JADE: dont forget im more than a little versed in future sight myself ok JADE: i dont care how credible it seems, you cant depend on that information!

Opens Homestuck_2_Speculation.rtf.doc.xpf.bro

What information is this, Jade? Is it related to the visions Calliope had that let her build the machine? The only future sight Jade's ever had is the clouds of Skaia

JADE: "abloo hoo hoo, my life is a monkey paw, everything i want hurts me in the end" ROSE: It was a little pathetic. JADE: I KNOW!

Oh man, that's going back deep.

This aspect of Jade, that deep down she's a bit of a wreck but she toughs it out because she hates her own weakness, hasn't really been focused on since Act 4 of the original comic when it got personified in Jadesprite. It's nice to see that aspect referenced again here. I liked Jade's speech justifying Yiffy's existence, it did a lot to make that plot point go down smoother, but I totally buy that Jade herself hated it. Kind of funny that we had six updates of Vriscourse and now I have way more to say about this one expository speech out of Best Girl, but Jade's actually a pretty complex character and her issues are so often glossed over as "Wow she had to live in isolation for three years after her brother and boyfriend randomly exploded and that's kind of sad I guess", so it's nice to spend some time inside her head like this.

JADE: the truth is whatever people WANT to believe JADE: you can either try forcing them to understand your side JADE: leave it completely in their hands and take no responsibility JADE: or you work with their wants and perspectives JADE: and make some informed compromises ROSE: Over the state of reality? JADE: rose i am begging you can you please cut it out with all the cryptic cosmic crap and come back down to earth???

One of my pet peeves of the epilogues is that Dave Strider turns into a Bernie Sanders supporter and keeps talking about "neoliberalism" despite living in a wacky future utopia planet and having never lived through the 2016 Democratic Primary that all his talking points were cribbed from, but we have an explanation for that now. It's his wife. Jade was the neoliberal all along.

JADE: thats whats scaring me! JADE: youre not prepared for how bad it can get JADE: you have no idea at all!!!!!!!!!!! ROSE: If you say so.

That was a joke but this is sounding a little suspiciously like voting discourse, but that might just be me being election-brained. God I'm so stressed, please vote for Harris if for no other reason to make Trump-analogue Jane Crocker feel dated and weird.

Jade has no idea what she’s talking about. There’s not a thing to worry about here. You came out the womb playing defense

You didn't come out of a womb at all. You've never even been in one. Also holy shit this page is called Rose: Ramble and it's early-HS2 levels of Wall of Text, though I think you're actually intended to glaze over it a little.

It doesn’t really matter, in the long run. Important or not, Vriska’s going to fail. Jane’s going to fail, too; really, just about everyone is going to fail to do something that really matters. In an unsuccessful effort to stave off that failure, and perhaps to atone for it on some level, Calliope will sacrifice herself, fruitlessly. You’re not exempt from the firing squad, either. In the imminent battle, you are going to be shot in the head, the bullet burying deep into your moral grey matter and jamming up the works of your conditional immortality, leaving you confined to a hospital bed. You had to pull all kinds of ridiculous, eyebrow-raising Chaos Theory shit to figure that one out. The rat-tail was worth it, your daughter’s anguish aside.

It's generally considered bad writing to have a prophecy not come true, but I think this is bullshit and Rose's Seer of Light powers don't work in a land of pure void.

KANAYA: Those Two Will Not Be Joining Us On The Battlefield Either KARKAT: OH? KANAYA: I Know Such Decisions Are Well Above My Pay Grade And That The Critical Need To Win This Battle Far Outweighs My Marital Discomfort KANAYA: And Being Down Two Gods Isnt Exactly Ideal KANAYA: But... KANAYA: I Cant KANAYA: Sorry KARKAT: DON'T BE.

KARKAT: FUCK ‘EM.

Man, Punished Karkat is cool.

Man, I love how stupid Jane's death ray looks. It's a cake!

Your father never did voice any kind of opinion on your parenting style. In hindsight, he was probably avoiding the subject altogether.

It's hard to talk with your dad when he's not allowed to have any dialogue due to stylistic convention. I have that issue with my uncle.

JAKE: Oh. JANE: chhhhhhhhlmm nnnn. JAKE: OH CRIPES! JAKE: I'M SORRY JANEY!!! JANE: kkkkkkkkaaaaaa?? JAKE: JUST- S-STAY STILL OK?

lmao. This is the absolutely best way this assassination attempt could've gone.

This art is excellent.

Man, this was a great update, Jesus. So much shit is going on, and while HS2 and HS:BC have had good moments this is the first time in a long while I've really had that classic Homestuck feeling that made me fall in love with the comic in the first place.

[thewertsearch]

Yep. That's a 'fuck this shit' face if I ever saw one.

CC: T)(ere is not)(ing to worry about at all. GG: bluhhh what are you talking about…. GG: my head hurts GG: just stop it, stop trolling me GG: i hate you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Understandable. Jade's most recent memories are a garbled collection of monster nightmares, immediately preceded by her own death. She just woke up, but what she needs more than anything else is a break.

