#gamzee as a force of nature almost? that's how he works in my head

[starsnores]

Was thinking about your Dave/Karkat/Gamzee ntr story again and think it would be funny if Dave texted Gamz to try to tell him to stay the fuck away from Karkat, and Gamz just texted him back, “haha. cool story bro. here’s a video of me plowing your boyfriend two nights ago :o)” and Dave just has a solid cry/wank.

ah i love dave trying to stand up to gamzee. you know their convo together right after gamzee turns? that whole thing where he's laughing it off until he realizes gamzee might be serious and also know things about him that he shouldn't and then you get the sense he's getting anxious about it but trying not to let it show. it's a good scene i think, love gamzee suddenly gaining the upperhand on people in a convo and freaking them out. i think it especially works with dave just bc of how he is? idk how to describe it. like he's tying to fight a storm. it's sort of funny. and the fucking is a fun bonus on top of that.

[yandere--stuck]

Yan!Kanaya x Reader

You walked alongside Kanaya down the winding, labyrinth-esque hallways that made up the meteor you found yourself on.

One of the other trolls - Gamzee, if you recalled correctly - was fiddling absentmindedly with a random transportalizer, not thinking it would actually work. He had found you and locked onto your coordinates, and had managed to zap you onto the meteor. You fought back a smile at how the purpleblood had wigged out, apologizing and trying to calm both you and himself down.

After the dust had settled and you were cautiously introduced to the trolls that had been harassing you and your friends, you found yourself favoring the jadeblood of the group - Kanaya. You appreciated her caring and level-headed nature, at least in comparison to her friends. And she, in turn, had a very soft spot for you. You often stuck by her side - she would sit and talk with you as she sewed new articles of clothing, use you as a model, or read books, in between "trolling" your friends, of course.

And today was no different, as Kanaya led you down one  of the many hallways that made up the meteor.

You noted her new dress - it was your favorite color, oddly enough… Purely a coincidence, you were sure. The dress had a slit that showed off one of Kanaya's upper legs. A matching scarf was wrapped comfortably around her neck, resting on her shoulders.

You walked together in comfortable, familiar silence. Every once in a while, you'd notice how her eyes dart over to you, gazing at you, a smile quirking at her lips. When you'd return the smile, she'd turn away, a jade blush on her cheeks.

Kanaya was so cute!

The troll cleared her throat in embarrassment, before ushering you to an opening at the end of the hallway. The hallway opened up to a large, circular room. The gray room was lined with machinery. Rows of vials containing green sludge were stacked in lines on shelves.

Your eyes widened, looking all about in awe. "What is all this?"

"It's A Little Project I've Been Working On," Kanaya said, a bit sheepishly. Then her face fell with annoyance. "Ever Since Eridan Completely Destroyed The Last Mother Grub Egg, I've Been Forced To Find Other Ways To Restore Our Species' Populace."

You walked over to the vials of green liquid, looking them over, up and down the lines. "You needed a grub to make other trolls."

"Mother Grub," Kanaya corrected. "But It Isn't… Er, Wasn't Really That Simple. Quadranted Trolls Would Pail And Their Respective Genetic Material Would Be Mixed In A Bucket For Drones To Take To The Brooding Caverns And Delivered To The Mother Grub And… Well, It Was Basically A Gross Mess That I Don't Feel Like Getting Into Right Now. And That Process Isn't Even A Valid Option Anymore."

"So, you're looking for other options." You said, taking a vial from its stand and looking it over.

"Precisely," Kanaya grinned. Then, her eyes practically bugged out as she noticed the vial in your hand. "Ah, I'd Be Careful With That If I Were You!"

You stilled, eyes regarding the liquid in the glass container cautiously. "...What is it?"

Kanaya approached you hesitantly, a jade blush rising to her cheeks. "It's… Liquified Red Troll Mating Pheromones."

"What?!"

"Don't Be Alarmed! As Long As It Doesn't Escape Into The Open Air, We'll Be Fine."

"Why do you have this?"

"Like You Said, I'm Exploring Other Options," Kanaya smiled sheepishly. "It Took Quite A Lot Of Work. Lots Of Failed Attempts… Many Hours Watching Trolls Get It On… It Was A Particularly Tiresome Endeavor."

