#a bunch of people who were simply not ready to educate children let alone ''problem'' children

[lith-myathar]

.

[dukeofriven]

Good In The World

I meant what I said with that extended LOTR quote being what the Epilogues are about - about there being good in the world, and it being worth fighting for. Given that I’ve been up to my neck reading Hussie commentary lately I feel like I’ve gotten a pretty strong grasp on what makes him tick - and who boy does this guy love stories about friendship, teamwork, and love, loves them so much he sometimes sounds like Téa Gardner about to lay down a friendship speech on Yu-Gi-Oh. So - while noting that the extent to which the epilogues are and are not Hussie’s work are even more muddled that usual in regards Homestuck - the take-away is this: everything went wrong, in both Meat and Candy, because everyone forgot that - that friendship, teamwork, and love is the only reason any of them survived. The Sburb survivors came to Earth-C as literal gods, beings of inordinate celebrity and power, and then didn’t work as hard as they should have to still be friends and family. We point to John as some kind of recluse but it quickly becomes clear that everyone stopped working at staying together. Karkat and Dave are as much shut-ins as John, stewing together in their own incapacity. Katkat’s self-loathing, so often a hilarious joke in Homestuck is - free of the immediate pressures of Sburb - shown to be intensely debilitating. It undermines him repeatedly in Meat, and requires incipit genocide in Candy to be set aside, costing him everything that mattered on a personal level. Dave made the mistake of many in his position before him, leaning too much on the first epiphany about trauma and not taking the care to continue down the path to further healing and reconciliation with the past. It leaves him desperately reaching for intimacies he too scared of to actually experience. Coupled with an abused kid’s terror of perpetuating harm he lies to Karkat and Jade both time and time again to try and save their feelings. Jade, so utterly fucked up by years of isolation and loneliness, and so endearingly, crushingly full of love makes all the wrong decisions in trying to build a triad (that is - the triad could have worked, but she went about it all wrong) and makes two separate instantiations of Dave and Karkat miserable. Rose and Kanaya have no malice in their actions, but they do what married people always do: pull away from everyone else, and focus on themselves and their new lives. Harmless, normally - or, at least, not seriously harmful - but those lives took them underground and away from everyone else, The two most insightful and level-headed members of the party simply weren’t around when everyone needed them most. Unaware how bad things were getting they missed so many of the warning sides that would have clued them in earlier that everyone was going off the rails - and being as isolated as she was in Meat this left Rose vulnerable to the manipulation most likely to succeed: just like with Doc Scratch she was preyed upon by someone who could flatter her sense of grievance, knowledge, and uniqueness. Terezi wouldn’t have stood by and let things go to shit - but she was doomed the moment she tied her heart to ego personified, and so was absent too.  As for the Alphas, well - their problems were never resolved in the first place, their 'conflict arcs’ interrupted by the arrival of the betas. Only Roxy, element of void, utterly self-contained, a refugee from a dead reality, walked onto Earth-C able to withstand the horror that awaited them: celebrity. Skaia is benevolent, but it is not wise: Sburb seems to have a cherub’s worldview, full of bright colours and heightened stories, but not much maturity. When the victors of Sburb escaped to Earth-C the last thing they needed was celebrity, praise, and positions of note. The issues are all laid out in the prologue: John retired before he ever started working, every one of them richer than any mortal could conceive of. These kids didn’t need parades, they needed to go school. Jane didn’t need honorary degrees from every business school on the planet, Jake didn’t need a TV show centred entirely around his ass: what everyone needed was to be aggressively ordinary. Mundane and unregarded. They needed to put everyone in a group home with four on-staff counselors and take a chunk of years doing nothing but heal. Because everyone was damaged. Other than Calliope - a special case - everybody walked out of Sburb having witnessed at least one apocalypse. Put aside any of the individual traumas and deaths and abuses and sins and just focus on that alone: the death of entire worlds and the burden of saving seven sentient species. Rather than the ultimate Reward being a sit-down with kindly professionals who could help a bunch of kids cope with that, these literal children entered a new world and built new lives on a foundation of dust. The beta kids never finished seventh grade. Jane Crocker never finished high school. Jade Harley, Jake English, Roxy Lalonde, and Dirk Strider never went to school at all. Not one of those four had ever been around more than four humans in their