GG: my dream was horrible!!! GG: i dont know what that was, i have never dreamed anything like it CC: Yes, I imagine not! You )(ave spent your w)(ole life dreaming about prospit, no? GG: oh god…. GG: prospit :( GG: is it really gone? CC: Yes, Jade. It is time to face t)(e facts! CC: Our moons are gone too. If we wis)( to sleep now, our dreams must take place in t)(e bubbles glubbed by t)(e gods w)(o live in t)(e Furt)(est Ring.

This is the real perk to being a Derse Dreamer. Your affiliation with the Furthest Ring makes you well-equipped to navigate the shadowy, garbled world of the Horrorterrors - unlike your Prospitian siblings, who are too accustomed to Skaia's gentle light.

It makes a kind of sense, I think, that the darker Dreamers would only reveal their true potential in death. Their 'ghosts' can rendezvous outside the session, which could grant them all sorts of advantages.

CC: In fact, t)(ey are quite )(elpful if you know )(ow to talk to t)(em! CC: Don't you remember our dream? I was trying to s)(ow you t)(at t)(ere is not)(ing to fear.

Feferi, in particular, has an eldritch affinity which is completely off the charts. The Horrorterrors are effectively her family, and with her serving as a guide, the Furthest Ring is a little bit safer for everyone else.

Perhaps, with Feferi's help, it could be safe enough to serve as a hideout. Both sessions seem to be living on borrowed time, so establishing a 'safe house' external to any Incipisphere seems like an excellent idea. The Horrorterrors claim to be here to help, so maybe it's time for them to prove it.

...wow. I never expected Feferi to be a potential lynchpin of the Grand Intersession Plan, but here we are.

GG: sorry but GG: could you please GG: not use all those stupid parentheses?????? [...] CC: GLUUUUB oh fine. CC: I will suspend my neato quirk just for you. [...] GG: what about the -E thing, can you stop that too? it is also annoying and stupid [...] CC: Okay, you win. I have officially humbled myself before you. Entirely glubbing peasant-IFICATED for your pleasure.

If only Gamzee would do the same...

GG: ohhhhhhh!!!!! GG: i do remember you! GG: i remember you were talking to me about my lusus, and i had no idea what you were talking about GG: also it was shortly before your friend sent me a weird message GG: about how my robot was going to explode, and i should talk to him when it happens

At first, I thought we'd missed a conversation in the hell-bubble - but no, this unseen conversation happened immediately before she talked to Future Karkat.

This does appear to be the timeframe that he needs to talk to her in - but I don't see what this Jade could do to help him. As she so aptly put it, she currently understands jack shit.

Perhaps there's something she needs to do immediately before Entering. Does Karkat have an idea for what she should prototype?

CC: Oh? Who was that? GG: it was the most awful and angry one GG: i am so sick of him, i really dont want to talk to that pathetic jerk ever CC: Ah, Karkat. Of course.

lmao

[davekat-sucks]

(sorry for spelling/grammar errors, i was typing this very quickly so there might be some)

eridan and gamzee have some sort of reason for their killing, eridan was clearly not in the right mental state and also went grimdark (honestly not much i can say i about him because i’ve don’t a lot more research on gamzee), gamzee was being controlled by lord english and also was too sober to handle the cold truth that all of his “friends” would make fun of him, and the extremely fast realization that his friends weren’t laughing with him, but they were laughing at him. he felt like he needed to escape the role of being a joke, he had nothing against equius or nepeta it was just wrong time wrong place(this doesn’t excuse that he killed, but it more an explanation of why he killed). vriska on the other hand was an abuser who hurt MULTIPLE people and people say that we can excuse this because she was groomed and say shit like “vriska did no wrong”. vriska never even really became a better person or took accountability for what she did, she just said “yeah i’ve done some pretty shity things lmao” and get away with it. whenever someone says something like “i don’t like vriska because she’s a genuinely terrible person who hurt and manipulated multiple people” they’re either called misogynistic or have internalized misogyny which isn’t true (most of the time), hating a female character DOESNT make you a misogynistic woman hater.

also we need to stop calling gamzee a clown. even if he has a lot of the same attributes of a clown he does not like being called a clown nor does he agree with the idea of being a clowns, given that clown are people who want to make other laugh at their own misfortune, gamzee wants to make people laugh but he doesn’t want to be that joke.