You giggled, smiling wryly at the troll behind a hand.

Kanaya rolled her eyes, but smiled even still. "Oh, Yes, Laugh It Up! Let's See How You Like It - Watching Pailing For Hours In The Pursuit Of The Greater Good, Always Looking Over Your Shoulder In Case Anyone Were To Catch You And Claim You're Watching Pornography."

You burst out into laughter, though still clutched the vial in your hand tightly. Kanaya beamed at your melodious laughter, her eyes crinkling.

As you calmed yourself, you quirked your head a bit, smiling. "I thought you said Mother Grubs were the ones who made troll babies."

"Very True," Kanaya nodded. "However, That Was Not Always The Case. A Long, Long Time Ago, Before The Condense's Reign, Trolls Reproduced Through, Well… Copulation.

The troll blushed brightly. "One Troll Would Receive The Genetic Material And Would Eventually Conceive Eggs Within Them And Eventually Lay Them."

You nodded, understanding where Kanaya was going with her plan.

"That's Not To Say I Would Use The Substance Against Anyone's Will," The jadeblood clarified. "Just To Simply Speed The Process Along."

You nodded, and Kanaya offered you a sheepish smile. One of her hands reached over to pluck the vial from your hands. You shivered a bit as her cool hand brushed against your own.

Kanaya looked down at the vial, not meeting your eyes momentarily, before reaching over with her other hand and rested it upon your forearm.

She spoke your name softly, looking deeply into your eyes. "There Was… Another Idea I Had Thought Of…"

You nodded, giving her the cue to continue.

"I… I Was Thinking… What If Humans Were Possibly Compatible Mates For Trolls, And… And If It's At All Possible That- That You W-"

"HONK!"

The both of you let out a yelp at the sudden noise coming from the vents. Kanaya flinched, and the vial in her hand dropped. The glass container landed with a sharp crash, shattering into pieces. Green sludge spread onto the floor, and a visible gas began to rise up from the puddle.

"No!" Kanaya cried, before shoving you out of the way, sending you stumbling backwards.

The cloud had already surrounded Kanaya, and she coughed as she began to wave her arms, attempting to clear the air.

You inched slowly closer, watching as she stood there, breathing heavily, with her hands resting on her knees.

"Kanaya…?" You squeaked.

A growl filled the room. The troll's head whipped up. Kanaya's eyes were wide and deep and wild.

"Go… Away…" She hissed out, though clearly restraining herself.

"Kanaya, what's…?" You trailed off, finding yourself stiff with fear. You knew what was happening, she just told you. But even still, you found yourself frozen, overwhelmed with indecision.

"You Need To Leave!" Kanaya insisted, even as she stalked ever closer to you.

Her voice was growly and filled with restrained need. Her eyes were narrowed and dark, staring at you like a predatory gazes upon prey.

"I…" You fell silent, finding yourself unable to speak.

"Or… Or Is It That You Don't Want To Leave?" Kanaya twitched, licking her lips. You could swear you saw something writhing underneath the fabric of her dress. "That You Want This As Much As I Have?"

You managed a step backwards, but you'd never be able to outrun the jadeblood at this rate - she was almost on top of you.

The troll reached out, securely grabbing your wrist and pulling you against her. Was… Was she purring? "I've Wanted This For So Long - Since You've First Arrived, Red Love. I've Been Too Afraid To Confess My Feelings, But Now… Now I See… You Want This As Much As I."

You… You didn't know. Did you want this?

Kanaya's other hand came to cup your chin, pointing your head to look into her eyes.

"There's No Need To Overthink… Just Give In, As I Have. Help Me RepopulateMy Species, Won't You?"