lives until the day they won the game. They couldn’t have. Jade and Jake grew up alone on islands. Roxy and Dirk grew up in the apocalypse. Dirk grew up in a literal box. As Cascade hit Dave and John were the only living humans Jade had ever met who wasn’t her grandpa: and she spent three years alone on a ship with only the Nannasprites and consorts for company. (And Jaspers to chase.) For those four especially, think about they went through within 24-hours: BAM here’s a group of people including your alt-relatives and literal aliens BAM here’s a crazy fucking battle against technicolour chess people, killer dogs, and fish queens BAM here’s a pristine new-ish world better BAM produce thousands of species to populate a new world /TABLE SCRATCH/ Welcome to Earth-C in the year 5000 Celebrity Gods. Here’s your debit cards full of riches. Seriously - this all happens in about a day. And yet people are shocked that things didn’t work out? They were sixteen years old. Four of them had no formal education of any kind, nor had ever been around enough to people to form a softball team. And that’s not even starting on the trolls, who had multiple culture-shocks and traumas of their own the sort through. And yet people are shocked that things didn’t work out? There is, absolutely, a way all of this could have been addressed and become a happy ending. If you don’t like the Epilogues because you’re just sick and fucking tired of tragedy stories - boy do I feel you. Man, don’t get me started on shit like Westword we will be here all week. If you just wanted there to be a fucking happy ending because god-damnit people deserve to be happy - I feel that too. Had that been what we got I can’t say that I’d have been displeased. But if you’re angry because what happened in the Epilogues seems “unreasonable”  all I can do is wave my arms at all the shit everybody went through and ask you why going from that to retired celebrity godhood was good for anyone. What happened on Earth-C was nobody’s fault - not even Dirk’s. Of course he lost it. Of course he took his godhood to its logical conclusions - what possible grounding in real human beings had he ever seriously had, and what in his life was there to make him see people as people? Dude grew up alone in a box with SBAHJ and rapping robots for company - the only voice in his head his own, magnified in the echo chamber of ego and his own blindness to his inadequacies.  Why wouldn’t Jane cling to status quo of her dead world? Really, what did Sburb ever bring her but heartbreak, an excessively baroque Bad Relationship Simulator that took away her home and her position as a corporate heiress for a six month romp through a bunch of dead planets and inter-friend squabbling (We don’t talk about how fucking boring the alpha session was: nothing but undead and emptiness.) She reaches a new world, gets told how smart she is, gets a bunch of degrees - but as Dave himself notes, when you’re rich as can be and have everyone on the planet lining up to do business with you, it’s pretty easy to think you’re actually skilled at running things, especially if YOU STOPPED YOUR EDUCATION AT SIXTEEN AND GOT TOLD THAT YOUR SIXTEEN YEAR OLD SELF WAS THE APEX OF YOUR BEING. Take a moment to remember yourself at sixteen. Try to put sixteen year old you in charge of something meaningfully important - like, mmh, let’s say a regional bank. Uh - oh. Oh dear. Oh it’s on fire, is it? And the fire is spreading? Yeah, that’ll happen. [One glaring issue I’ll note in these epilogues is that nobody knows what the fuck to do about Dad Crocker, so they do... nothing, until Candy reminds you he exists in order to kill him to motivate Jane to do something she probably could have been easily prompted to do anyways by another means. I guess Dad Crocker just... happily let Jane not finish school or exert any kind of parental control at all after that point? On her or anybody else? You want to talk about OOC: what the fuck happened with Dad Crocker, of whom I expected better? And where did Tavrosprite and the Nannasprites go?] My point in all this is that Homestuck is a story about how important love, teamwork, and friendship is, and after the Earth-C victory everybody got lost. Everybody reacted to being Celebrity Gods in their own way, and it created little cracks that widened over time, and when everyone should have been coming closer together - group therapy sessions, even - they got further and farther apart. These emotionally-stunted mentally-teenaged kids with buckets of trauma, the power of gods, and the celebrity to match broke. One by one. All in their own unique ways. The Epilogues are in some sense a musing on the absurdity of adulthood - how its mantel is placed upon you regardless of whether you are ready or not, for reasons as arbitrary as ‘turning a certain age’ or ‘winning a video game.’ In some cases it takes our heroes DECADES of life before adulthood - before real maturity - begins to make something of an appearance, and even then it’s a crapshoot. Love, friendship, and teamwork are what matter in Homestuck: in the epilogues it takes years of monumentally boneheaded decisions for our heroes to remember this, and some of them never do.