Eridan had defended himself when Feferi attacked him, despite their agreement on the duel. Part of why he was in the wrong is not only because morally or that they were friends, but also the fact that it was a violetblood killing a fuchsiablood. Someone who is on top got killed by someone lower. And it is against the rules. Even if said rules should not carry over since Alternia is gone, it still holds over in a meta-narrative sense of what readers know about the customs and culture of their planet. Another was that he destroyed the Matriorb. One could argue that even if it wasn't destroyed by Eridan, then it would be Jack Noir himself after finding the trolls' hideout, as it is seen that he would have eventually killed everybody there. Others see it as Eridan fulfilling his promise on committing genocide to his race, as he had once mentioned before of killing land dwellers when he was on Alternia. Some could see also Eridan destroying the Matriorb at the time, would lead to The Condesce being unable to rebuilt her troll empire, as Gl'bgolyb would eventually kill all the lusus, even the Mother Grub that would have been on board the ship at the time The Condesce traveled to Earth, preventing her from getting a Matriorb through her own Mother Grub. That's why she had to kidnap Roxy. She may have known the other Matriorb from the previous session, was destroyed because Skaia and Paradox Space said it had to happen. And no one can question Skaia or Paradox Space on how things should be to continue the timeline. All the bad things had to have happened. Any self improvement on the trolls themselves as a whole or individuals, are deemed to be part of Doomed Timelines and irrelevant. Eridan had at least apologized to Feferi and mutual with Sollux even after they had fused to become Erisolsprite^2. Why else didn't they explode like Tavriskasprite had? So even SOLLUX had some empathy of what Eridan was feeling. The only thing he was not able to do was saying sorry to Kanaya. How could one apologize for that? Would Kanaya even listen to him? It's complicated that death was the only was for him to atone. It has been said that Karkat tried to continue pacifying Gamzee, but eventually got tired. Part of it is that he was unaware that Gamzee was being controlled by Lord English. It makes me wonder if there would have been a way to prevent him from being influenced by LE, before or after Murderstuck. When Post Retcon happened that Vriska was alive and stopped Gamzee (only after Murderstuck happened so Equius and Nepeta), why doesn't Karkat question about why Gamzee was acting this way or why it was VRISKA who needed to stop him so the timeline can continue. Doesn't Karkat even feel no pity or empathy that he would still be locked in the fridge (in the Meat Timeline), never to see Earth C? How does Candy Karkat feel about Gamzee being DEAD? He still cares about Dave, fuck that clown that was his 'best friend'. His new best friend and lover is Dave. Who the FUCK is Sollux? For Eridan, he was emotionally unstable and not in the right mindset to make the best choices. Gamzee was being mind controlled by Lil Cal and was also mentally unstable upon learning the truth about his religion. Vriska, however, had full control of everything she did and she made those choices on her on conscience, knowing the consequences that will come. She was still sane and aware of what may happen and yet, she has the choice of going through redemption arc how many times now at this point? So it's fine for Vriska to have that many times of redeeming herself, but Eridan and Gamzee can't?

[syscultureis]

plural culture is hating another alter for fronting when you try and eat food DAVE THOSE WERE MY BAGELS I DONT CARE YOU WERE GIRLHUNGRY - skaia system

.

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

Jake: Now, calm down, jake the snake of the peach cobbler bake. They did their darn shootin tootin far galooting best. Gotta be nice, hostilitydidildilidilly...

Jake: AW, HELL-DIDDLY-DING-DONG-FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN'T YOU MORONS DO ANYTHING RIGHT??!?!?!?!?!

Roxy: jake! we meant well, and every1 here tried their best.

Jake: Well, my family and I can't live in good intentions, Roxanne! Oh, your family's out of control, but we can't blame you, because you have gooood intentions!

Dave: hey! back off, man!

Jake: Ooh, you tried to warn me, brooooooo, I wouldn't want it to keep happening, DAAAAAAAAAAWG! Here's a catchphrase you'd better learn for when your comics get canned: "Hey, buddy, GOT A QUARTER?!"

Dave: i am shocked and appalled

Rose: Jake, with all due respect, Dave didn't do anything

Jake: Hark! Do I hear the sound of butting in? It's got to be little Rose Lalonde, Skaia's answer to a QUESTION NO ONE ASKED!

Terezi, laughing: SUCK 1T L4LOND3

Jake: What do we have here? The long slobbery tongue of the law? The last case you got the bottom of WAS A CASE OF SIDEWALK CHALK!

Gamzee: SiDeWaLk ChAlK bRo, Oh, HaHa. ThAt'S gOiNg In ThE aCt.

Jake: Oh yeah, the clown! The only one of you buffoons who doesn't make me laugh!

Gamzee: :O(

Jake: And as for YOU, I don't know you, but I'm sure you're a jerk!

Sollux: hey, ii've only been here a few miinute2! what'2 goiing on?

Jake: You ugly, hate-filled woman!

Vriska: Hey, hey, I m8y 8e ugly and h8-filled, but I... um, what was the third thing you said?

Jake: Dirk, you are the worst human being I have ever met.

Dirk: Hey, I got off pretty easy!

[creative-classpect]

The Land of Immortelles and Iridium

A desolate husk of a world. A mass grave of a civilization, littered with shining silver iridium flowers plunged into the earth as a supposed sign of reverence. A cruel mockery of honor as the warped metal radiates with destructive magic, amplifying all energy nearby to the point of obliteration.

The nails of this coffin world have been planted long ago.

Welcome to LOIAI. The Land of Immortelles and Iridium.

LOIAI is an endless graveyard of dusty hills, smothered skies, blasted out ruins, and the ominous and eternal presence of the iridium immortelles. This blasted world was once a thriving garden, an eternal paradise of eden, and remnants can still be found. Sequestered in burrows and caves remain the last vestiges of nature. Hauntingly still gardens that have long since withered. These remains form the root and stem of the immortelles above.

It's a mystery as to how exactly the world fell into ruin, but even the most cursory glance will lead you to the culprit. The iridium flower sculptures poison everything around them, mind, body, and soul. 

Corruption made manifest.