[theorynexus]

Retrospective Analysis of Dirk:

After the initial thoughts I had this morning, following some light (re-)reading, I have come to various conclusions: The role that Dave Strider played in the Meat Epilogue was nearly identical to that that Dirk’s Bro (Alpha Dave Strider) played in the story---   DOOMed rebel fighting against the rise of another dictatorial Crocker.   I am sure that Dirk realized this, both considering the fact that this was an echo of Dave’s soul across the multiple instances of himself, and because he partially engineered this eventuality. Intriguingly enough, this might imply that Rose likely would have sided against Crocker (Jane) if her ascension had not incapacitated her and Dirk hadn’t been puppeteer-distracting her at the time (for reasons beyond her connection to Kanaya). More importantly, it helps establish an important further parallel:  Dirk acted as the puppetmaster in the shadows, essentially controlling the election and determining its outcome from the beginning.   Lord English remained the most important force in the Alpha Kids’ world and session in much the same manner, despite )(er Imperious Condescension’s attempted Rebellion. Both individuals were playing broader and longer games than the women they were manipulating to suit their purposes.  Though Dirk’s purposes have not yet been revealed to the fullest extent, Jane Crocker had a narrower perspective that failed to grasp the true nature of the battles going on and underestimated her “supporter” ‘s power and intentions. This relates to another way in which Dirk Strider and Caliborn/Lord English:  Both of them represent iterations/avatars/fulfillments of the idea of Calmasis---   both tricked a Calliope into losing a major confrontation by making her confuse an attack on one piece with that of another (a major short term/immediate objective--- an attack on a queen [in Dirk’s case, Jake English/the election] ---with an attack on the king [Alt!Calliope, who acted as essentially the commander of the forces opposed to him]); furthermore, and more importantly, both act as protagonists and antagonists to the story at the same time (villain and anti-hero).   Dirk presumably sees himself as working towards the perpetuation of reality by forcing more conflict into an otherwise ended story; or alternatively, sees himself striving for freedom in opposition to causality and enslavement to cosmic will (which would jive well with his Kamina-esque aesthetic).  Meanwhile, Caliborn/Lord English obviously served as the main villain of Homestuck, but were also the protagonists of their little side adventure and was trying to develop himself and expand his horizons despite his severe disadvantages, much the way the Kids and Trolls did. Dirk’s fulfillment of that role may have actually been why he downplayed the importance of Complacency of the Learned in his conversation with Rose just before he began to subsume her will in earnest. Of course, that is somewhat speculative, and hard to prove, one way or the other. ... Regardless, upon making these sorts of connections, I began to think about whether Dirk was intended to become a villain from the moment he was introduced, and/or relatively early on.  Andrew Hussie seems to have a habit of working out many plot details a great deal in advance (see the Alpha Kids being hinted at as early as Act 4 with Jake’s letter to John, Doc Scratch probably being intended to have been/contained at least an iteration of Dirk from the beginning [as shown via his comment to Rose that she ought to think of him as a kindly human uncle figure-- shoved in our face via a certain Truthsplosion]), so the idea didn’t seem all that farfetched. After all, as referenced in the above parenthetical reference, Doc Scratch shows that Dirk always had at least the potential for villainy in him, under the right circumstances. The first thing that jumped into my mind (other than the fact that Bro is a bit of a dick, I guess, and the early narrative of Act 6 emphasizes the fact that this is in fact the kid version of Bro quite a bit) was the fact that Dirk’s introductory period created clear parallels with two trolls of a highly corrupt moral character---  Vriska and Equius:   Beyond the obvious tendencies to manipul8 others and his willingness to “cheat” in certain ways (defeating Squarewave in a rap battle bit exploiting his weakness to liquid shorting him out, teleporting his head to Jake for the revive+kiss with the intent of forcing a start to their relationship that way, et cetera) Dirk is also pining for a Page who he attempts to force a redrom with (more effectively, in his case, at least in the short term), and whom he attempts to “groom” by pushing challenges that the Page is clearly not prepared to face his way (Brobot’s awkward difficulty settings parallel the FLARP encounters  Vriska gave Tavros).    