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caligvlasaqvarivm · 6 months ago

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you think kankri and cronus

like all the dancestors, kankri and cronus mirror their counterparts (and as we all know, karkat and eridan are soul mates), but the brief interaction we do see of them makes them seem pretty toxic for each other. i think it's funny for that reason though!

Karkat and Kankri both love going on long, endless rants and walls of text, but where Karkat fills his spiels with self-loathing, Kankri fills his with incredible smugness and self-satisfaction (often calling his spiels "sermons" or "lectures" before catching himself and correcting them to "discussions" or "conversations," which have a less one-sided "i'm right and you're wrong" connotation). Moreover, where Karkat loves all his friends, and masks that under disdainful insults and screaming obscenities, Kankri tends to hold his friends in contempt, masking that under kind language and politeness.

KANKRI: And really, it's every9ne's 6usiness t9 examine their privilege, even 6urgundies, wh9 may 6e su6ject t9 the pitfall 9f 6elieving inc9rrectly there are n9ne 9n the scale 6eneath them wh9m they enj9y certain privileges 9ver, which 9ff-spectrum tr9lls will never kn9w, such as th9se identifying as 9ther6l99ds 9r caste-multiples, "p9ly6l99ded", any wh9 hem9gl96ically ID as having a caste which manifests n9where (as yet kn9wn) in any9ne physically, 9r f9r that matter 9ffspecs wh9 physically d9 p9ssess such a 6l99d type, 9r "mutants" (VERY pr96lematic term, highly triggering t9 s9me, 6e warned), such as y9u and I, Karkat.

Translation: lowbloods think they have it SO HARD, try being a mutant 🙄

KANKRI: I just think there is inherent danger in muddying the waters 9f disc9urse 6y intr9ducing s9cial issues which are suspect at 6est, thus c9nsuming crucial res9urces fr9m the limited cache 9f rhet9ric which pr9pels these narratives. And furtherm9re, 9ne c9uld argue it's m9re than a little pr96lematic, 9ffensive even, f9r y9u t9 6e appr9priating the lexic9n 9f sensitivity used t9 advance awareness 9f maj9r issues, thus reducing it t9 the level 6uzzspeak and pseud9science. It makes it m9re difficult f9r th9se 9f us wh9 are genuinely f9cused 9n p9sitive change t9 6e taken seri9usly, that's all. PORRIM: Appro+priating?? #That's no+t #what that even #means? PORRIM: PSEUDOSCIENCE??? #Yo+u did no+t just… KANKRI: I'm s9rry, I just d9n't think there's much there. We aren't like humans, wh9se species 6izarrely en9ugh includes highly specialized r9les f9r 69th sexes in the pr9cess 9f repr9ducti9n, and s9 this naturally had s9cial ramificati9ns f9r the way their civilizati9n ev9lved. 6ut that's n9t h9w it w9rks f9r us, s9 I fail t9 see h9w gender fact9rs int9 the discussi9n in a way that can 6e effectively and rati9nally pr96lematized. Where is the r99m f9r unexamined privilege in the dich9t9my? I d9n't see it. And appr9priating the talking p9ints and awareness-raising tactics f9r du6i9us issues like this is, frankly, fr9wned up9n, t9 put it p9litely. Such appr9priative gestures 9nly serve t9 marginalize and invalidate th9se su6ject t9 seri9us, real life struggles and 9ppressi9n, and I guess I'm a little disapp9inted t9 see y9u 6eing s9 6lithely and inappr9priately appr9priat9ry. #Fr9wned up9n #Fr9wns all ar9und #Welc9me t9 fr9wn t9wn PORRIM: Kanny, I'm starting to+ feel just a little bit triggered by all this "appro+priatio+n" bullshit. #Trigger warning: #Abo+ut to+ kick yo+ur tall pantsed ass KANKRI: 9h! My sincere ap9l9gies. I sh9uld have d9ne a 6etter j96 tagging my statements, 6ut f9r future reference, it's helpful t9 alert y9ur c9nversati9nal partners t9 y9ur triggers well in advance. Sh9uld I g9 fetch y9ur m9irail t9 help settle y9u d9wn? And if s9, wh9 exactly w9uld 6e filling that quadrant t9day? #It's the may9r, right? #G9tta 6e the may9r

Translation: Stop trying to steal my spotlight by bringing up your own social justice pursuits. Shut the fuck up. Oh, are you offended? Maybe you should go cry to your moirail. Slut. God I hate women.