Is there still a happy ending at the end of Homestuck? One that lies ahead? I think so. Hussies loves his characters dearly - and yes, he does. Of course he does. He didn’t spend ten years of his life telling the story of one dimensional Brechtian Archetypes to make some otiose point about the nature of narrative: if he had none of you would be feeling as you are now.  The difference between you and Andrew Hussie is that you see his characters like family: you leap to their defence whenever they are hurt, and when they are cut you bleed: “How?” you ask, “Could anyone be so cruel to do this thing?” But Hussie sees his characters as characters, in a story of which he is author, and in which pain and hurt and tragedy can be the vehicles through which good stories can be told: that the light is made all the brighter because of the quantity and quality of darkness that was banished. Candy and Meat are the story of a boy who can only destroy love because he thinks he understands it, and lashes-out when things don’t go as planned. Dirk is just as much the villain in Candy as in Meat, as Calliope makes very clear: the Candyverse is in some sense defined, or at least made more distinct, by his absence. He is a tragic figure on the macro scale - if only he and all the walking wounded of Sburb had been given help when they needed it - but his death in Candy is not a tragedy of ‘what ifs,’ it’s an act of petulance and cruelty by a kid who’ll take his ball and go home if he’s not allowed to play the winning game. His death destabilizes the Candyverse far more than John’s choice to stay, its just that its corrosive effects take longer to be obvious - and the gears he’d already set in motion didn’t cease to turn, though they may have slowed. Dirk destroys love, his effect on both timelines is to push people apart because division suits him, and to push his own view of what ‘love’ is on people who experience it far more expansively than he could ever imagine. He’s a sad little boy who grew up in alone in a box and entered a world that told him he was a literal god with the powers to match - by the end of Meat it’s clear that love, friendship, and teamwork mean nothing to him, only the perfect order of his own fevered imagination. What will bring him down in the end is the reclamation of that feeling at the end of Act 7 - the joy of victory, of having worked together, of the love of family both found and familial, and of the realization that they were none of them better apart. And then some therapists. Some actual therapists. For a good long time. (Also I hope that they find Doc Scratch and beat his sorry ass from here to eternity because that smug fuck has his puppety fingertips all over this thing, and if Dirk really is merging with his ultimate self that includes (as @geekycalligrapher noted) aspects that wound up in Lord English, including a not insignificant portion of one Doctor Vanilla Milkshake, Esq.) (Edit: I did, in fact, do a few edits when I noticed the opening sentences were missing things like ‘the subject.’)

[charactersadvocatechimata]

Law of Life: Redheads Are Absolute 7

“Do you have all your books?”

“Yup.”

“Lunch?”

“Yup.”

Tony nods and brushes a hand through his hair. “Right. Everything will be fine. My babies will be fine. The school is top notch, and the Maria Stark Foundation donates a good chunk of change. Push comes to shove I’ll throw some money around to get my way. Yeah. A completely controlled environment is ideal.”

Clint smiles up at Tony’s oiled, stained face.

“Yeah. Just remember not to blemish the Stark family name, and you will be all right.”

“Howard.” Tony bites out.

