#sorry homestucks back in my brain for a bit

[gelarshiesprofruitboarder]

tge one scene where evil bill and ted r fucking around and at some point bills just a head they shouldve dirkjaked that shit if they werent cowards

[applestorms]

assigned female character 😔 letting anyone else do this who wants to, lemme see it <33

haiii you can turn this into a chain if you want to idk. rb n let me see ! (or don't, i'm not your ma 😳)

picrew + what genre of fan (mis)interpretation are you?

[thatneoncrisis]

griddlehark situationship can be sooooo. it makes me gnash my teeth. their weird ways of saying sorry vs gideon's relief when they're back to bickering bc its familiar. harrow's genuine discomfort at being called a tar pit but just. not knowing how not to be. and also being snippy the more adjectives are added.

also loved how you got other characters in as well (we suffer as dolores was my favourite)

question: what did harrow mean when she said the light had dimmed?

the tar pit bit was fun to do, im in my bojack rewatch era and that series has done a TON of chemical changes in my brain re writing about toxic characters and grief and whatnot. this whole things feels like a loose homage to free churro, just like the grappling of loosing a relationship with your mother than you never even had, and never will have

picking we suffer and wakes new names was fun. im kind of iffy on changing characters names into more normal ones but i think i jsut have lingering resentment from homestuck. kevin vantas i will always hate you. i really appreciate it when its like thought out or a pun, like the fic You Just Ain't Recieving has the angel called d'angelo and thats awesome like bam perfect name. so learning dolores basically means sorrow in spanish was kind of perfect for a woman named we suffer, and frankly i just kind of lucked out that te wake is like an actual last name. pash's excuse is that shes transgender shes just literally named passion and they all live with that

in regards to the actual question you asked its pretty simple- harrow is extraordinarily bad with people. especially people in delicate emotional states because their mom is dead and their life already sucks on top of that. normally, when harrow says something bitchy or callous to gideon they can just go back and forth, spar for a while it doesnt mean anything. but gideon isnt bouncing back anymore. when harrow is mean to her she just kind of sighs and withdraws. and its not just like, the dead mom thing. its been happening for a while. its just getting less fun. arguing isnt a game anymore its just arguing. theyre getting older and things are changing between them, and harrow is recognizing that change but she doesnt know what to do, because shes just kind of a mean person. gideon doesnt smile as much, harrow conceptualizes her as this very big radiant personality and shes just. not. shes complicated. shes depressed

[wachtelspinat]

Hey, I just came across your post about how you’ve been feeling a disconnect from you and your art and about how you feel a mix of guilt for drawing the same fanart for so long….i just want you to know how nice it felt to see someone I have admired for so long going through the exact same thing I am. I have never played Overwatch or anything, but I’ve been following you for years….your art has always been such a source of inspiration. So I’m really sorry you’ve been feeling this way…..but I’m in a very similar boat…so please don’t feel like you are alone. I’ve been drawing Homestuck garbage for years and I also feel that mix of “it’s fine because it makes me happy” but also “you should be doing more”…..it’s not a fun cycle to constantly be battling with in your brain. But being an adult sucks ass, it has honestly felt like a process having to adjust to not having a sense of community like we did in the earlier days of tumblr or whatever else. But please know that your art has meant so much to me and everybody else and that you are not alone in your feelings ❤️ sorry this was massively cheesy….just wanted to give a virtual internet hug lol Also being a part of a “dead” fandom is always very lonely….i feel you on that so hard my guy lol

hey thanks so much for reaching out, it means a lot. i'm sorry to hear that you are in a similar pickle tho...

to give an update on that particular feeling and situation over here, i've been drawing more again, the pace just got adjusted, and i've kind of made my peace with this. doing a deep dive into older fandom bits also brought some sense back into my head... i actively reconnected with the things that made me love my blorbos in the first place again. which feels great. there is some lonliness to this because as current news about the game and fandom tendencies go still make me feel alienated. but i'd rather take this and do my own thing with the few people who also remember the good times than giving up on my boys or trying to bend myself into a different shape and draw sth that i actually don't want to for the sake of staying relevant.

it all actually boils down to "do what you want, draw what you want, write what you want, share if you want". because at the end of the day i make myself happy by just indulging into envisioning them and drawing unspoken interactions and their faces a hundered times from the same angle <3

[tmos-time]