There is a peculiar trace of magic that emanates from the flowers, forming a latticework of arcane energy that runs through the earth and sky. While other things may crumble, the iridium composition allows it to remain. Twisted and eternal. It not only brings misery, but seems to feed on it in return. The more anger, hate, and pain it finds, the more they grow.

But it was not always this way. Beneath the waves of ash, buried far below the crust of the world, deep roots cross and intersect, leading to places foul and unknown. Whatever great tragedy swept across this land, it grew from deep, deep underground… down where the light of Skaia will never reach. Down into the suffocating darkness where only the most ancient of horrors lie.

The Maid of Rage must scour the land, fending off the constant force of corruption from the iridium immortelles, and combat the constant source of pain, misery, and anguish radiating out from the core of the planet. Only then, when they find the heart of suffering, can the world be made whole again. 

But it’s an awful long way down…

Denizen: Lyssa, Greek goddess of rage.

Features

The Roots of Misery

About halfway through the top layer of the planet one would find something of a cage. A vast, interconnected sprawl of metallic wire and bars, keeping anything below in and anything above, out. These roots are where the iridium immortelles spring up from, drilling their way to the surface to spread ever further.

These roots form a dense and treacherous biome and mark a turning point for LOIAI. While the world above is certainly dreadful, down below is so much worse. The Deep Dark. The distance between Hades and Tartarus. While the world above may be a graveyard of destructive magic, down below is an eternal prison, containing all the evils and sorrows of the world. 

Here there are monsters.

The Pit of Despair

A place just beyond the precipice/cage that is the Roots of Misery. A yawning void, a chasm of incredible space, far larger than anyone would ever expect. It is the end. The gaping maw of infinity. Time and space seem to fall away here, unwinding oneself from distance, direction, and duration. Clocks and compasses cease to function and, more often than not, shatter entirely.

Everything about the pit is oppressive. The heavy weight of the air, the grim shadows that lurk around each corner. Even many of Sburb’s functions such as instant messaging and alchemizing can refuse to work down there. 

There is only you. And the horrors that the Pit holds.

Good luck.

- - -

This post was commissioned by @apogender ! If you want to commission me or support my content, you can find me @ https://ko-fi.com/kesscal or over at https://linktr.ee/Skywhale09 !  

[mmmmalo]

Coming to regard the black/white Auryn at the center of the trickster lollipop as the same thing as the yin/yang bomb at the center of Skaia. Partly because the shape of the lolly had already reminded me of planets with house-towers, possibly drawing the tricksters' sense of "solving their problems" into the language of Sburb's existing framework for arc completion. Also because this retroactively turns the Skaia-capped staves of kings (and their imitator Lord English) into giant lollipops, making me want to put them in little sailor suits. Also also because the way LE's staff turns into gun makes licking the lolly seem like suicide, turning their immense magnetism into the dark draw of the stump and bringing us back to the paradigm of Mobster Kingpin's diabetes, or the arsenic catnip of sugar, or Doc Scratch's revolver with a single loaded candy-coated round (implicitly for suicide).

I think... for Jane this superimposes a sense that on the worst day of her life -- where Jake's being a jerk and Caliborn bullies her and calls her fat and tells her her Dad's dead and everything she interacts with makes her more miserable -- she has, sort of ended it? In the context of Caliborn calling her fat and in the shadow of Mobster Kingpin's diabetes, Calliope sending her a lollipop (posed as a "pick-me-up") feels like a rhetorical candy-coating on like, mocking fat-phobic suicide baiting, I guess. Giving the perjoratively "diabetic" girl a big bag of sugar. Like the god-tiering bait-and-switch again, but with the element of death obscured. We even see Roxy attempting to inform Jane how they all need to kill themselves (in order to god-tier) while Jane alchemizes the juju! Poor Jane...

I think this subtext carries over into Jane's lollipop abuse in the Epilogues... her line in Meat 29 "citizens of the Human Kingdom delight in my Tricksy antics, and what kind of politician would I be if I were to deny my core voting demographic that sort of red meat?" functions as an allusion to Jane's corpse, in addition to Jane's metaphorical recognition of herself as a product for consumption. "I am hated, so I must annihilate myself" seems to be the underlying sentiment for both disguise and suicide. Having Jane place the lollipop on the mantle (like Nana's memorial portrait), after which Dirk warns Jane not to burn herself out (like Nana's ashes) also seem to be aimed at her sense of despair. As Jane freaks out over being deemed xenophobic, Dirk circles back to "red meat" by juxtaposing the maintenance of political appearances and suicide: "You either gotta roll with the woke shit, or decide to commit laborious, symbolic, melodramatic suicide in the process of utterly giving up."

[hskinhome]

ohh not being able to ask anonymously is scary Um. whatever can i have a tarot reading for what my dave strider timeline was like pls… .Like in general

I’m on it I’ll use this spread and my Homestuck Kickstarter deck!

———————————–

First Card: Your past life as a whole

I got the reversed Ace of Cups, which symbolizes sadness, instability, loss of faith, disconnection, dissatisfaction, and inflexibility. Sadness and loneliness were core themes during your timeline, unfortunately. You felt disconnected from not only those around you and from the Divine but from yourself. You didn’t have a true sense of self or place in the world, causing emotional pain. The Cups suit also involves love, so it was most likely difficult for you in that area, too.