That Vriska and Dirk’s first on-screen kills were both decapitations is probably a coincidence. As for Equius:  There is the wife beater that Dirk sometimes wears, the similarities between horses and musclebeasts, the fact that both build robots whom they then face off against in lethal combat, the fact that both wear shades and are initially blacked out upon introduction (though this latter matter is of less significance) the fact that both have dominating personalities and a secret kinky submissive side (albeit these play out in different ways for the two), the fact that Brobot and Aradiabot both take out their “hearts” and POUND POUND POUND them up dramatically (note: though this is a bit of a stretch, the parallel makes the affinity’s intention obvious), their willingness to lie and take extreme measures (Equius considers lying and double-crossing to be in a blue blood’s nature and/or their “superior” culture; Dirk outright tells Jane that one of three statements he is making is a lie, and the only one it could possibly be is that he believes that Roxy’s decision to blow up Jane’s computer as a way to scare Jane away from playing was too extreme [meaning that, since this was a lie, he is absolutely willing to go to such extremes to get the job done--- as shown later with his willingness to decapitate himself, publicly display the fact that he’d killed Hegemonic Brute, et cetera])... and most obviously+ominously, his declaration to Jane that while she was going to remain the group’s leader as far as everyone else was concerned, he was going to be the person controlling things from the shadows (which is a reversal of Equius’ demand that Aradia be the shadow leader for the Blue Team, but obviously calls him to mind via allusion/reference). Now, while a case can be made for either of these characters not being that bad, and I am personally someone who likes and feels for Vriska quite a lot, I will be the first to admit that she is the closest thing the trolls have to Caliborn or Dirk (Gamzee doesn’t count: he’s has a mental breakdown and is basically brainwashed by LE via Lil Cal; he’s not a planner or someone who went out of his way to embrace his “turn to the dark side” of his own volition--- if you can call it that, for Caliborn; you know what I mean).   As for Equius: he was highly violent and could have been quite the menace, if it weren’t for his moirail. He had a generally demented mentality.           Neither of these are the sorts of comparisons you want to be made with a character being painted as particularly heroic and good.  Next comes the fact that, as I have discussed previously, Dirk Strider and Caliborn/Lord English have been deeply entangled with one another’s fates.   Caliborn liked Dirk the best out of all of the Alpha Kids, it was ironically Dirk who ended up defeating him in the end (in both the form of soul trapping and via ARquius). However, it was also Dirk who provided Caliborn with the mechanical leg that allowed him to escape (and presumably have confidence in the idea of escape) from his SAW Room Death Trap binding with Calliope.  Presumably, either Dirk or AR must have figured that that was the intention behind the request/present, at some point. (I rather doubt it was something that Dirk knew the implications of at the time, but I wouldn’t necessarily rule out that possibility. He might not have cared, especially since that was years before the Alpha Kids began their session, and he/they might not have had much of a bond with Calliope, at that point. Not that he ever got all that close to her, generally.)  Note:  Caliborn’s favor toward Dirk does not necessarily suggest anything inherently wrong with Dirk, but it helps set him apart from the others. This is just another warning sign suggesting something “off” about him.      Dirk’s “I have failed,” before he went wandering off into the glitches and self-destructed in the [S] Game Over. version of the Alpha similarly can be interpreted as hinting at his God Complex/Megalomaniac tendencies.      It seems a logical extension of his general personality that he wouldn’t be able to settle down and enjoy a peaceful life in a “perfect” paradise planet (which is probably one of the reasons he decided to leave it). I suppose this is just another thing that wasn’t generally thought about as the community was so focused on the actual process of getting to the victory point, and what that would mean?   At the very least, I don’t remember any such considerations.  There were certainly warning signs. The biggest factor that convinces me that Dirk’s villainy was planned quite early on (and which thus supports to some extent the idea that Jake is meant to be his eventual foil) is that Dave, after seeing his Bro’s corpse, said, “I’m not a hero, my bro was.”   This was almost certainly made at a point where Dirk Strider was conceptually developed/invented already, definitely was at a point where Dave’s baggage surrounding heroism and its connection with how he felt toward his brother was in play, and most certainly was well after the audience could have seen that Bro was abusive and sortof a dirtbag. Thus, there was already some irony, there.  However, he also called John a hero in that same statement, so it clearly was not totally derogatory, and so the irony could be increased. It was, as shown by the fact that the Alpha Kids were not “Heroes” of their session, but Nobles. This was not enough.  