HELLO COOPER HOW ARE YOU‼️‼️‼️

Lately things have been properly shitty. Hangin in there UnU

May I ask for a very happy and warm headcannon in these trying times. Or blab about an oc, either or 🦐🦐🦐

aw, sorry to hear you've been going through it-- im alright despite the canadian thanksgiving season myself LOL

since im preserving my otp brain power for when erisol week approaches, how about i give you the next best thing i can provide; fun tidbits about my ocs ive deemed "the blatantly influenced by erisol ocs" LMAO

honestly cant remember if ive shared these bits on my blog or not, but! they're going in here anyways lmaoo

erodin was named YEARS ago (~2015) because i really fucked up spelling eridan's name in a homestuck roleplay in roblox, LOL. i also added a little bit of intent on the fact his name is practically just "eroding"; he's a nervous guy with a lot on his plate!

alos, on the other hand, was made to be erodin's other half-- his name is intentionally from a typo of "also" to fit this, lmao. alos is very outgoing and friendly, to the point you could call him a golden retriever if you like that character descriptor <3

at the point in their timeline for the story they're part of, they've been dating for about three-ish years now, after slow-burning a little in school. alos caught feelings first, but held back on saying anything until erodin slowly began to catch feelings back as they got close <3 they spend a lot of time together! alos soaks up erodin's company like an enamored sponge, and erodin feels so much calmer with alos nearby

[phantomthiefgaige]

Sburb:Final Test Build! (Prologue)

*A website opens up showing a chatlog between four individuals. A website called Troll-A-Chum. This was the last normal conversation before the session started.*

dynamicProtagonist: thAtcher, where the hell are you?! is your thinkpan, sorry…”Brain” still Culminating on the newest set of excuses to holD Everyone back from Fully levelinG up for the better?!

thinkpanObliterator: Come now Adroxi, it izn’t all that zerious. He could juzt be running a bit behind iz all.

zanyKnight: Sorry! I’m super late! Had another run in with “You know who.” He was guarding my copy of SBURB along with THE DONUTS.

DP: are tHese “donuts” really that Important you had to needlessly capitalize them?

ZK: …they had chocolate frosting…

grimmestDarkpony: did somebody say chocolate?!?! :D

TO: Ahh, Emmi. You’re here. I take it your copy is in your handz?

GP: yeah! got it in the mail today from my parents!

TO: Parentz, zuch a human conztruct anyway. Zounds like it would be better than…hmmm, no. What we have iz much better. Anywayz insert the game in already or elze the cluckbeazt will find you~!

DP: kasill…stop…

ZK: Can we play now?

DP: thatcher, pay attention and insert the disc!

*As soon as they insert the disc…things go dark…for the audience. For now. Lets get the plot of this story out of the way, then we’ll do roll call.*

The real title of this tale…

Homestuck: Connection Lost

The plot is similar to the main series. Four varying aged individuals decide to play a game together, however after entering the medium, the connection to their server is lost and as such, their world is deleted. However, the four end up in another session. One already in progress with a boy, his friends, and eight trolls negging them as well…yeah they’ve wound up in the beta timeline and must work with them to at least save this world.

Unoriginal plot is now out of the way. Now, lets get on with the role call!

Up first, the self proclaimed “leader” of this group.

Adroxi Repits

Adroxi is a teal Blooded troll who has a passion for justiCe and as such works on his figure to grow himself physically. he is heavily inspireD by jrpgs and oftEn thinks oF himself as the protaGonist. wHIle he can come across as rude and…very rude, deep down he has a bond with most of his friends that will be pushed to their limits while on this Journey. He’s also the one who made the Troll-A-Chum servers for his friends to talk on.

Age: 8.5 Sweeps (18.5. 23 by the credits)

Weapons: His fists, SwordBats

Typing quirks: AlphaBetiCal capitalization.

Chumhandle: dynamicProtagonist

Next is.

Kasill Vaveil

Kasill is a Jade blooded troll who can handle the Alternian sun like most do but something is off about her. Instead of embracing the nurturing and caregiving side most of them have, she fears that if she does this, she’ll cause problems and will lead others to their deaths. To remedy this she hides behind a “kooky” and wacky persona so that nobody suspects she’s hiding anything. She lets it slip with her friends though at times…mainly Thatcher and Adroxi.

