#i've never done quite this level of development for a comic i'm quite excited

[mathildejr]

still developping characters and atmosphere for the comic! today : rain

[cyvonix]

Cyv Reads Homestuck - Act 6 Act 1 Wrapup

Already?

Yeah, after the beast that was Act 5 Act 2, which practically could've been its own whole webcomic by itself, I must say it feels pretty odd to go right back down to a normal length act and already be writing another wrapup. But here we are! I'm not gonna lie, I feel that I have less to say about this act by a long shot, but that's nothing against it. It's just that I think it served its purpose very well, which is to be almost 100% setup for the rest of Act 6. Pretty much everything that was done here, from introducing the new characters to showing us where John and Jade are to letting us hear the interactions between the rest of the trolls and kids were all in service of putting the pieces into place for what seems like the climax of the story to get started.

That being said, all three of those pieces above each have notable aspects to mention. The most obvious is that, well, we have a whole new cast of characters!!! The new four are already quite charming, and I like how they both play into and subvert what you'd expect from them based on what we know of the "Beta kids" as I've seen them referred to lol. I'm definitely interested to spend more time with them and learn more, and obviously extremely curious to know if the beta kids and these ones will actually meet or talk at some point, and how those interactions will end up. I do find that they currently feel more like caricatures than full characters, but I suppose this is to be expected, as the beta kids and the trolls both felt that way when they were introduced as well. So it's not necessarily a complaint, but more just a note of the whiplash produced after we've now had so much time to learn about our cast and develop the more three dimensional parts of their personalities, and then we're essentially thrust back into pre-Act 4 styles of characters. Again though, I do like them and am excited to see where they're taken in the story.

The other massive change is the dialogue, which really feels like it's been cracked wide open at this point. It was very notable how the dialogue between characters developed through each act, and to me, Hivebent was really the moment where Hussie officially shifted into a new mode of dialogue, which was kept and expanded upon in A5A2. Here, we finally get characters in the same, physical space as each other, talking under the pretense of their actual names. What this does is take what was so great about the dialogue before and let it breathe in ways it never could have. Because of the implied visual and spatial element of the conversations now, the dynamics between characters shine more than ever, and physical gestures and comedy can be used to such a greater extent than before. In any other comic, this would be the status quo and no big deal, but in Homestuck, where we've grown so accustomed to the characters being isolated for such a long time, there's something truly special and sweet about just getting to see them do something as simple as speak with each other in person.

And of course at the forefront of story changes is the fact that the meta elements have now been fully folded into the narrative of Homestuck itself. I wasn't sure if or how this would happen, but the way it has is really cool. Hussie's universe essentially being a gateway between sessions works on so many levels; as a potential commentary on the nature of storytelling itself, as an escalation of the cosmic mindfuckery that this story has reveled in up to this point, and even just as a fun, visually interesting device. This change makes it almost feel like we're playing with a bunch of little playsets, the characters being paper dolls that we can transpose between the sets and mismatch in whatever way we'd like. In this way, the story has truly given itself free reign to do whatever it wants to, honestly.

And I think that's just about my thoughts on this act. I would say it's much less dense than the past few, but again, I think as an introduction to the new status quo and setup for things to come, it works very well. As long as the story keeps its momentum, I believe the wheels will get rolling back at their previous speed pretty quickly. So, to close, some final observations and questions that were raised or remain unanswered by this act:

Lord English himself was nowhere to be seen, which is... almost worrying. I keep waiting for the moment he pops into the story and inevitably makes everything go to absolute hell

But SPEAKING of Lord English, Jake's whole thing is ????? Obviously his last name is English, which feels like it's purposefully dangling the answer right in front of my face without actually telling me. AGH! Is Jake Lord English? Is it somehow this universe's John? Will he create Lord English? It could be so many things and I don't have enough right now to make any judgement calls.

Also concerning Jake, why are there lusi on his island?!? This is absolutely bizarre to me and I can't begin to come up with what convoluted series of events led to either these things from Alternia ended up on Earth, or these things from Earth ended up on Alternia, or knowing Hussie, some secret third thing.