———————————–

Second Card: Theme of major challenges

I got the upright Strength card, which symbolizes strength, love, courage, force of character, love over hate, and spiritual over material. You struggled to love yourself and to have courage when you needed it. Your lack of faith (whether that be in Skaia or some other higher power) also caused issues. You struggled to find your inner harmony and were a weaker person in terms of self-confidence.

———————————–

Third Card: How you handled them, and their effects on you

I got the upright Ten of Pentacles, which symbolizes riches, inheritance, the passing of wisdom, ancestry, legacy, and family matters. It seems that you and Bro didn’t have as much of a strained relationship in your timeline compared to canon! During your difficult times, you could go to him for advice, his older age providing experience to help you. You listened to his words, which helped you achieve better things, especially in the realm of finance.

———————————–

Fourth Card: Lessons learned during this life

I got the upright Ten of Wands, which symbolizes oppression, despotism, struggle, burden, and limited vision. You learned how to overcome your emotional pain and survive without help. You were taught to stay positive and persevere even through the most challenging times.

———————————–

Fifth Card: The impact or effect on your current life

I got the reversed Hermit card, which symbolizes ignorance, immaturity, foolishness, and vices. While I couldn’t find your age on your blog, this card suggests that you’re at a point in your life where you haven’t quite gotten the hang of “growing up.” You still make mistakes along the way, possibly drowning out those who don’t immediately seem to be helpful. You need to seek wisdom from your elders, and it’ll truly help you get on your way!

———————————–

I hope this helps you, and let me know if it does!

[sntechsupport]

Hey there! I uh may be in a bit of a pickle? It appears that my denizen has been replaces by a horrorterror? Like i dunno if this is a corruption issue but it keeps trying to get me to kill everything on my land and paint sigils so as to summon more so that they may reclaim skaia?

Let them know that they lost and that it is final.

And also tell them that I’d hate to have to dispatch a -vatar to tell them that myself if they can’t accept you as my proxy. And I am note a nice nor reasonable person when I am doing something I hate.

Sincerely

SN Tech Support (Gear)

[inkwell-intermission]

ur charabter refs r something that r SO important and special they bring me closer to enlightenment it's so real

thank you im gonna make lots more and this is now an excuse to share more little (Big) fun facts about scofflaw just for u and your tags that always make me smile

1) Scofflaw’s knee is bad because it got busted up back on Prospit when he was being interrogated for involvement in an underground heretical horrorterror worship sect during the Inquisition into it’s existence. He was then permanently marked as a heretic and banished from Prospit, and was one of the first exiles to make ground on the remains of Alternia altogether. The permanent mark was his barcodes being slashed through and scarred over so they cannot be scanned, and anyone who knows anything would be able to recognize that he was marked as a criminal in a high order on his respective moon. (I think Prospit’s proximity to Skaia and being the “good guys” in relation to the frog and all that gave their governing body reason to be really against horrorterror worship, where it’s more understandable on Derse which is closer to the Outer Ring to begin with, it’s not common, but it wasn’t criminalized as long as there was no actions taken against the crown) 2) He’s got several different identities that all have legal IDs and licenses and all that stuff with their own bank accounts and jobs and that sort of thing, and it lets him move around in broad daylight a lot easier than it would be as Scofflaw, he’s met various other characters under his different identities before and thanks to his Silver Tongue he cannot be recognized otherwise unless the connection is really strong (eventually Scout begins to see through these, and it doesn’t work on Innovator. It does work on Delinquent however. It also doesn't work on Doxy half the time, but everyone else is susceptible). 3) His primary motivation is being remembered and leaving a serious legacy, he’s a deeply insecure man and is desperate to be both respected and feared, if that’s what’s necessary to leave his mark. This urge stems from some stuff that went down on Prospit, and is only pushed further by his horrorterror patron 4) He does a lot of big violence and bludgeoning and kneecapping and the like in his line of work and sort of puts on that he’s very sadistic and finds it all very fun or boring or personally enjoyable but he doesn’t actually enjoy it at all. He’s convinced himself that it is necessary for him to do and he has to just grit his teeth and go through with it, hes more scared of being forgotten than he is of killing people. He’s got IIIIISSUES

5) He’s proposed to Doxy a dozen times even though their relationship is pretty bad for both of them and she sort of hates him, not because he loves her enough to marry her but because he wants legacy, and a proper family and power couple and potentially kids would help with his image and that legacy as a more valid mob family, and she refuses for a variety of reasons that he understands but still tries to explain how actually we can work around those and its fine! She will never say yes but he still brings it up occasionally 6) He does almost all of the paperwork and accounting for the Twilight Scoundrels personally because he doesn’t trust anyone else to do it, Innovator thinks that’s stupid as hell and he could just pay some pushover accountant to take care of it, but he actually really likes sinking his teeth into legal text and financial stuff because it gets his mind off of how insanely stressed he is non-stop. He’s gotten very good at it and in addition has read up on a lot of other law, and uses that in negotiations with the Fuzz to sometimes great effect. Innovator finds this hypercompetence, despite the very dorknerd nature of it, a bit attractive but will NEVER tell him this SORRY FOR LOTS OF STUFF. I just want to talk about him so bad <3 He is soooo awful. thank you for the excuse to make a big list

[charlezarrd]

Hm.