Age: 7 Sweeps (15. 20 by the credits)

Weapons: Barbed Wire, Chains

Typing quirks: Replaces all S’s with Z’s

Chumhandle: thinkpanObliterator

Next we have

Jaey Thatcher

Jaey is a normal everyday human who’s sleep deprived and lives with a guy who dresses in knight armor and trains him in “the way of the knight.” Which mainly includes random attacks and being left on the ground after getting his ass kicked. Due to living on edge he’s never had time to figure out how to act or who he wants to act like. What he does know is that he LOVES pissing off “Crusader” often by using alternate weapons, shifting interests, finding more interests in samurai movies instead of knight movies, and giving up swords for fountain pens.

Age: 14.5 (20 by the credits)

Weapons: Fountain Pens, Broadswords

Typing quirks: Normal text but CAPITALIZES important items and titles.

Chumhandle: zanyKnight

Finally on our list is

Emmi Jollie

Emmi is the youngest of the quartet and yet so mature she was allowed to name herself two years early! She gets pouty at her parents for telling her no all the time and being responsible so she turns to her online friends who agreed they’ll help her grow up. She is the glue holding them together and without her they wouldn’t be friends. She loves normal girly stuff like the color pink, horses, and the twisted and macabre stuff like horror terrors and, thanks to “mister white text man” she’s really interesting in “Grimdarks.” She hopes that someday her friends can see that she can grow up without them and she’ll be okay on her own one day.

Age: 11 at the start. (12 when they enter the other world. 17 by the credits)

Weapons: Pop guns, revolvers, wiffle ball bats

Typing quirks: all lowercase. Lots of exclamation marks and smiles when excited.

Chumhandle: grimmestDarkpony

And with that, the roll call is done and I hope this weird what if has interested you…now a note from the author.

Author Talk: Hey guys…so this is my weird little HSAU series I’ve been planning for months. Still ironing some things out but I can answer any questions you may have.

1, Why are YOU in this?

A: It was originally an rp series that fell through but over time I developed it more and as such am keeping him here as his own separate character. Shipping stuff, if any, will only be for after the credits esq pics where everyone in the story is established to be 18 and older…not with Emmi though. She’s too young. Speaking of.

2, Why the varying ages?

A: Well…having everyone be multiple ages is something I don’t see too often in these stories so I wanted to try it for myself and see if I could make it work.

3, Will this ever be on MSPFA or have pictures to go with it?

A: Not unless a team of deranged folks wanna go along with this somehow for free cuz I’m both broke and artistically bankrupt. Hell I made these guys in the character maker for HS.

4, Is this just cringy fanfiction?

A: Hell yeah baby. But fuck it, we ball.

With this all being said. I hope you enjoyed reading…this in all its….glory?

[vellichorom]

Opinion on homestuck? I have not read anything about it but I got cursed by it a little and made sprite edits lmao

OOH! that looks extremely on point to the homestuck style! awesome job !!!!!

but OH BOY, what can I say about homestuck...

well, I'll be honest with you, I started reading some odd years back, got 1000+ pages in, & I hhhhhaven't picked it back up since. I'm sorry, I'm sure SOMEDAY I'll finish it, but my brain shits the bed at the thought of 8000+ pages & probably 8000+ games. it is an IMPRESSIVE work from what I understand, both in length & for it's undoubtable charm that's kept readers & players coming in & staying for YEARS, to the point that the story itself has become one with history & internet culture as a whole, which is truly incredible.

despite the jokes we make with it, that is NO easy feat. & yeah, I know too that its obviously got its issues; jokes that didn't age well, jokes & allegories that weren't at all necessary to begin with, the creator's not great - ect, but nevertheless. not everything important or great is squeaky clean & without it's problems, of course. but it's just !!!!!! my god.

& i think the concept of the trolls is honestly a really creative one, actually - EVEN IF I DON'T UNDERSTAND ALL THE BLOOD HIERARCHY STUFF, just. allegedly giijinka-fied internet trolls & they all suck. i've always had something of a fondness for eridan ( to no one's surprise ) & i've just recently learned a bit more about him when my friend looked into the friendsim game, & oh my god. geekass loser, my favorite flavor

MORE PROMINENTLY, my friends all like homestuck, so it's become a running gag that anytime someone so much as mentions it, i seethe

so as you can tell it's got a place deeply woven into my soul,

[fictionkinfessions]

hello gang its me , that gamzee homestuck kinsidering guy who was all like "my actual zodiac doesnt match gamzee's sign i wonder if other trollkins are like that" (i dont feel like making a tag for myself since i dont frequent this blog THAT often :oP )