KANKRI: 9n the 9ther hand, if I'm 6eing h9nest, I've f9und Mituna's entire existence t9 6e a pretty pr96lematic impediment t9 the advancement and 9verall awareness 9f a6leism and its painful manif9ld c9nsequences f9r una6ilitied pers9ns. The speech impediment, frankly, I c9uld d9 with9ut, and I'm 6y n9 means ecstatic 9ver his t9rrential 6ig9try and h9stility. 9n the 9ne hand, I want t9 6e sensitive t9 him as a pers9n and as a friend, 6ut 9n the 9ther, what kind 9f message d9es his 6ehavi9r send? And frankly, I'm n9t crazy a69ut the helmet, either. MITUNA: W4LT5 WR00NG W17H MY H4ML37 8( KANKRI: N9thing, friend, it's a really c99l helmet and it's a g99d l99k f9r y9u. 6ut are we n9w t9 assume that all th9se wh9 are stricken with y9ur particular disadvantage9n will 6e similarly pr9ne t9 require such headgear, due t9 falling d9wn and hitting their heads frequently? MITUNA: 8U7H 1 D0 F4LL D0WN 4ND H157 MY H34D FR3QUN3UN74NY KANKRI: 9h, I kn9w y9u d9, and I think y9u sh9uld c9ntinue wearing it f9r y9ur safety, particularly if y9u c9ntinue t9 insist 9n fl9undering a69ut 9n y9ur danger9us t9y. It's m9re a69ut the unf9rtunate message y9u are sending 9verall, with certain aspects 9f y9ur pers9nality and existence, that's all. MITUNA: 1M 50RRY KANKRI: As a friend, I w9uldn't want t9 change anything a69ut y9u, well, n9t m9st things. I just think y9u may n9t 6e d9ing y9urself 9r th9se wh9 are similarly disadvantaged any fav9rs with, what I'm h9ping, is a perfectly inn9cent array 9f traits and mannerisms. 8ut again, I say this with all due sensitivity. MEENAH: vantas youre being a shit dont talk about him like that

Translation: Mituna, you're such a goddamn embarrassment, I wish everything about you was completely different.

The big difference between Beforus and Alternia is also the definition of "culling," which on one meant killing and the other meant coddling. Naturally, this is its own form of oppression, as the longer-lived highbloods still hold great power over the lives and fates of those deemed cull-worthy, which includes a lot of lowbloods, and definitely mutants like Kankri who didn't have a lusus. However, it creates a different kind of mindset from that of more standard abuse, like what Karkat suffered for his off-spectrum nature - where Karkat spent every day fearing for his life and cursing himself:

Your name is KARKAT VANTAS. As was previously mentioned, it is your WRIGGLING DAY, which is barely even worth mentioning. It is an anniversary, if anything, to lament the faults of your existence, of which there are assuredly plenty.

Kankri was experiencing the opposite: being told that his mutation made him exceptional, made him special, made him MORE worthy of attention and praise than other people. At the same time, his agency was taken away from him, but the thing is, being 13 when he started the game, I don't necessarily think he'd have missed that - around the age of 13 is when kids START to crave agency, and he got it by playing the game. Kankri's dialogue suggests to me that he genuinely believes in his superiority to the people around him, more in line with being spoilt.