So I know AI art is a touchy subject but a friend has been playing around with a model and generating the SHY characters for me, and it’s kinda neat to have them on hand as visual references seperate from the art style they were made in.

I dunno tho. I don’t intend to profit off of this, and the art won’t be in the final product. No one’s losing out because I wasn’t about to commission these pieces (i did look into it with an art friend, and yeah the full cost would be like $800 usd and yeah that’s just not worth it even slightly??)

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 1,801

[S] WV?: Rise up.

Storyboards: http://readmspa.org/storyboards/01801.swf.html

Song used: Skaian Skirmish by Andrew Huo and Toby Fox

Author commentary:

[S] WV?: Rise up is another big, splashy, game-changing animation. We get a megadose of worldbuilding when it comes to the Battlefield, which has been a fairly mysterious, neglected cosmological feature up until now. It evolves to become more complex with each player entry, and only begins resembling a planet on the third change. When it reaches planet form, that's when it finally serves as a viable stage for a major, global war between the two kingdoms. And remember that time is screwy for these game-construct settings. Once they come into being, it's as if they've always been. In other words, when the Battlefield turns into a planet, suddenly it's as if it has always been a planet and a war has been raging there for years.

0:26 - It's very fortunate for the peasants that their planet-sized chessboard is arable.

0:43 - In this big chess analogy, these guys are pawns, I guess. The analogy must be pretty loose though, because it doesn't seem like any of them are respecting the grid they're marching over at all.

0:49 - Yeah, I… I'm going to have to admit, this is where the chess analogy breaks down completely. This is just fucking Star Wars now.

0:52 - The big rook freak there is a brief glimpse of the cruelty and horrors of genetic engineering for the purposes of royal warfare.

0:59 - WV began life as a simple farmer. It's a small enough detail that I don't actually remember if he was a defector from the Derse army who started to farm, or if he began that way because for some reason the kingdom also supplies a stock of peasants to farm the land while a battle rages on. Either way, he's an extremely war-weary guy, and not happy at all that the nice, tall grass he was farming just burned down.

1:05 - The incineration of WV's can-themed farm is what triggers his hatred of kings and their warmongering tyranny. We knew he hated kings, and now we know why he hates kings. You can check this off your list now.

1:09 - Here's our first glimpse of a king. His scepter, rather than a magic ring, is what grants him the power of the prototypings. It also makes him huge, and thus a formidable opponent, and is why he's basically the final boss of any Sburb session, assuming the game goes how it's supposed to. Just like chess, obviously: you kill the king and you win.

1:12 - The scepter is a pretty special object. Aside from granting powers and size, it has Skaia itself sitting atop it. Not a mock Skaia, as an ornament, but the real Skaia, as a smaller instantiation of itself, currently contained within itself as a recursive construct. Flying into the Skaia on the scepter is exactly the same as flying into Skaia in the center of the Medium. You could then travel down to the Battlefield, find the king, and fly into Skaia all over again. But if you leave Skaia, you'd never fly out of the scepter. You'd always just fly out of Skaia. Got it? Imagine him using this as a weapon in the final battle. He swats one member of your party with it, and suddenly they find themselves all the way at the edge of Skaia, and they have to fly down to the Battlefield to rejoin the battle, wasting valuable time. It's a nasty end-boss move that can disrupt your tactics.

1:24 - Two things are brewing here. WV is organizing his mutiny by recruiting disaffected troops from both sides. Meanwhile, Jack is flying overhead, planning his massacre by sizing up all of WV's troops for a nice murder spree.

1:29 - Racism is over.

1:33 - This is all part of the White Queen's gambit. Hand off the ring and scepter to PM, so she can keep them safe, while WQ and WK get out of Dodge and meet on post-apocalyptic Earth to colonize it. She realizes this session is hopeless, and there's nothing much else to do but escape, start a new civilization, and blow up all the bridges between Earth and the session. It almost works!

1:38 - It's of some interest to note that PM is holding the scepter. Which means that wielding it, unlike wearing the ring, does not grant powers to just any carapacian. The scepter apparently only works its magic on kings. As Jack proves later though, you can still wield the scepter and utilize certain powers it has, like initiating the Reckoning.

1:42 - Sburb as an infinitely complex game of Silly Chess means it has a few loose parallels with the rules of chess. In chess, the king, while essential to keep alive, is a very weak piece. The scepter-bearing kings here obviously are very strong, so that's a departure. But one similarity is of a tactical nature. The kings here are still these slow, lumbering things of very limited tactical value. They stay on the Battlefield, don't cover a lot of ground, and are kind of sitting ducks when someone nasty like Jack flies along. Whereas queens have far greater tactical maneuverability. They generally stay on Derse, but can really go anywhere and can do a lot of damage, armed with their very powerful rings. But again, as in chess, they generally stay put for a while and are only deployed once strategy demands it.