So! i'm on like . act 6 act 6 i think ? Not getting into spoilers cuz i dont feel like it but the sheer amount of familiarity i felt when gamz snapped back into his Normal self for a bit was . It sure was!!

i've been pondering abt it for the past few hours . About everything . Was it familiar bc its been a while since i've seen gamzee talk normally or was it familiar bc it was a memory ? Or was it not familiar at all and it was just me being really excited to see him normal again and later misled meself? i've not a clue i'd have to replay that part

Also in other news i figured out im canon divergent :o) (?) by the time i like . by the time he gets a god suit i start feeling a very strong disconnect . he feels like such a seperate character from both Me and Also Gamzee In His Introduction . Completely seperate entity . theres some connection yes but thats just cuz he is A Gamzee . So basically pre-alpha kids gamz . Pre-the moment he shows up to try and guide jane . pre-being a pawn to characters' plans . thats Me (?)

Aaaand of course theres the whole side of me thats like "God no youre NOT gamz you are NOTHING like him" i've just been telling that side to shut up :oP but it is tugging at me . the whole idea that like maybe i'm not actually fictionkin at all and i've just been absorbing aspects of him bc i like him a lot . I cant tell . But i do like referring to myself as gamz ... and phrasing things like he does sometimes...... and clowns ..... and doing his stupid clown face emote thing :o) honk honk (<- i also like going honk honk)

Okay this is a word salad . Im currently with family i do not have room in my brain to think i dont Know what i wrote . Sorry! This is all very confusing as someone whos been stubbornly thinking "no i CANT get memories im NOT like that" and "no i DONT have any past life crud thats NOT how my brain rolls" . Idk . Rethorical questions galore but if anyone wants to give me some pointers or guides on what to make of this i wouldnt mind :oP

- gamzee :o) Presumably

x

[triptychgardener]

I think the reason why Hiveswap's managed to... in a manner of speaking, narratively succeed for me where most other parts of postcanon often partially fail or fail entirely, is because its contributions to canon are A. Largely subtle and B. Inform parts of canon previously seen by adding nearly unseen, yet tastefully added, backstory.

I keep coming back, emotionally, to Beta Roxy. In the pictures we see of her, we see, well, just Roxy. Probably not older than 19. She's not the best babysitter in the world (and clearly still has a drinking problem) but she's trying, and seems to be pretty earnest with the lot she's been dealt. She's essentially been forced into a solitary caretaker position for these sweet kids by her surrogate father at a shockingly young age, all while dealing with Skaianet stuff behind the scenes.

It, then, informs Mom Lalonde's apparent emotional distance from Rose, when one thinks about the implications of what Hiveswap's story may end with. Obviously Joey's been given a doomsday imperative to return to Earth... but given that we don't see a trace of the kids in HS proper, I think it's probable to assume they've... gone missing to some extent (the tiny insane speculative part of my brain wonders if they were going to tie it into HS^2 and that's one of the reasons among many others for the significant delay.) And the idea of losing these two kids she clearly cares about, and then once again having motherhood forced upon her by needing to care for Rose... well it gives some context as to why she's like that.

And obviously, the contributions to Jake Harley are both subtle and utterly bonkers: there are implications that he travelled to (or at least knew about) Alternia. His wild, jetsetting, child-abandoning ways are given a very personal touch. And one wonders if he sequestered Jade on an island so she wouldn't fall prey to the fate that befell two of his other children. But, as I think it best is, information on him is partially speculative. Doubtless more will be added to the story as time goes on, but hell, even in the span of two (and let's be honest, mostly the first) Acts, it's managed to add some much to the humanity and backstory of the mysterious guardians.

I think this stands in direct contrast to other parts of postcanon. While it also functions by backfilling, the Skaianet Files gives very little actual character to work with, functioning as mostly a series of offensive jokes and dull attempts at alt-history. Learning that Jake Harley is actually Barack Obama's grandfather tells us nothing. Learning that Jane Egbert was horribly in love with Stan Laurel and had a one-night stand with him creating Dad Egbert (sorry for polluting your minds people who haven't read the SN Files. My recommendation is do not.) Even setting aside the horrid antisemitism, what it gives us is... nothing. The characters in these stories don't meaningfully represent the echoes that the guardians had on the story. Pesterquest also tries to backfill, and it gets some things right, but ultimately the quality of the whole thing is fairly inconsistent just due to the variety of writers brought on, so it'd be pointless here to discuss the project's success on it as a whole (though I personally find a lot of the chapters weak in that regard.)