This is why, although he talks a big game about how bad casteism is, and how you shouldn't say slurs because they're offensive, he still unironically uses the term "Royal-V" to refer to violet bloods and chastises Mituna for calling Meenah a wader, which is an anti-seadweller (and anti-seadweller apologist) insult. Sure, he acknowledges within that chastisement that because Meenah and Royal-V's DO have privilege, the weight of the insult is not exactly the same, but then he follows up by saying that he wishes everything about Mituna was different, to the point MEENAH feels the need to defend him.

This is because Kankri is a fucking wader.

If you'll notice, he's actually quite agreeable and sympathetic to Meenah (despite Meenah being a confirmed bully, especially to the team rustblood):

KANKRI: Wh9a, Meenah. I didn't see y9u c9me in. Y9u sh9uld have c9me say hell9. ... KANKRI: I've als9 heard y9u're recruiting mem6ers f9r a militia? An9ther 69ld endeav9r. N9t surprising, th9ugh. 6ef9re y9u em6ark, I d9 h9pe y9u'll set aside at least several sweeps t9 listen t9 s9me 9f my…

KANKRI: And Meenah, while I can understand y9ur frustrati9n 9ver 6eing ver6ally assaulted under any circumstance, it is incum6ent 9n me t9 remind y9u that Mituna requires a certain am9unt 9f special c9nsiderati9n and m9re than a little patience. Please try t9 resist taking his 6ait, which I'm guessing is m9stly well intended(?), 6ef9re its c9ntenti9us undert9w pulls y9u further int9 an exchange laden with deeply pr96lematic expressi9ns 9f a6leism, a6leist slurs, and 9ther such manifestati9ns 9f unc9nsci9na6ly unchecked a6ility privilege. #a6leism #a6ility privilege #6ait #undert9w #are the aquatic terms helping?

... And he's nice to Cronus. I just don't think it's a coincidence that Kankri is super mean and shitty to land dwellers, while being super kind to the two sea dwellers on the team, the caste he was presumably culled (raised) by - to the point of emulating their aquatic terms to try and ingratiate himself to them (something Karkat thinks is stupid and cringe.).

KARKAT: (not really.) #SHELLF IMPORTANT ABALONEY? #GODDAMN SEADWELLERS

And that brings us to Cronus. Now, I've written extensively about how Eridan is not actually casteist, but the TL;DR is that Eridan genuinely doesn't treat people differently based on their caste, but it's societally expected of him and he has an overwhelming amount of anxiety about living up to those expectations, so he will say a lot of slurs. He and Feferi are actually the only two highbloods that never say anything disparaging about Karkat's blood color.

In contrast, Cronus is a casteist; where Eridan tries to play up how casteist he is while secretly not being so, Cronus does the opposite and tries to play down how casteist he is while secretly being so.

CRONUS: nowv, please don't tell anyone i said so, but you and i both knowv pretty much all these people should feel honored to go out vwith a guy like me. CRONUS: vwhat being royalty and all, and not evwen slightly put off by dating dowvn on the spectrum. i mean, really, howv much more evwident can i make it to evweryone that im really a cool, progressivwe, easy going dude, vwho doesnt take the social order seriously or buy into any of the stereotypes? first of all, as if the hemospectrum scene isnt 8EYOND played out. #you should be sticking your fork in THAT CRONUS: i barely EVWER evwen bring up my high social status. it couldnt be LESS of a big deal to me, but i think people maybe are still intimidated by it? theyre probably putting me on a pedestal, in spite of all my easy going assurances that my royal lineage is something i nevwer evwen think about. like, no friend, i am just like you. vwe laugh at the same jokes, listen to, vwell, to some extent, the same music… #i at least USED to listen to music you like #does that count? CRONUS: all these cats and kittens, im telling you. theyre alvways drawvn to the freaks and rejects. you havwe to be 8ROKEN in some vway to get a little concupiscent attention. #cats #kittens #freaks #rejects #broken

You got a whole bunch of SEA DWELLER BLING! It's pretty obvious this all belongs to Cronus over there. He's just not wearing it right now so he can convince everyone he doesn't feel like his royalty status is a big deal, even though he does.