Dirk has eventually turned into the anti-hero and villain of his own story.   Perhaps this might be enough; however, it wouldn’t quite feel fully “right” if he hadn’t been intended to have been so from the beginning-- and perhaps that’s actually why their group were called Nobles in the first place, not only because of the fact that they couldn’t complete their session without the others, but because not all of them were heroic at heart.  [Non-sequitur: I wonder if LE would have been anywhere near as dangerous, if not for Lil Hal’s capacity to make incredibly complicated calculations {needed for Furthest Ring travel, among other things, presumably}, and his capacity as Doc Scratch to pave the way for LE’s arrival. This would seem a very similar relationship to how Dirk facilitated Caliborn’s entry via the leg, in retrospect.] ... While the section immediately above isn’t as well-developed as I’d like-- mostly because I’m tired, distracted, and it’s been at least 3 hours since I started this post in the first place, and I want to at least get the last part that I thought of in before it leaves my memory.    I may add to/edit in more for this post, or post follow-up material later, when I remember more that might have slipped my mind on this subject/I think of more. Anyway!---    as I was considering all of this, a very intriguing thought popped into my head:    While I had initially assumed that it was simply to not rehash old material and/or that it was to keep us with John for the sake of narrative consistency, since I now know that it was Dirk who was narrating this segment of the story, and thus it was a narrator with bias and interest in the facts being related, it has occurred to me that it is actually quite odd for Dirk to omit some relation of the actual facts of the Caliborn’s Masterpiece encounter.   We are placed by his hand at a place even further removed from the reality of the battle than the clearly biased and somewhat embellished account that the Cherub gave of his own rise to power.        This strikes me as odd particularly given the fact that it is Dirk’s great moment of heroism, which might serve as a sort of counter-balance to much of his otherwise morally questionable deeds.         Given his egotism (and the fact that there would seem to be no OOC reason strong enough to justify such an omission on the author’s part, since this means that there is no faithful depiction of the battle shown to us in the story), this makes it seem as if Dirk chooses to not show the conclusion of this battle for some specific and tangible reason.  I would not suspect it to be out of embarrassment, a desire to conceal his identity longer, or plain trollishness (though the last of these strikes me as almost being fitting).  Rather, I wonder if there is something worth concealing in the end of this encounter.  Maybe the Alpha Kids actually lost, and Dirk’s placement of Cal into Lil Cal was an act of capitulation. Maybe Dirk otherwise willingly and knowingly created Lord English via the soul trap at the behest of ARquiusprite, or said sprite tricked him into doing so, claiming it was the only way to defeat their opponent (which it was) and omitting the consequences.     I do not know which of these, if any, is the correct answer, but Dirk being the one to choose to omit the details does, I shall repeat, seem extremely fishy to me, all things considered. ~~~ While I will not put a summary here, I would just like to say:   In retrospect, the Meat Epilogue has done more than the requisite “adding on to the story in appreciable ways and tying up loose ends,” but has served to add depth to an already incredibly deep story and caused me to reconsider and better understand characters and themes which I had not previously delved into so deeply before.    I wonder, now, if Dirk Strider and Lord English shall prove to have been even more deeply connected than it has seemed up to this point, once I have reached the end of the Candy Epilogue and thus will be allowed to properly investigate what’s going on at the beginning of Homestuck^2. Final thought:  Hmm. So much of his imagery speaks to him being a sort of twisted version of Kamina (embodiment of masculinity, warrior spirit, noble sacrifice, heroism [not being able to live up to those last two, and lampshading to some extent his frustration at that, in Epilogue Part 7]), but it also vaguely seems to me that he at least sees himself as being like Simon--- this is to say, leading the charge for freedom against the forces of determinism and the chains of repression that would hold back humanity (and/or himself). It’s a very striking thing, especially considering the fact that it is only Simon who takes the fight to space in a fancy ship, once what seems to have been the final villain was defeated and the real threat began to loom on the horizon.  I wonder how this contrast will develop in the future, and how noble his true ideals may in fact be. ~~~ Major Edit:  