I'm wondering how the travel time thing is going to be handled, both in a narrative perspective and from a real life historical standpoint. The characters are talking about destinations that will take them multiple years to reach, and I wonder if this will actually be the case or if there will be some plot device to let these journeys be sped up. If not, I guess we'll be looking at an actual time skip? Man, this thing really is just a shounen now. But from the real life perspective, I'm wondering if this actually was going to take place over the next couple years and the dialogue was a nod to that, or if it's a time constraint purely contained within the narrative.

[beebubb]

William grossman: becoming a pasta

(also i mention my OC amari here but they're just friends and roommates here. No romantic things)(also this might be kinda long and I mention some stuff about my creepypasta AU so if you don't wanna be confused you can check it out!)

Like I mentioned in an old post, will and LJ went on a lot of self discovery adventures for Will.

It was always will's dream to become a popular killer like Jeff but sense he couldn't actually bring himself to kill someone, he would doubt himself a lot and would sometimes just be so upset or angry at himself

Will: maybe coming to the underworld was a mistake.. I shouldn't have come here...

LJ: come on bud! There's gotta be something here you're good at!

They had literally tried many things.

Will worked for a surgeon for literally a day before he got fired. He couldn't bring himself to dissect someone. Yes he had seen dead bodies before out on the street but he couldn't bring himself to be the one to actually commit to doing it

He also tried to be a bounty hunter/hitman but, ended up quitting immediately after he was told to kill a family

He even worked at a black market that was hiring someone to just care for the oragans they sold. It was going pretty well but, lets say it was will's first time seeing an actual beating human heart

Will: what else could I be good at?!? Everything here involves killing! And I can't even kill someone if it depended on my damn life...

LJ: you could still try for your dream of being a slender proxy!

Will: but being a proxy involves killing! Maybe I should just go back to the human world... I don't even have my mark! I didn't get a permanent smile like Jeff or red bleeding eyes like ben!

Amari: I don't have any cool marks either!

Will: but atleast you got skulls shapes on your eyes! I didn't get anything! Maybe I just wasn't meant to be here...

Amari hated seeing will so upset. She knew his dream was to work for slenderman, and obviously, she wanted him to achieve it. She got lucky and worked for him from time to time, so she was sure she could talk to slender and see if will had a chance.

How he met slenderman

Amari went to see her boss a few days later. AKA slenderman. She explained to him his situation and, he actually wanted to meet him!

Slenderman isn't judgemental like many in the underworld think he is. He can see potential in someone even at their lowest.

She obviously went to the apartment to tell will the good news

Amari: will! You aren't going to believe this but i talked to slenderman about you and....he wants to see you!

Will: what?!? Are you serious?!

Amari: yep!

Will: holy shit!! Let me take a quick shower then!

Will took a shower and once he was ready he followed amari to the slender mansion.

Once they got there, masky did the regular check for weapons on him (it's normal for them to check new people that go into slenderman's meeting room just to make sure of any weapons or suspicious items)

Will was calm but was holding in his inner fanboy.

"I can't believe I'm seeing slender's most valuable proxy!!! Holy shit!!!"

LJ wasn't all that excited sense he already knew pretty much every pasta and knew what it was like living in the mansion/manor.

LJ: "what a hassle...."

LJ wasn't really aware of all the dangers the proxies tried to prevent. He just saw it as a way to show off their wealth and to think they were better than others

Once they were clear, masky took them to the meeting room

Even if will wasn't sure if he could get a chance working with slenderman, there was one thing he was definetly certain of.

Get their autographs

No way he was gonna waste his visit to the slender mansion and NOT get their autographs.

Masky: you may go inside

Will: um....could i get your autograph please?

Masky: oh, yes

Will: yes!! *takes out a scrapbook he made* here!

Masky: *signs in* there

Will: thank you so much!!!

LJ: come on! You look like a dork!

Will: ok ok! And I'm not gonna waste my visit and not get their autographs *goes into the meeting room*

Once they got in they were immediately greeted by slenderman

"Glad you came here william, please, take a seat"

William was so excited by seeing slenderman in person but was also terrified about what he would think of him.

Will became really shy and nervous while talking

Slenderman: so i heard you were interested in working with me later on but you had a few doubts on your own abilities, could you tell me more?

Will: i um....*fidgeting with his fingers*

LJ: he wants to be a proxy but he has trouble actually killing someone. So we wanna know his chances of actually becoming one

Slenderman: ah I see, well I'll have to look at some other assets, do you have any school documents?