Moreover, we get a direct parallel to Eridan's final conversation between him, Feferi, and Sollux, with the interaction Cronus has with Meenah and Mituna - in both cases, the violet-blood has a crush on their fuchsia, while probably having some sort of blackrom thing with the mustard (ashen for Eridan, pitch for Cronus). The differences really highlight how different the two are.

First, Eridan doesn't actually mean all the casteist things he says to Sollux - we know this because he's actually mentioned Sollux twice before, and both times, felt no need to comment on Sollux's lowblood status at all. Eridan is so transparently full of shit that even his own teammates don't think he's actually being casteist, and instead take it as ashenflirting:

ERIDAN: hey finless this doesnt concern those wwith mustard sludge slippin through their vveins ERIDAN: its a matter for royalty only ERIDAN: so keep your mouth closed or ill slit you open ovver my next meal SOLLUX: w/e bro, not iintere2ted. FEFERI: -Eridan, please! I don't want to see any more dueling. FEFERI: Don't try to provoke )(im. It's not like I don't know w)( you're doing! You keep trying to spark a rivalry wit)( )(im to get me to auspiticize between you two, and pull us out of your quadrant! FEFERI: It is t)(e oldest and lamest trick in t)(e book. It didn't work t)(en and it won't work now!

But while Eridan leads with casteism he doesn't mean, after being rejected by his fuchsia blood, Cronus rounds on Mituna to vent his frustration, revealing HIS real feelings:

CRONUS: i said shut up. do you havwe any idea vwhat a man of my class vwould do if a mustard blood like you spoke to me this vway on alternia? honestly, sometimes i think i vwas hatched in the vwrong univwerse, let ALONE the vwrong body. CRONUS: i am so sick of havwing to pretend to treat you vwith the dignity you vwouldnt deservwe evwen if you COULD count the scars on my forehead. you couldnt tell me the ansvwer if i asked vwhat your favworite number vwas. ... CRONUS: you are a brain damaged reject on a team full of rejects. a rejects reject. i vwould havwe culled you myself if that vword meant vwhat it should havwe on our planet.

Moreover, Eridan is genuinely wracked with emotional anguish basically 24/7, but he refuses to allow anyone else to provide him with emotional support, lashing out at Feferi when she insinuates that she's been taking care of him up to that point.

CC: I can’t look after you anymore. CA: I DIDNT EVER NEED ANYONE TO LOOK AFTER ME CA: i was totally fuckin fine my ambitions were noble

On the other hand, Cronus outright admits that his constant talk of being a "sensitivwe soul" is bullshit he uses to attract the ladies:

MITUNA: 1M 50RRY CRONUS: no youre not. youre lying. CRONUS: your vwhole bifurcated demeanor is such an act. half the time you are noxious and incomprehensible, and the other half you are mild and contrite? sure, "PAL." CRONUS: as if im not SO on to you. you only pretend to say youre sorry to get girls to like you more. sure seems like pyropes a sucker for the ruse. like im not familiar vwith THOSE tactics. vwho do you think vwrote the book on that??

CRONUS: guess ill attempt ghost suicide YET AGAIN. CRONUS: of course by vwhich i mean, tell people i did, to vwin sympathy points. MITUNA: D0357H H47 W0RK CRONUS: not really.