I don't know if I have any conclusion to take from this, besides saying that Homestuck's always given characters like the Guardians a lot of space, which functioned both thematically and emotionally. It's partially a story about not really knowing who you parents are, of finding out later bits and pieces through their kid selves, but never getting the whole picture. It keeps you guessing, speculating about what Could have been, leaves ambiguity for things like Bro's abuse to be brought into full light later on. I think a subtle touch is the key, and a lot of postcanon has been anything but subtle.

[skybluesocks]

Hi I don't know what the fuck im talking about here is a weirdly personal ramble about Tavros from my homestuck rotten brain I sent my friends from the fucking hairdresser:

Im having such complex thoughts on tavros while the pink dye is being applied so I put them here rather than subject my poor hairstylist to them: im just thinking about how like, he's a "late bloomer" so to say. Like, he still plays childish games, he's obsessed with fairies and pupa pan and games. His life sucks, and just keeps going downhill, and it makes him retreat into these sources of escapism, but its not actually solving the problem. I think about him telling Jade "the only fun I ever had playing this game is when I was asleep" a lot. He's a heartbreak feeling left behind by your peers. I see a lot of 20 such year olds freaking out over how they have friends getting married and having careers, but its also something so entrenched in puberty. You feel left behind socially as kids around you start getting their owns complexes to disregard and abandon "childish" things. This is seen so many times, a lot in Vriska but also a lot of the other trolls and even the kids, and a lot of them expressthis *to Tavros* . But tavros doesn't abandon this things, they're like, the best things in his life. Like, ni wonder he didn't know what to do when vriska kissed him, or when gamzee offered to make out, I would have had the same reaction at that age. Meanwhile I have heard people directly talk to me in 8th grade about having make out session in previous years. This doesn't have a point, im just having a lot of thoughts I can even imagine how long this is by now oh boy I guess its also like, I know I keep hammering home how the story seems to forget how young its own characters are, but tavros very much feels his age.

Yeah anyways I may be unpacking further why I relate (me at 13) to tavros. I was always friends people younger than me, I was into "childish" things, absolutely massive prude, I didn't even start my period until 8th grade. I understand how he's feeling, especially being pushed so much by vriska to grow up. She has that part talking about how he's always too late. Sorry "l8" "too l8 to kiss me. Too l8 to kill me." And everything she does doesnt work, if anything it does the opposite. She says she wants to make him stronger, but she's the reason he's disabled. She wants him to grow a spine, to fight back at her, but all of her lashing out only tears him down more, she wants him to kill her when she ascends to godhood, but he can't and its implied he was ashamed and horrified and he slept so much to escape thinking about it. He's falling behind, and he's not able to help his team the same way, I won't deny that, but can you *really* blame him? Hes a sad, scared, lonely kid, and his life frankly kinda sucks my poor little meow meow out in the rain. But like yes he does very little to actually fight back and improve his situation. He's very passive, things really just happen to him. Wow ok for surface level tavros is my son, but also he *is* pretty annoying, but also he's me at 13, but also a wet cat in the rain and its a lite his fault but thats gonna be a whole other tangent becauseI haven't even gotten into how well he maintainsa smile, but also fuck vriska a little bit, she's **really** not helping

[quinnonimp]

two things. one, your art is absolutely wonderful. i love the warm tones and style. two. got any like. weird art tips. like just weird things you do that work really well. or just art tips in general lol. there's something bout your style that makes me go ':D' lmao

aaaaaa tysm !!!! very glad u like my style <33 means a lot

and yeah id say i have quite a few with the way im very experimental n passionate abt art !

>> i think my weirdest one is rly just the main way i render tbh ? like, as u can pretty easily see with my main art style is that its all very crunchy n pixelated, n thats all cause i have anti-aliasing off for my brush . i render in a pretty unorthodox way but it makes things so so so much easier and more fun for me, even if its more time consuming for several reasons

heres a little bit of an infographic ive whipped up that hopefully u can get smth out of lmao . its 6am ive been up all night drawing as usual so im having a lot of trouble doing things properly sorry sorry

and the funny thing is this is aaaaaaaaall just cause i hate blending and am scared of committing to things (esp colors) so i just decided "okay whatever im gonna be goofy and just make it all pixelated idc anymore" and it worked !! (thanks homestuck) art is sm more enjoyable since i started doing this as it fits perfectly with the way my brain works and its helped me sm with getting better at colors bc of the way i have to do every single color manually (for several reasons like how i have to keep track of every color ((which makes me recycle them a lot more making things look more united)), gradients r the most fun to do but i have to make sure all the colors "blend" together nicely, i get to change them super easily, etc etc)

however these days i HAVE been trying to get back into working with anti-aliased brushes just to get out of my comfort zone n such, but tbh the only thing its helped me with is remind me how much more fun drawing aliased is and how absolutely dogshit i am at blending FDJHJKDF

also it makes me better at minecraft skins since im so used to working with pixels !