What. The heck. How did I not remember this blatant nonsense?    Fricking... darn it.

[ardenttheories]

So, rape and suicide warnings ahead. I mention them, but not in detail, so please take that carefully if you read on.

More thoughts on Candy. I’m currently only on page 22/23, I think, so I may be completely wrong, but I need to take a break from reading. It’s starting to hurt my head again, and the next chapter is... long. So here’s what I understand so far, having also read Meat. 

When John makes the choice to go to Candy, Dirk realises that everything's fallen apart. He suddenly doesn't have any effect on the narrative. The big plans he'd been building up to suddenly don't matter. Everything he’d had control over suddenly slips away - which proves, more than anything, that he was controlling Rose through the narrative even in the Epilogue, that he’s been controlling everyone and everything they do probably some time since they skipped forward in Earth C’s history. They mention him holing himself up, cutting everyone off, and then he’s back, and things continue on as normal - and I think this is where he makes the decision that he has to take control. He is the reason everything remains relevant and canon; he's the reason things ended up vaguely better in Meat, with everyone still having a place, a role, a meaning, and he's accepting, by the end of it, that he's got to be the villain to let that happen. 

Because he knows what happens in Candy. 

He's aware that, without him pulling the strings, things go to shit. Jake ends up being abused, possibly raped by Jane. Gamzee returns for no fucking reason, and makes hell out of everything. Roxy never goes through his transition, ends up in a not-quite relationship with John that neither are fully happy in, ends up OOC to the point that he never has anything to say that goes against what John posits, and loses connection with Calliope. Jade and Dave end up in an estranged relationship, one Dave’s definitely not happy in, one that Jade refuses to see as negative. Jane becomes a dictator, oppressing the trolls to an even worse degree. Karkat runs away, potentially joining a rebellion, without having sorted any of his shit out with Dave. Rose and Kanaya have a family, and they're happy, sure. But everyone's forgetting what they did, the effect it had on them, the importance of it all - and they're all falling apart from the seams because of it.

Nobody seems to care about the past. They live in the small moments, the things that are happening then and there, but not in a good way. They live their lives where nothing matters, where things just sort of happen, where (at least so far) nobody really grows and everyone just stays in places they’re not entirely content with. There are no grand designs, and they’re so unused to the idea of Relevance that seeing Alternate Calliope!Jade return shocks them all - because she has relevance, she has something she’s working towards. 

Again, might be completely wrong, because I’m not done with Candy and I’d not be surprised if some fucking twist ends up happening, but so far, I can see where Dirk’s logic is.

He turns himself into the villain so that he can avoid a timeline like this. One where everyone’s so convinced they’ll be happy that they’re ignoring their unhappiness. He has to take control because if he doesn’t, arguably worse things happen. 

Of course, that doesn’t mean Meat’s the better route. Meat’s too plot-heavy. Meat’s got too much of the opposite going on; everyone grows and progresses the plot and keeps things forward, but nobody’s really happy, either. Dirk almost completely overlooks letting anyone have the sort of lives we see in Candy - one where John’s happy, married, and has a kid, or where Kanaya and Rose are able to be the marital unit they actually are. He takes it too far in the opposite direction. 

As a side note, too; it’s interesting that in the Candy route, Rose gets better. I think to some degree, Dirk’s forcing her to become her Ultimate Self. That’s why it’s killing her. As soon as she’s free from his influence, stops being relevant, she stops becoming the Ultimate Self. Maybe that means that the Candy timeline is just another offshoot where Ultimate Selves are not meant to be (explaining why Dirk ends up hanging himself), or maybe it means that Dirk fiddled with things enough to impress the Ultimate Self in Meat!Rose when she wasn’t ready, as a way to curb his own loneliness. 

But yeah. So far, at least - and remember, I’m not at the end yet - I’m starting to understand more why an Ultimate!Dirk would decide to take over. Dirk’s not great at going the mellow route. He was getting better at it, but if he’d seen Candy, and if he was being influenced by every other Dirk in existence, feeling like he has to bear all of that weight himself makes sense. At the end of the day, he’s willingly making himself into the villain - still taking a role of importance, but also still very much going down a route he sees fitting for himself. He’s not the hero, even though he’s questionably positing himself as such without knowing it; he’s the bad guy, because that’s what Earth C needs in retaliation to avoid Candy.

Lets see how much of that I still agree with when I’m done with Candy. I want to remember this mindset so I can either 100% debunk myself or 100% confirm it later on - or, hey, even do the middling route and figure out that I’m 50/50 all the way. Point is, I’m starting to figure out how Meat!Dirk came to be, and what his logic is - especially in relation to the Ultimate Self. I recognise, too, that he’s still wrong, naturally, because he’s replaced too much Candy with no Candy at all - and that’s not healthy for him, the narrative, or the timeline as a whole.

[theorynexus]

We now begin 51, which will likely take us to an entirely different perspective. Thanks, Monty Python!