“What? The little pipsqueaks are Stark now. They have a familial responsibility to the name. You know this Antony, don’t be naive that they can escape the burden simply because they are children.” Howard waves a hand imperiously at Clint and Natalie. The two ‘gremlins’ in question exchange a look. Nat does not enjoy the new nickname.

“Well, that’s where you are wrong. I registered them as Clint Barton Wolf and Natalie Barnes Wolf. Pepper even got the school to sign a nondisclosure form regarding their connection to Stark International.”

“Impressive.”

“You bet. I’m not letting the public anywhere near my babies unless they say otherwise.”

Howard snorts contemptuously and rolls his eyes. “If the Fates allow it,” the older Stark mumbles before leaving the room.

“We could just not be spent to school,” Clint pleads.

“Education is important. You know this Corncob.”

“School sucks.”

“No argument here. But this school has some the most diverse programs. Sure it’s one of those snobby Alpha schools-” Tony stops waving his hands and turns to Nat. “Mimmo I informed the school you are an Alpha and Clint is your Beta. I’d figure your natural disposition and confusing scent, no one will question your orientation.”

“Понял.” (Understood.)

The genius smiles. “You’ll be in the same class so if you have any problems, Clint, Nat will put a stop to it. Further, if there is ever a moment you need to come home because you are having a bad day just call me on your cell phone.”

“I’m having a bad day.”

Tony huffs, but he’s still smiling and even ruffles Clint’s hair. “Are you having a bad day or are you scared for your first day of school?”

“Scared for my first day of school.”

“That’s what I thought.” Tony laughs. “Everything will be fine Corncob.”

Clint’s shoulders slump, and he heaves a sigh. He feels a hand brush the back of his head and a tap on his forehead. Clint glances into Ma’s whiskey eyes and vaguely remembers another set of paternal eyes once upon a time.

“Just remember that your Father is stalking you like the creepy ninja security blanket of an Alpha that he is.” Tony sighs fondly.

There is a soft thump from the shadows causing both Tony and Clint to smirk.

“Мне тоже.” (Me, too.)

“Of course, Mimmo.” Tony shifts over to Nat and thumps his head against hers.

“Are the Grand Young Masters, ready to leave Young Master?”

“I think so Jarvis.”

Clint sighs heading towards the car ready to get this day over with already. People could be so people like. And tiring. He didn’t need anyone telling him how much of a freak he was, it was his style after all. But people could focus on the dumbest shit. Just saying pleasantries could be tiring and nothing like shooting arrows. Most people couldn’t even understand how awesome arrows were in the first place, not even Ma or Nat. Of course, they make up for it by making him arrows (Tony) or participating in target practice (Nat).

A smaller hand grips his own and Clint shift his gaze down to Natalie. She gave one of her rare smiles. At least he had Nat.

(Mobile Users beware there is more.)

@@@

Useless. Every single one. Teacher is especially useless.

There is an introduction.

She speaks Russian.

He signs.

The others gape.

Mother has requested only this. Only this.

No escape.

The others watch them. Even during lessons.

Some gawk as he flicks paperclips into the trash can.

She’s been making indents in her hand.

This is not a world ruled by Death.

Yet the fear remains.

A soft touch on her hand. She clenches it tight.

“Are you okay?” he signs.

She smirks. She signs, “define okay.”

“Well my usually no internal bleeding probably doesn’t work anymore,” he signs.

She shakes her head no.

He’s smiling.

He smiled even in the Red Room.

Black and blue. He smiled.

Was the smile carved into his skull?

“Are you okay?” she signs.

“Tired,” he signs back.

She pats his cheek.

The others are still staring.

She clutches his hand. It’s real. It has to be.  

@@@

“Stalker Dad. Can you come out?”

Natalie has a bunch of his shirt fabric gripped tight in her hands and Clint can relate. He keeps trying to count his heartbeats, keep his mind of the multiple entry points, all the various spots for hidden weapons, how open his back is to the kids behind him and the lack of defensible positions. It’s only been two periods, but already there is a sharp stabbing pain above his eyes.