This isn't to say that Cronus doesn't have legitimate emotional issues - just that they aren't the ones he says that they are. When Aranea is expositing on Cronus to Meenah, she winds up explaining that Cronus used to believe in a prophecy where he was Harry Potter and LE was Voldemort, and that it was his destiny to destroy this evil wizard, but that his team basically bullied that belief out of him:

ARANEA: The 8ard of Hope may seem a little jaded these days, 8ut he once had a deeply a8iding faith in magic, and dedicated himself to 8ecoming a great wizard. He 8ecame convinced he was hatched to defeat an extraordinarily evil magician, one he swore the angels foretold of. [...] I'm unsure why he suffered this crisis of faith, aside from the o8vious reasons having to do with an overall lack of character, or any other redeeming qualities. Perhaps someone talked him out of his 8eliefs. May8e a friend close to him. Or, if one is to 8elieve his fantasy held any water, perhaps someone who was in league with the evil magician. Whatever the case, it was pro8a8ly for the 8est, since pretty much everyone who had half a think pan thought it was all a 8unch of ridiculous nonsense.

Which, you know, given that he was their HOPE player, was probably a not-good thing that they did. Put a pin in this conversation, we'll return to it in a bit.

His humankin stuff is mostly treated as a joke, but it's also a symptom of this - we know that it's actually a portal to something Cronus genuinely feels bad about, because despite complaining about how you need to have something wrong with you to get concupiscent action, he's uncomfortable bringing it up to Meenah.

MEENAH: i heard a rumor you think youre a human now MEENAH: that true CRONUS: its a privwate matter. i dont see vwhy i should havwe to talk about it vwith you, and open myself up to more of your judgmental scorn.

He's a Hope player who lost what he believes in - so his actual emotional problems stem from directionlessness, exacerbated by the fact that he's generally untalented, feels entitled due to his high caste and resentful that it's not being respected, and doesn't seem to have any real goals aside from sleeping with other people (and now he's dead). As a result, he's clung onto this idea that maybe the reason he feels so empty inside is because he's not actually a troll - not wanting to be himself, he tries to be something else.

So let's go back to the pin we put into Aranea talking about how he was talked out of his beliefs. Cronus very nearly reaches self-awareness about how being humankin is just a cover for his actual emotional problems... and then "a friend close to him" - maybe the only friend close to him that he has - talked him out of that epiphany.

KANKRI: Listen, I was d9ing y9u a fav9r. Y9u d9n't need t9 6e dating any9ne wh9 can't appreciate y9u f9r wh9 y9u really are, 9r m9re imp9rtantly, which fantasy versi9n 9f y9urself y9u m9st str9ngly identify with. CRONUS: yeah, youre probably right. she doesnt appreciate me. so fevw of you cats do, really. #evwen the ones vwho literally identify as cats CRONUS: to be honest, she might be right. sometimes i think i might only be saying im a human to get attention. maybe i should givwe it up. KANKRI: I'd 6e extremely disapp9inted t9 hear that, if it were true. That w9uld 6e such a slap in the face t9 all th9se wh9 kn9w themselves t9 6e an alien while trapped in the pedestrian 69dy 9f their 9wn race. It w9uld 6e unspeaka6ly invalidating 9f their struggles and massively triggering t9 their em9ti9ns. #TW #invalidated struggles #triggered em9ti9ns KANKRI: 6ut f9rtunately, I kn9w y9u w9uld never st99p as l9w as that. Y9u understanda6ly have d9u6ts a69ut y9ur feelings and pr96a6ly d9wnplay them as a defense mechanism, since s9 few are prepared t9 rec9gnize the legitimacy 9f y9ur plight. 6ut I am, and I just wanted y9u t9 kn9w that I'm here f9r y9u, and am prepared t9 lecture t9 y9u extensively, I mean, listen t9 y9u extensively, a69ut y9ur ultra-imp9rtant pr96lem. CRONUS: vwowv. thanks, pal. CRONUS: youre right. my feelings really are real. not fake, like the huge disappointing fraud that magic turned out to be. CRONUS: i guess the truth is, deep dowvn i alvways knewv i vwas a 1950s-style human greaser. CRONUS: i just needed to finally be introduced to human culture to make sense of those feelings. KANKRI: W9nderful. I'm s9 happy y9u have f9und the light 9f truth within y9urself. N9w j9in me in tagging 9ur discussi9n with righte9us warnings, as we c9nsecrate y9ur disadvantage in the h9ly annals 9f Pr96lematics.