1:52 - It's probably considered bad form by just about any other carapacian to think about destroying a king's scepter. That's not how a cleanly fought war is supposed to go. But Jack is designed to be a cheater.

1:55 - I wonder if WV is second-guessing why he was ever even mad at this guy. He looks like he could be a nice buddy, if they decided to bury the hatchet right here. Too bad it will be a moot point soon.

1:57 - Featured above: one of the worst fistbump malfunctions of all time.

1:58 - What would have happened if Jack hadn't intervened here? Would WV's insurrection have succeeded? There isn't much reason to believe WV's army would have defeated a giant prototyped king, so most likely Jack just saved WV's life. Sburb includes a lot of possibilities for making things interesting outside of its usual programmed path, which probably includes potential for little pawn guy mutinies like this now and then. But it wouldn't be much of a game if a bunch of pawns could take down the final boss before you ever meet him. The possibility of a Jack mutiny being successful, in which case he simply replaces the final boss, is a much more interesting way for the game to mix things up.

2:06 - I really have no idea how Jack crammed that crown on his head, over his jester prongs. Are those like…floppy? Did he bunch all the prongs together first, and feed them into the hat, before yanking it down for them to rip through the fabric? He also only has one arm to accomplish all this. It seems awkward. Whatever he did, WV sure wasn't thrilled about the spectacle.

2:10 - Then this scepter just stays here until [S] Descend. I can't for the life of me remember how it actually gets from this location to being in Jack's possession. Hang on while I flip ahead to the end of the book. Oh okay, it's CD. He picks it up and gives it to Jack. Of course he does. What a little scamp.

[thewertsearch]

Let's fucking GO!

As we return to our roots, Sgrub becomes Sburb once more.

Behind the Blue Universe, we focus on its progeny - the Red Universe.

Everyone say thank you, Sollux, for this convenient symbolic shorthand.

Hoo hoo hoo :'(

Please tell me this was the trolls' first impression of humanity.

"WE MADE THESE IDIOTS?"

Bleh, I remember that minigame. I hope John at least did better than I did.

D'aww.

Jade was quite young when John's username was stable-looped into her hands - but John looks pretty close to his current age. Did Skaia's clouds tell her she couldn't message him until now?

Jade was so lonely, too. Damn Alpha timeline!

...oh, Karkat.

Well, this would be the first interspecies hurdle to cross, wouldn't it? This certainly contextualizes a lot of John and Karkat's early conversations - and makes them a lot funnier in retrospect. We didn't know it at the time, but we were watching Karkat work through a crush.

And he'll have to work through it, I think. Some humans might be able to understand a kismesissitude, but I don't think John's one of 'em. Even if he did, John doesn't hate him like that. If Karkat is going to have any luck at all, he'll need to swatch quadrants - or ditch them entirely.

[visionaryparacosmos]

Okay, somehow I’ve ended up with some miscellaneous shipping thoughts that i need to get out:

Karkat c3< Erisol

This ship would have prevented at least one permanent death, one temporary death, and one half death.

Karkat and Eridan already talk about romance to the point that even Fef points it out when she was still moirails with Eridan. The only difference is that their conversations would emphasize the dysfunctional hate between Eridan and Sollux.

As for Sollux, he and Karkat already have this hatefriends kind of relationship. They have a mutual respect and are still friends even after they fight. This is an amazing foundation for an auspisticism. Additionally, one would think Sollux would be captivated by this quadrant considering it’s the only one that inherently involves you with two people.

Sollux <> Terezi

Listen, this panel existed before shooshing and papping necessarily had pale connotations, however I still think the friendly banter they’ve displayed in conversations and the mutual respect they have would translate to moirailegence well.

Eridan <3< Nepeta

I almost feel like I dont need to explain this bc theyre a match made in the clouds of Skaia, but I will.

Eridan has a track record of being in quadrants with chicks who could easily kill him (see: Vriska, Feferi). He’s so fucking stuck up his own ass about being seadwelling royalty that someone who doesn’t give a damn about the hemospectrum and has experience with guys who hype it up would knock him down a peg or three.

Furthermore, Nepeta even expressed sympathy for Eridan (when talking to Jasprose) despite not being interested in his disingenuous romantic advances. They both have lofty yet contrasting ideas about romance. Nepeta hypothesizes ships of others without focusing on her own needs and is in a textbook perfect moirailegence. Eridan idealizes quadrant serendipity and prioritizes his own needs before anyone else- even those in his quadrants, leading to his catastrophe of a moirailegence with Feferi.