On a random note, though... 

Man, this is fricking crazy, from a dramatic irony perspective. I do appreciate that Homestuck is written such that that spreads from not only the author’s possession, but to that of the audience via rereads.  As... macabre as this particular example is.

Finally, Dorothy is gone, and all that is left is the Witch (and her little dog too)?

Well, maybe not even that. Certainly, Bec’s powers are muted, and I wouldn’t be too terribly surprised if his instincts are too; on the other hand,they could be strongly contributing to this. This sequence strongly reminds me of the sequence wherein Jade’s destiny to become fused with him was first alluded to. “You eat a weird bug, and don’t even care,” and whatnot.  Certainly, 

Words slough from the busy mind like a useless dead membrane as a more visceral sapience takes over. Something simpler is in charge now, a force untouched by the concerns and burdens of the upright, that farcical yoke the bipedal tow. It now drives you through the midnight brush ...  as you and your new friend must claim the night with piercing howls moonward.

seems reminiscent to me of all of her thoughts of her former existence fading as she is beckoned by the call-- not of a moon, but of another reflection of the light of the sun: the Void-y remains that come with its demise. Obviously her “new friend” in this case would seem to refer both to Bec (who is a part of her, now, thus explaining the uniform motion) and through allusion, to the Alt!Calliope that her other version of herself had already befriended, who would be the one beckoning in the first place. It should also be said that shoes could be taken as a symbol of civilization, in this case, beyond just the obvious symbolism that is being pointed out to the viewer.  Regardless, whether this similarity was intended or not doesn’t actually matter. It’s just that this scene vaguely made me think of that.

What irony, considering this is coming from the one who just bewitched the Seer (which, I would just like to say, is honestly some nice narrative symmetry, considering this is almost exactly like what Doc Scratch did before him [not that I don’t still feel disgust toward him, even if this might turn out in Rose’s favor, in the long run]).                    Oh, yes, and by the way... very nice confirmation of the fact that the Green Sun Black Hole is Void-oriented. I appreciate that coming from an in-story source. (Even if you don’t connect emptiness with Void, which you should, the fact that the Ocean is connected with it is almost indisputable. That’s part of the reason why Rose’s quest was to bring life to the dead ocean by Playing the Rain. It was about using her inner Light to counteract her tendencies toward its equal opposite.)

Which is part of the reason why Alt!Calliope and Jade get along so well, and why there’s a connection between them, I’m sure. (Both of their lifestyles/life histories emphasized thematically their inner Space orientation. [This may also be why Kanaya lived in them middle of a desert, with no one but her Virgin Mother Grub to directly keep he company.])

Yes, way to downplay one of the core Aspects of reality just because it doesn’t necessarily always function in the way that perception would suggest it does. This doesn’t make it illusory, nor does it invalidate the continuum aspect of it:  that it is intrinsically relevant to how life persists and interacts with the world itself demonstrates the importance of this part of Time. It’s like suggesting an iceberg is an illusion just because you can’t see the depths hidden away below the surface (Void hides it from your eyes [read: Light is blocked]).   Gah, you are so bloody irksome and pride-projecting in your demeanor just because you managed to pick something up that the Trolls basically illuminated to the Beta Kids way back when they were all 13.  Congratulations.

Fool. (Oh, and I would argue that time continuing to be relevant conceptually, despite its non-linearity, helps to emphasize its importance as a pillar of reality. That it is an existence persisting independent of its consequent internal signifiers [entropy, {temporal} causality, direction] allows for it to play the very important role of acting as a medium for general interaction and consequence; particularly, it allows for the persistence and simultaneous activity of all possible states of being within its domain [e.g.: reality or the meta-narrative Existence within the context of MSPA, or whatever set of other works which would necessarily include all relevantly connected miscellany] which are additionally allowed for via the logical intermingling it has with the other Aspects.            In other words: Time is one of the two necessary present architectonic forces that undergird the Narrative.   Your suggesting that it is given disproportionate attention and that loneliness is therefore an illusion is just the sort of insulting, crass, and perspective-locked claptrap that I’d expect from someone who’s so enthusiastically embraced a departure from humanity, and who thus has lost mooring in the solid, political existence which sapient, physically-connected beings dwell in by nature.   I suspect that your distraction and loss of perspective will eventually come back to haunt you.  ) Yes, I realize that the Ultimate Self is a timeless construct, but this does not mean time is irrelevant to it or the limited forms it girds itself with when connecting to physicality. (On a random note:  I do appreciate his decision to call Aspects ideas.)