She also mentions it might have been someone "in league with the evil wizard," which would indicate Damara or Kurloz, but he never mentions Damara even once, and he actually seems to be on neutral terms with Kurloz:

and i vwouldnt dare to intrude on your longstanding moirallegiance vwith kurloz, and not because he scares the shit out of me either. that just really seems to vwork, you and him, doesnt it? i dont get a peep out of him of course, not evwen if im super nice and compliment his hideous hair[.]

So since we literally see Kankri exacerbating Cronus's problem by not only insisting that he not introspect, but expresses that he would be extremely disappointed in Cronus if Cronus did, I'm inclined to believe that the one who talked the Hope player into giving up his Hope beliefs was Kankri.

So what I'm saying is, if Karkat and Eridan are beautiful soul mates who make each other better in basically every way, Kankri and Cronus are incredibly toxic for each other and are in desperate need of a fucking auspice. Somebody please middle leaf these two, they cannot be left alone. Kankri's wader tendencies validate Cronus's entitlement and stagnation, and Kankri loves manipulating Cronus into believing whatever BS Kankri is espousing, because that's how Kankri gets his validation.

Kankri and Cronus means love loses.

Thank you for reading.

#homestuck #eridan ampora #erikar #karkat vantas #cronus ampora #kankri vantas #crokri #this is very critical of crokri so please don't read if you think they're a cute/sweet/wholesome couple #actually i really like cronus and meenah as moirails #meenah stops cronus from shitting on mituna #and then they immediately jump into taking each other to task for their own personal failings (& cronus IGNORES HER saying 'lets make out')#to the point cronus actually considers that maybe he should stop with the humankin thing before kankri ruins it #and since kankri is the SEER of BLOOD and his convo with cronus honestly sounds so so so much like paleflirting #'oh dw cronus ill listen to ur ultra important problems'#it kind of gives me the vibe that kankri jumped in BECAUSE he doesn't want cronus and meenah to figure that out #and also itd be really funny and thematically appropriate #if eridan and karkat were great for each other and cronus and kankri are horrible each other #that cronus and meenah's problem is that cronus keeps trying to pursue her in flushed when he really feels pale #when eridan and feferi started out pale but wound up with eridan loving her flushed

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propheticclown · 3 months ago

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Kurloz Makara and Meulin Leijon: Till Double Death Do Us Part

Hello! Today I wanted to make a little (long) essay of The Prince of Rage: Kurloz Makara and The Mage of Heart: Meulin Leijon. I feel that these are two characters who the Homestuck community has greatly mischaracterized and as such, I wish to rectify any false claims made against these two characters, as well as give my own personal interpretation of them, as well as their relationship. Let's begin with my utterly favorite of all the dancestors, Meulin. Meulin as a character seems very surface-level to the average reader. She's loud, excitable, and obsessed with romance. However, if you dive deeper into Aranea's expositions, Horuss' moraillegiance, and even her conversations with Meenah and Kurloz, you can see that she harbors a lot of feelings of regret, shame, and self-doubt. Meulin is a character who is VERY interested in romance and craves being in one. However, according to Aranea;

Meulin isn't very lucky when it comes to romance, not just with Kurloz, but with other characters too (Ex. Her moraillegiance with Horuss). This fits her as a Mage, since Mages are known to not fully have their aspect, or rely on others to feel their aspect (Like how Sollux, as a Mage of Doom, repeatedly "half-dies" throughout the series, never FULLY meeting his doom). This clearly causes her lots of shame, as the whole reason she became moirails with Horuss was to mimic the relationship between Nepeta and Equius. She copes with these negative feelings through repression, even telling Horuss to repress his feelings too. The main reason why she does this is to portray an image of sorts. An image that she's fun and lovable and always happy. She wants to portray an image of the perfect, lovable girl because she craves a romantic relationship. She wants to be loved. That is Meulin's main character motivation. To be loved and be deemed attractive by someone (In Naranjo's terms, she's a massive Sx3). She's also known to ship her friends together, like Nepeta, however unlike Nepeta, Meulin does it so she can feel some semblance of warmth and love, "THE F33LS!!!" as she calls them. This is even shown, as she prefers making red ships over black ones.

