#my favorite characterization is dirk. i love her. shes such an asshole

[piratecaptaincaroline]

fuck, thanks for the beautiful answer, it’s really been the highlight of my day. there are a thousand things i could say about homestuck, and the epilogues, and godfeels and media in general. and im high and have nothing better to do, so im gonna say them!

on the internet, for a while now, there exist large and distinct pockets of Readers. these individuals, bless their souls, see the words of a text, but they dont read them. this leads to endless dave x karkat slashfics and cozy indie rpg farming games and harmless ‘content’. god, content. i loathe that word. and its not the fact that these works are inherently wrong or bad (though often they can be, through “apolitical” (read: fash) reasons); they just dont excite. theyre the easy way out, a lot of the time.

some are quick to point out these works as comfort farms and get frustrated at the creators, which is fair. however, i posit that this phenomenon, this group of Readers, is the symptom of a larger issue: the commodification of media and art. eating a piece of media is a social act; the act of reading a story or watching a show doesnt exist in a vacuum anymore. the internet and capitalism and ‘popularity’ have all collaborated to make not only the art itself political, but also the act of looking at that art political as well. this results in Readers retreat into the safe, placid, sterile muck. this also intersects nicely with the concept of ‘right to comfort’. a lot of people just hate the broken glass, they hate the hard themes and motifs!! and theyre worse off for it!! tons of people disliked the tough parts of homestuck so much, they came up with a simple, digestible story in their heads and just kept the character names! thats why i like the epilogues, psycholonials, and godfeels so much. in the 3 years after homestuck ended, the homestuck happy ending was done to death. ‘everyone lives happily ever after’ can only get you so far thematically. but the epilogues offer a beautiful, torturous lens into two Bad Endings. a story goes nowhere and does nothing without conflict, and homestuck is so heavily tied to the concepts of narratives and timelines and canon that of course the epilogues had to bring the cycle of sburbia and growing up full circle. hell, hussie/co. even published the epilogues with two ao3 infopages on the first pages of meat and candy; theyre both conceding to the reader (by stretching the meaning of canon, and gesturing to the stories being quasi-pseudo-semi-hypothetical), and plying the reader (by luring them in with the promise of dubious canonicity and then having ult dirk insult them for being a Reader). psycholonials is in that same vein too. i once heard it described as “discourse judo” by victoria, the author of two phenomenal homestuck-adjacent multimedia projects, ‘burning down the house’ and ‘eternal september’. its more of that broken glass that really makes you think; but it’s also multifunctional as a political response to ‘controversies’ that hussie faced when writing homestuck (i wont lie, im not doing victoria’s analysis justice). but this is exactly why i fucking love godfeels so so damn much. its the pure, concentrated homestuck essence, the suffering, the brief reprieve featured in the newest chapter, the crying! god, the crying. my best friend showed me godfeels, and wow, i could have given a hydroelectric powerplant a run for its money waterworks-wise when i first read it. to me, godfeels will always be one of the best, most amazing interpretations of a homestuck ‘ending’, up there with the epilogues. it tows the trauma fatigue and character growth line perfectly, and christ did you do such a good job of capturing all of the characters PERFECTLY. there was a moment that it all clicked to me, it was during psychodrama, during june’s conversation with fake rose. when fake rose basically says ‘john, have you heard of autogynephilia?’ i fucking lost my shit. it was simultaneously the funniest and meanest thing i had read, i genuinely laughed my ass off. that was the flow state where the suffering became the fun part for me. it walks the knife edge between soul crushing and euphoric. more people need to remember that Losing Is Fun!

anyways, thanks for writing a hell of a story. keep on having fun.

hello ms sarahzedig hmsnofun. i love godfeels. death hands is phenomenal. i like your torturous writing style; it makes the pure fucking cocaine of the new chapter hit so much harder. i cant wait for more broken glass. thanks again.

this is what it's all about. this is exactly what i live for. i'm so glad it hit because this was very much my design-- pretty much everything from gf3.1 on has been a series of catastrophic tragedies and misunderstandings. every member of the cast has gone fucking through it lately, and as a result i think a lot of readers have felt that nothing good ever happens to these characters. it's trauma fatigue, which i absolutely get because i feel it too! i've had the B1 solo on the horizon for a VERY long time as the moment when all that tension finally uncoils, and everyone just kinda fucking chills out for a bit. i've never wanted this to be a story where bad things just keep happening forever. in fact, 3.2 in the broadest terms is about the process of building new relationships and community after a world-shattering trauma. it's so important, i think, to indulge in moments like these when the time is right. that's why the buildup to the solo is modeled after june's coming out scene in gf2.1. i wanted readers to feel instinctual dread at dave's "yo what the fuck" and expect the worst, only for it to go shockingly well and then become a party. i want the reader to feel like they can expect bad things to happen and be surprised when they don't. and i want these people to feel like they're becoming friends.

