#look I have adhd brain and there’s so much wrong with the statement the extended zodiac gives on heart that it’s hard to speak in a

[nekropsii]

well the thing about the "self" is that its q narrative we construct, so...

I understand where you’re coming from, but I need you to recognize that Homestuck tends to use “Narrative” in an entirely different, very meta sense, and paired with everything else, they were absolutely talking about the forging a coherent character in the overarching story (you know, the story’s narrative,) because they were talking about Dirk and not the Heartbound generally speaking.

I don’t think that, for example, Nepeta shamelessly being a middle school Warrior Cats LARPer and shipping fanatic is, like, a narrative thing per se. I think she just… Does it. Being true to yourself doesn’t have to have narrative importance. “Narrative,” in the meta sense in which Homestuck tends to use it, is patently not why they’re like that. It can be, but that would be a fringe/individual example and not something you put as a definitive fact for every Heart player. That’s how Dirk functions. He’s not countable as a solid example of Heart because he’s Destroying it.

The Heartbound aren’t so honestly and transparently themselves because they want anything to do with a narrative, they’re honestly and transparently themselves because that’s what’s important to them as a person. That’s what an Aspect defines- an Aspect represents is most important to a character as a person. Class defines how they interact with that element of their lives. Not every character trait is going to have something to do with an overarching narrative, once again, especially not in the way that Homestuck employs the term “narrative.” It feels stupid and in bad faith to claim that those bound to Heart inherently care about The Narrative and are Self-Obsessed when that only applies to a singular Heart player we’ve seen, and that Heart player was Destroying his own Aspect.

Yes, the self is a narrative we construct, but Heart is about not having to “construct” that in the first place, because instead of intentionally building an identity or wearing masks- you know, like the Mindbound do- you just are who and what you are largely without thought. It’s being yourself even when it’s not entirely rational to be so honest and transparent in the first place.

Again… I cannot stress enough how much they were just talking about Dirk. I could just be talking out of my ass here, but it genuinely feels ridiculous to claim that the Heartbound care about forging identities, wearing masks, and making their lives a “coherent narrative” when they, like, don’t… Do that. That was a Dirk thing. Dirk is knowingly playing the role of a character in a story. Nepeta and Meulin… Were not doing that.