So how does Kurloz tie into this? Well, it's because her and Kurloz's matespritship was perfect in her eyes, and even considered perfect by the other Dancestors.

But of course, it all got ruined. One day, as they slept, Kurloz had a horrific nightmare. A nightmare, so utterly terrifying and monstrous that when he awoke he screamed. He screamed so loud that his poor, loving matesprit was permanently deafened, and out of shame and guilt, Kurloz sews his mouth shut and chews his own tongue off, and they slowly drifted apart. That should be the end of the story, right? Wrong. Because I think that, as much as Meulin attempts to deny it, they both still feel red for one another.

In her conversation with Meenah, they both talk about Kurloz, with Meulin poking fun at his silly little rambles about his religion and angels of double death. However, it's when Meenah pushes a bit further about making fun of Kurloz when THIS happens.

Meulin immediately becomes dismissive of Meenah, repressing her emotions so much that all she can offer is a blank expression and a dismissive, passive sentence. Not even giving any it any tags as she does for every other sentence. It should be noted that this is the ONLY time where Meulin's "happy-go-lucky" facade cracks. It's clear that she harbors an intense amount of guilt from Kurloz's self-mutilation, most likely believing it to be indirectly her fault. This single sentence of completely optional dialogue is probably where we get the most understanding of her as a character. She's ashamed of herself, repressing her true emotions and shipping her friends just to possibly get back any semblance of those beautiful red feelings she lost. She doesn't care that she's deaf, she doesn't care when she's insulted, she doesn't care if the relationship she has with Horuss is unhealthy, as long as she's loved she's fine. But the second someone insults her Prince, insults his self-inflicted disability, she immediately retreats, disengages, and stops the facade, not only does the image break but the mage breaks alongside it, until the conversation finally changes subjects.

Even with Kurloz, she portrays repressed red feelings in their mimes, starting with the first mime.

A Tododile with heart eyes, while this is most likely just a reach from my end, I do think it could possibly be interpreted that Meulin still has an unconscious desire to be "hearts" with Kurloz. A desire to rekindle what was once lost and it's not just on her end either, Kurloz clearly feels the same way too. How do we know this? Well by taking this CANON Purpleblood description and applying it to Kurloz. "In love, they tend to be strictly monogamous and fiercely devoted, ready to pledge themselves to a person the same way they do their goals-utterly, and without reservation." Purplebloods are incredibly devoted to their romantic partners, this can even be seen with Gamzee, who only held flushed feelings for one person throughout all of Homestuck. Needless to say, like their religion, Purplebloods take romance VERY seriously, they love once and never again, committed to their partner even after death. They don't just fall OUT of love. It's even implied that Kurloz is one of the few characters who hasn't had flushed feelings for Rufioh. His sights are set on Meulin, and Meulin only. While we're on the topic of The Prince of Rage, let's talk about HIS life now. Kurloz, unlike Meulin, seems to be unanimously disliked throughout his group. At the BARE minimum, it's shown that Meenah, Cronus, and Aranea dislike him. He is constantly insulted and belittled by the others, whether it be his religion, the way he expresses himself, or even just his hair. Heck, even Gamzee dislikes him. It's also implied through the 2014 Homestuck calendar (not even joking) that Kurloz was the last person to enter the medium since no one actually wanted to be his server player. On top of this, in Openbound, every character is seen near their lusus, or at the very least, their lusus is in the same area as them. However, Kurloz's lusus is nowhere to be found, implying that either his lusus is like Gamzee's and abandoned him for long portions of time, or that he never had a lusus to begin with. From the constant belittling from his friends, his lack of love from anyone around him, and the fact that he's incredible at blackrom pairings, it can be implied that Kurloz is a character who is very familiar with hate, frustration, and of course some good ol' unbearable shame. Kurloz as a character is described as secretive, mysterious, and preachy. He's also shown to be incredibly inquisitive and curious, only stopping his insatiable curiosity when he realizes that it's teetering into religious blasphemy.