Will: *nods and takes out a folder with his school papers*

These kind of meetings were actually pretty common so slenderman already knew what to look for in school documents

Will's grades weren't that good tbh

He had many subjects he struggled with. On his report cards, pretty much every subject had D's and C's, and the occasional F's. Only is P. E he had a B.

Slenderman usually looked for atleast a B average

Though the only straight A's that will got, were in chemistry

Slenderman: I see you're proficient in chemistry, how come that's the only subject you get A's in?

Will: well um.... It's pretty much the only subject that I like....

Slenderman: may I ask what your under realm mark you for when you arrived here?

Will: i didn't get anything...

Slender seemed kinda surprised at his answer.

He opened up a locked drawer on his desk and took out a heavy book and went through the pages and stopped at one with a picture of a hand with lines

Slenderman: may I see your hand?

Will: uh... Sure? *shows him his hand*

Slenderman seemed really intrigued with will's hand.

LJ and Amari were extremely confused.

Amari knew pretty much the process of these type of meetings but when she was applying as an apprentice for slenderman, slender didn't ask to see her hand like he did with will

Once slender was done checking will's hand, he looked through more of his records

LJ: um.... So what do you think? He has a bit of potential right?

Slenderman seemed lost in though for a second but replied

"William, have you ever took any.... Magic classes or considered taking one?"

The three of them were surprised.

Like, magic? They knew that magic existed in the underworld but why would he think will would Want to study it?

Magic is a really complicated subject and depending on what element you were granted or want to control, it takes a lot of discipline and training and it is rarely recommended to the top students at the institution sense it was pretty much college level

LJ: why do you ask that?

Will: yeah I mean... I'm barely passing and I don't know if my grades are even good enough for me to graduate this year.

Slenderman: well i don't know how you didn't see this before but, look

Slenderman turned the book to their direction

LJ and amari were shocked

LJ: will you?!?

Will: *looking at the book and at his hand* wait....holy shi-i mean oh my god! I have powers?!

Slenderman: i looked through your records and i see you're part of the grossman family.

LJ: uh yeah he had a great grandpa but how does that explain this? He never had any sort of contact with magic

Slenderman: maybe not him exactly but, she did

Slenderman pulled out a picture from isaac's record folder (all demons and rulers from hell and the under realm have a record of their citizens) and pulled out the picture of a woman

Slenderman: she's ida grossman. Isaac grossman's great grandmother. She was killed for practising witchcraft. It would explain why will was granted magic here in the under realm.

LJ: sense he has this power, how come i never saw it before? I've been with him ever sense he was born!

Slenderman: well his power is still undeveloped sense he never had any proper training or took any classes. He has the mark on his hand but if he wants to actually use his abilities, he'll need to start practicing.

LJ now understood, and was happy for will

LJ: how can he start?

Slenderman: well,i have a proxy named sherry that knows about this, she could be will's tutor. Also I have been really interested in getting an apprentice with magical abilities but it has been difficult finding one, but if will wants to work with me then..

Slenderman took out an apprentice application

Slenderman: I could take him in as my personal sorcerer

LJ: well, what do ya say bud? Do you wan-

Will: yes!!!!!

Will didn't even think twice on his answer. Of course he wanted to work as slenderman's apprentice in magic.

He felt like his life had literally no direction but now everything was changing. He felt more confident than ever

LJ: do these classes have a price or somethin'?

Slenderman: it's usually 50 per class in a normal school but it depends if my proxy wants to charge for them or not sense she teaches them individually.

Will: oh....

Amari: ah don't worry i can pay for them!

Will: you don't gotta do that!

Amari: it's fine! You're my friend, we should help each other out

Slenderman: so I'm guessing that it's settled then?

Will: yeah!

Slenderman: alright then, I'll just need a signature of your parent or guardian on the application

LJ gave his signature

Slenderman: thank you. Well you're ready to go. All you need to do now is finish your last month at the institution and once you're done, I'll have amari bring you here again to start your training.

Will: yes! Thank you! Um one more thing, could I get your autograph sir?

Slenderman: oh yes of course!

Once slenderman signed his notebook they thanked him and were free to go

Who knew that will was more special than many thought he was.

I hope you guys liked this! I'll be making more parts!

Also i know will wasn't really developed in the Creeps comic so I kinda let myself create his character more.

Also this was inspired by a headcanon I saw where will was granted powers so I wanted to include that into his character.