The Winter Soldier of Myth and Legend, who he calls fucking Dad now, reforms from the shadows. The former weapon intense gaze sweeps across the (barely) hidden alcove, and already Clint can feel some of the tightness in his chest residing. “Bad day?” Winter kneels down.

“No. Or maybe. I don’t know. I could use a hug.” Clint stretches out his arms and makes a small grabby motion with his hands like he used to. Winter stiffens, and Clint can feel Nat stiffen behind him as well. “You were normal once Buckaroo, you can give me a hug. No one cares.” The boy knows the former weapon doesn’t like that particular nickname, but he doesn’t care. All he wants is a little bit of comfort.

“Um, sure.” Winter slowly reaches for Clint. Taking every moment between heartbeats to check their surrounds. Finally, one flesh and one metal arm wrap around the boy, and Clint heaves a sigh of relief then drops his head against Winter’s neck. The Alpha is still tense but relaxing bit by bit.

Clint feels his new Father’s heart vibrations traveling along his head. At some point Winter slips onto the grass, pulling Clint onto one side of his lap and making room for Nat to wiggle her way into the embrace. They are both a little awkward but Nat’s humming some soft lullaby and Dad is making a small circular motion with his fingers; it’s indeed comforting.

@@@

“You were gone for an entire year. I mourned you, my Prince.” Some kids shouts and signs. Rather smoothly, too. Clint stands blinking at the strange masked child, but he can feel Nat freeze at his side, probably reaching for a hidden blade.

“Wade!”

“Peter!” Clint blinks again and takes a step outside the classroom.

“You should leave them alone. They probably don’t want to be bothered for now.” An another kid with large framed glasses steps forward from behind the weirdo. Where does the school manage to find such wackos?

“Peter. I had a dream.”

“Was this during first period or second?”

“Fourth, actually. More importantly Petey. My dream.” The masked stranger continues to sign as he talks rather smoothly too. “Where I fought the great powers of brainwashing lead by a sexy cat with my two sidekicks, and he was one of my sidekicks.”

“Wade.”

“Yes, Petey?”

“How could you mourn his loss, if you were asleep the entire time the new students were gone?” Peter pushes his glasses against his nose and Nat makes another tug at Clint’s shirt. Yet Wade doesn’t answer the smaller boy right away instead he signs Peter’s words.

“Love, magic, rainbows and chemical-x.”

“Of course, silly me.”

“I’m not your sidekick.” Clint finally manages to voice.

“Too good to be my sidekick,” Wade whines while pressing his hand to his chest. Only to signs his words again ending with the same gesture.

“Nah, I’m her sidekick.” Clint gestures back at Natalie.

“You spoke? Awesome. What else can you do?” Wade asks.

“I like archery.” Nat makes a sharp tug at Clint’s shirt, and when he glances down, she makes another sharp gesture with her hand. “Nat likes knives.”

“Yeah, pointy things are awesome. I keep my katanas in my locker because the teacher was nervous of the stabbing things.”

“Sad.” Nat pipes up, and Clint grins.

“You get me, scary child.” Wade nods seriously.

“Wade.” Peter sighs from the now bouncing Wade.

“It’s a compliment. Jessica always perks up when I call her the scariest thing since Discord made every-pony forget their true selves. Now she’s got competition.”

“You bet. Nat is the scariest thing since running out of pizza bites.”

“My. That is a might power. We ran out of pizza bites last Saturday, and Logan refused to buy more. I thought I would perish.”

“Oh no. What did you do?”

“We had some frozen chimichangas. So I persisted.”

Clint sniggers. “Good thing. Who's Logan?”

“My kind of not-Dad guardian person.”

“I’ve got one of those. And sort of Mom-not-mom, too.”

“Petey, too.”

“Wade means my Uncle Ben and Aunt May.”

“Cool.”

“Well, then. Scary Nat and Sidekick Clint would you like to throw pointy things with Petey and me?”

Clint shifts his eyes over to Nat and cocks a brow the way he's seen Tony do. She nods.

“Sure. Sounds fun.”

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