i love getting comments like this ngl. maybe broken glass/pure cocaine is my version of the meat/candy dichotomy. no, i hate that actually, i'll let you keep that one as an excellent way to get me laughing out loud in my own room in the middle of the night. but that's the basic idea anyway-- a good story required balance. even the BDSM enthusiast needs breaks from punishment! no response to my art in any medium has ever done it for me quite like "you hurt me in a way i didn't think possible, thank you, can't wait for more." YOU GET IT. I'M SO GLAD YOU GET IT. thank you for sharing this excellent comment, i hope you continue to enjoy this story as it goes on :)

[madjazzed]

Homestuck Rare Pair Fic Recs

yall, i read a LOT of fic, and ive been reading a lot of specifically homestuck fic for the past, oh, seven years or so. my tastes in fiction are wide-ranging and i am happily unafflicted by any impulse toward ship exclusivity, so when i heard about rarepair hell weekend over on dreamwidth, i knew exactly what to do. the fics listed here vary considerably in style, length, rating, quadrant (where applicable), and degree of canon compliance, but they have two things in common: they feature ships with fewer than 50 works on ao3, and i think they’re great.

Scarlet and Bible Black by paraTactician rose is possessed by a grimdark horror of the furthest ring. sollux knows a few things about psychic warfare. this fic is a classic for a reason, the reason being that it’s absolutely fucking brilliant. perfect voices and characterization. Rarepair: Rose/Sollux. Rating: Mature. 12k.

goodnight moon by attentionmerrymakers upd8 fic following this page. terezi takes brain ghost dirk on a tour of her memories, and keeps visiting him in the dream bubbles. sweet and sad and lovely. Rarepair: Terezi/Dirk. Rating: General. 2k.

Gumshoe Tango by Azzandra snapshots of a professional-rivalry-slash-developing-caliginous-relationship between a private investigator and a police detective-inspector. clever, funny, delightful. Rarepair: Jane/Terezi. Rating: Explicit. 4k.

Hold the Line by dashery one of my very favorite fics sneaks in on a technicality—davejade isnt at all rare, but this wonderful story is about dr. jade english and dave strider, alpha universe edition, and its 2 of just 7 works in the tag (this one, and a podfic recorded by the author). canon compliant, funny and sweet and heartbreaking in the best way. Rarepair: Grandma English/Alpha Dave. Rating: Teen. 12k.

Caffeine High by mtjester this fic can be briefly and misleadingly described as a coffee shop au… in space! a janiterrorist in the alternian imperial fleet befriends a human slave whos value to the empire—and survival—depends on his ability to make coffee for highbloods. high stakes shenanigans ensue. fantastic character voices, drama, action, romance. Rarepair: Dirk/Tavros. Rating: Teen. 59K.

Shadowbound AU by CurlicueCal & LaughingStones in a world where most people bind their souls to extraplanar shadow entities, gamzee and dirk both have unusually strong and strange shadows, with a curious resonance between them… (and they were roommates). marvelous urban fantasy au, wonderful worldbuilding, superb character voices. not sure if youre up for a whole series? read the fic where they meet (4k) and let it convince you to keep going. Rarepair: Dirk/Gamzee. Rating: Teen for the first five fics, Mature and Explicit later in the series. 155k.

scream my name by Psythe meenah’s kismesis interrupts the grand opening of her latest moneymaking venture. beautifully choreographed knock down drag out fight sex, excellent banter (especially if you apperchiate a good fish pun), and a hilarious closing pesterlog. Rarepair: Meenah/Roxy. Not rated. 8k.

Forces Between Us by Laurasauras humanstuck soulmate au. bro teaches self defense to juvenile delinquents as court ordered community service. vriska is in his class. they are both terrible. a very fun fic. Rarepair: Bro/Vriska. Rating: Teen. 5k.

She May Be A ‘Girlboss’, but I Ain’t Her Malewife by semusepsu jane turns the tables on a sleazy asshole who tries to manipulate her into sex work. bro underestimates her business savvy, people skills, and ruthlessness, and has to face the consequences of his actions when she takes control of his business, and his person, in short order. delightful. Rarepair: Jane/Bro. Rating: Explicit. 3k.

an incommodiously situated bro by Caracalliope hal has a wealth of relevant information at his metaphorical fingertips, but still doesnt know what to expect after overstepping his bounds with his ‘kinky, justice-obsessed girlfriend.’ a fun character study with a depth of feeling that might surprise you. Rarepair: Terezi/Hal. Rating: Mature. 1k.