Kurloz is also incredibly devout to his religion, going so far as to want his friends to experience double death because of it, mocking Meenah for her heretical words and behaviors, saying that she will be "DOUBLE SLAIN BY OUR LORD LIKE ALL THE OTHER MIRTHLESS HERETICS"

Considering this, and him flipping Meenah off, we know that at the very least, he dislikes Meenah. His only other known feelings towards the others are his "friendship" (absolutely repressed red feelings) with Meulin, his moirallegience with Mituna, and his admiration for Gamzee. It should also be noted that I don't personally think his relationship with Mituna is toxic or abusive. I do legitimately think that Kurloz is interested in Mituna's condition, and since the "incident" they both saw most likely had something to do with Lord English, he is probably enthralled by the chance to learn more about his Lord. Also, considering that he's a Prince of Rage, he'd actually be a pretty good moirail to have. But back to his relationship with Meulin. If you clicked on this post, you're probably curious about how I view Kurloz using his chucklevoodoos on Meulin, so let me first explain some of Kurloz's religion. Kurloz believes that once Lord English destroys the world, his spirit will ascend to The Dark Carnival, which is essentially clown heaven, but there's a problem with this. Only those who believe in The Cult of the Mirthful Messiahs pass into The Dark Carnival. Meulin is not actually a follower of the Mirthful Messiahs, and as such, will get destroyed along with everyone else. This is where the internal conflict with Kurloz happens. Since Purplebloods are extremely devout to both their beliefs and their love, Kurloz is faced with a horrifying decision. Does he choose his religion, assisting with Lord English's plans and ascending to The Dark Carnival alone or does he choose the love of his life, the love he so painfully deafened and hurt, and get destroyed alongside her? This is also what I think the nightmare he had was about, he had to choose between two things he loved, and because of that, was so distraught that he screamed himself awake. And this is also when he begins planning. You see, as previously discussed, Kurloz is a Prince of Rage, and as such, destroys doubt and negative emotions, he will never be dissuaded from his beliefs. He's also highly inquisitive, no doubt pouring himself into his religious scripture, looking for some way to save his beloved Meulin, his sweet mage, his darling matesprit. That's when he comes up with an idea. If he manipulates Meulin, if he uses his chucklevoodoos on her to do Lord English's bidding, makes her preach his teachings, then surely that will count, right? Surely the Prince could save his Mage. So that's what he does. I believe that Kurloz's use of chucklevoodoos on Meulin is an attempt to appease Lord English and get his beloved into The Dark Carnival. Kurloz found a way to both save his darling and still stay faithful to his religion. And luckily for The Prince and The Mage, their double death didn't happen, and they never had to part, as shown when Kurloz and Meulin are telepathically communicating as Gamzee complains about Vriska during the retconned timeline.

Thank you for reading this. Meulin and Kurloz are my favorite Homestuck characters and I adore their dynamic. Let me know if you'd like this kind of analysis with any other characters, and let me know if you have any types of criticisms to give! Once again, thank you for reading this and I hope you have a lovely day! €o: <3 :33

#homestuck #dancestors #meulin leijon #kurloz makara #openbound #act 6 intermission 3 #purple blood #olive blood #gamzee makara #horuss zahhak #meenah peixes #nepeta leijon #equius zahhak #trolls #hom3stuck #matesprits #homestuck quadrants #lord english #i love these two goobers

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