[dare0451]

cosigning a lot of this. but/and, following the talk about the transmasc readings, im gonna be real, i kinda hate those for the beta kids? not just for john but for dave too. like.

ok i wanna be clear. i want homestuck to have good transmasc rep. i want that dearly. i want this comic queered to the nines and if i had my way we'd have stuck a t needle in yiffany's ass years ago. that dog deserves a wispy mustache. jane too lets get him on that shit too. i know roxy is transmasc in the meat timeline but theyre kinda doin jack shit with that so i want somethin better for yall.

i add this preface to be clear that im not against transmasc rep or think its distracting from transfem rep or anything (tho as juney said up top these headcanons Are rhetorically used to do so by bad actors within the community. but im not saying that about the work itself)

but if you think any of the kids in the beta timeline were childhood transitioners you straight up are not engaging with the story. at the start of homestuck all four of the beta kids are homophobic shame-filled little twerps. jade goes on a tirade about how shes not a furry (which is why shes the one exception i have for thinking the betas should always be depicted as being the agab the comic gives them, because while shes clearly afab she is Thematically trans so making her such in out of context art tracks). john is famously on the record as not being a homo sexual, and questions absolutely nothing about his life to the point he believes his dad is a busking clown. dave is casually homophobic and misogynistic. rose is. rose. their arcs are about accepting the parts of them that theyre ashamed of. skaia is a self-actualization engine with a terrible cost.

the transmasc read of dave especially has always bewildered me. his entire arc is about unlearning the standard of masculinity that was thrust on him as his birthright and obligation. he is inherently and unavoidably a cis boy at the start of the comic and the primary theme of his entire character is unlearning the habits and grappling with the traumas that come from being raised to be the macho man burly brawling hero. how is a character about the terrible cost of being raised to Be A Man good or desirable transmasc rep?

my point here is that i think pretty much all of the readings of characters being trans from the start in homestuck are just... fucking piss weak? the beta kids at least. i could see the alpha striders being transmasc, sure. but the betas? theyre. theyre so unavoidably cis at the start.

trans headcanons work for most media where the writers or at least their higher ups wouldnt dare make a trans character textual, if they even wanted to, which they dont. but when talking about an extremely queer webcomic made by a nonbinary person who handed it off to a team of queer people when it stepped down?

all trans configurations should demand better than "i think theyre probably trans before the story starts <3" and start demanding more june egberts. transitioning is a big part of life that tends to happen later in life. it being a part of a characters larger story should be expected, not written off as a headcanon. june egbert is someone finally doing this shit right and yet all anyone is doing is suppressing it in favor of anti-textual headcanons. demand better from your fiction! demand june!

June Egbert is, and always has been incredibly fascinating to me because of just, how many factors have conspired to make Homestuck fans show their collective transmisogynistic asses.

The main character of Homestuck transitioning is a planned future plot point for the official continuation of homestuck, that was spoiled in advance by a fan making a joke about finding some toblerones Andrew Hussie the author of homestuck hid in a cave.

The current main writers of Homestuck: Beyond Canon have went on record in an AMA confirming that this was indeed always the plan, even before they took up the project.

In spite of these facts, the general consensus among certain homestuck fans seems to be that "June Egbert" is purely a headcanon for the original comic that was "made canon" by a "Toblerone Wish" (a concept that didn't even exist at the time)

For a variety of reasons, the "canonicity" of the postcanon official continuations of homestuck is a mattter of much debate, (though a debate that most homestuck fans seem to err on a side of "it's not canon at all in the slightest," something the writers have feelings on I'm sure.)

All of these factors combined leave the concept of "June Egbert" in a very nebulous place. It's assumed by most to just be an "ascended headcanon" that was shoehorned in, it's a spoiler so it hasn't happened yet in any official media, and the official media it will eventually happen in is regarded by some to be nothing more than glorified fanfic.

If someone is talking about June Egbert, and you don't like the concept of June Egbert, you have your pick of a million different excuses for why she's fake and gay and not worth discussing and bad writing and just the authors doing a gay dumbledore*, paying lip service to representation while actually doing nothing.

And of course, lots of people *don't* like June Egbert! Rather than being introduced as transfem from the start, she's in this nebulous position of discovery where people have to truly reckon with the idea of a "Pre-transition Trans Woman."

You can try to write off *some* of the backlash as transphobia, because obviously not everyone in this fandom is gonna be cool about trans people.

But there's no shortage of fans just dying to tell you about how much they like reading her as transmasc, or the idea of her being nonbinary or genderqueer or genderfluid, or literally anything besides a trans woman. And since they're fine with all those other interpretations, there's obviously no implicit biases driving their distaste for the concept! (if you want to try explaining the concept of "transmisogyny" to people like this you're braver than I.)

you can trust them when they say it's *just* a problem with whether or not it makes sense with the writing, or it just doesn't feel right somehow, or any of the thousands of excuses that this writing situation gives them to just Not Like It.

It's just, so interesting to me. There's not a lot of characters out there that get a trans arc in this way, that leaves room for open denialism and insistence that we have our trans cake and eat it too... Because Homestuck is a timeline spanning multiverse story, lots of people seem to want it to be an alternate timeline thing. Assuring us we can have this character share space with a non-transitioning version of herself and it won't be weird or imply gross things about trans people.

If you ask me it feels like a plotline that'd be really good for exploring some gender horror though, finding your true self and then being demoted to a footnote, an alternate version, because everyone around you likes your pre-transition self more....

Anyway I have no broader point beyond "hey look at this isn't this kinda weird. You don't get this kinda stuff often!"

*side note: it's a little ghoulish I think to compare "a future trans plot point that hasn't been given the chance to even happen yet, in an already famously queer piece of media, from a nonbinary author" to "some stupid shit done by the literal most famous transphobe of all time" but that's perhaps a discussion for later.