Along with the creepiness with regards to Dirk pushing thoughts into Jade’s head (which is honestly par for the course in Homestuck, and at least he’s mostly trying to remind her of something he believes she already knows, so it’s somwhat benevolent), we get this interesting snippet.  Seems he wants to foreshadow difficulties between Dave, Jade, and Karkat in the future.   I suppose the only logical question is whether Jade will break their hearts in turn.   Love is hard. It’s hard and everybody (with actual experience) understands.

Ha ha, “How much of Homestuck was actually illusion seen in the perspective of the characters involved, a la the kids’ rooms before Gamzee’s Chucklevoodoo curses were disrupted,” ha ha. On a more important note:   I very much appreciate Dirk’s well-arranged metaphors relating to time, to Calliope’s Muse-inspired-powered Spatial-influential music. Dirk is indeed quite bad at distracting hyper-focused people with thoughts he thinks they will reasonably find seem similar to thoughts she might have.

Hey, man, don’t give up. Your breaking from the narrative of trying to help her is making it seem like your nervousness is throwing you off, meaning we won’t know if your attempts to help her had any chance to succeed in general! Way to go, “hero!”

“Time is an illusion,” you say?   Yet here’s your narration, there’s Jade.  Oh!  There she goes, persisting to fly off into the dead sun, just as linear time would demand of her!  What’s wrong?  Couldn’t make the time to properly put your thoughts together or try until you got it right?   Gasp!         My word!  It’s almost like Time is pretty fricking important to the narrative and reality of the story!

HEEHEEHAHAHAHA!!!        Serves you right, getting spooked like that, you incompetent, over-confident knave!

... Now, let’s see how the rest of this goes, now that I have a better handle on my humours.

You’re dealing with the Grim Reaper, inspirer of great woe and terror, as well as happy children drawings and stories everywhere.  Obviously, you were overmatched. Perhaps you should have tried focusing on Jade initially, rather than John?  That might have given you a little bit more time.   I am reminded of a group of trolls who didn’t properly think through their attempts to mock and cajole those they perceived to be the artificers of their downfall.  Perhaps this will turn out as well.

Demiourgos, your pride showeth. Your composure runneth down and streaketh thine face like free-flowing ichor. Hubris, doth it become thee?   Thou reflecteth thine flaws, and by thy own hand. Revealeth thou not the weakness of thine breast with Rage-filled uproar?   A lion in thine face we see, but at this flickering of that glamour, a snake in masquerade is spotted. Foul wretch, I pity thee:  for it is truly painful to behold the disheartening of the ambitious, and the glorious in the midst of downfall. What do you fear?  What compels such panic into one normally so serene?

I suppose I should have known. A mechanist always fears uncontrollable variables.    (I do wonder if his fear is truly warranted, though. Certainly, things aren’t as bad as they could be, but there is much to be depressed about in these outcomes as they have emerged so far, you know?)

And thus, a new star was born?   Well, we’ll see.   I certainly do appreciate the physics of black hole mechanics being involved, though I am not 100% sure that this is accurate to how such an ultra-massive construct would actually work. I know super-massive black holes effect objects differently than normal ones, when they approach the event horizon, so it seems rather reasonable to guess that one the mass of multiple universes would behave a bit differently from either.  I do not know, however.  ... All in all, a pretty great page, I guess.  It was nice to see the Narrator lose control so badly.  A bit sad that the consequences of that were as they were, but I knew that this would likely be the case, regardless. I wonder when John and Terezi will be back in focus~ ... P.S.:  I am pretty sure that subtle interference with the narrative is the normal role of a Muse, and that her Mastery over Jade in particular makes a great deal of sense, given who Jade is. I wonder what has compelled her to speak in such a manner that her voice is actually visible in the text, rather than subtly bending it to her will as presumably has been the case over the course of Homestuck, generally.  Could it be that she did this specifically to teach the Narrator a lesson?  Shall we ever find out?