>> another little weird thing i have that honestly just goes against basic art rules is experiment by having ur values be as close together as possible without losing contrast . this is horrible as a tip, but fun as an experiment, and for me its just fun since i already know pretty well how values work and have enough experience to break the "rules" - because lot of times good shading colors r actually lighter than the original when put under b&w

so if ur like me i would recommend trying it out ! if u dont even know what values are then this ISNT good for u, do values properly as they really help

>> if u struggle a lot with side profiles, just learn from the gorillaz demon days album art . like literally im not joking that is THE thing that made me learn to draw side profiles and id say im pretty good at them now (however the effectiveness of this probably depends on the style)

and by learn from it i mean u can just trace it with any other characters, or study it, or reference it, yadaydayada . just do wahtever with it, damon albarn dgaf

obviously this isnt gonna magically make u great at side profiles but if u want a fun art challenge or ur a big gorillaz fan like me, it could get u kickstarted !!!! especially if ur doing it with ocs or characters u like that are in a band or something

ok thats all the tips ill be giving out tonight im a little sickly victorian child rn

hope it helped . uhm . bye

[schmope-is-dead]

neeeed to pick your brain more about media. what other bands or artists are you like big big into . What movies, if any . Books obviously if you're a big reader . Sorry this ask is insane i think you're cool and am too impatient to just wait and listen to see what you talk about LMAO

YOU’RE SO REAL FOR THIS DW

I really love the cure tbh :3 specifically simon gallup but also a bit of robert smith as far as actually loving the band members, but their music is actually what got me into goth music / the goth subculture !! I have like 4 cure cds, my favorite album of theirs is disintegration, and my favorite songs of theirs are the lovecats/ lovesong/ plainsong

another big one of mine is bauhaus but I mainly just listen to them on mix rather than specific songs. their song “god in an alcove” permanently changed how I think when I’m high btw

honorable mentions are my chemical romance, the last days of jesus, horror vacui, the brickbats, and icp

as far as movies go, cowboys 2020 changed my brain chemistry. I don’t have much to say it’s just something to experience and have it sit in the back of your head for years

I do love to read but not as much since I finally recovered from my harry potter special interest 😭 my current favorite book is the picture of dorian gray, and currently I’m reading the brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoevsky

I also really love this one musical trilogy, in trousers, falsettoland, and march of the falsettos. it’s an amazing story that I think about constantly, especially about whizzer brown

and of course, homestuck, unfortunately

[berrymilkwithsugar]

Strengthening bonds. (Homestuck)

A/N: I haven’t written a fic like this in a long time, my bad if I’m a bit rusty. This is also purely indulgent so sorry if it’s a bit ooc. Otherwise enjoy. Tw for swearing.

The scent of vanilla filled the air, music was playing softly in the kitchen as Mr. Egbert was preparing another cake. It was his son’s birthday after all, so he felt like this is the perfect time to bust out the Betty Crocker cake mix and slave over a hot oven. Time consuming yes, but he didn’t see anything wrong with spoiling John with cakes.

Despite it being abundantly clear that over the past few months John and him have started to grow distant from one another, maybe he was overdoing the fatherly doting, or maybe he wasn’t spending as much time with him anymore. The oven’s timer begin to beep snapping Mr. Egbert out of thought, he quickly put on some oven mittens and removed the fluffy cake. He placed it on the rack for it to cool down. Glancing over at the photo of him and a six year old john on the wall, he sighed.

Oh what he’d give for them to rekindle their father son relationship.

Maybe they could go to the Dadly depot, no John would get bored rather quickly. Make a cake together? As much as he would love for him and John to do that, John might not be as enthusiastic. God what can they do. He grabbed the now cooled down cake and removed it from the tin, he then begin to apply the fluffy vanilla icing. While this was nice, he still couldn’t rattle an idea in his brain on how to bond with his son.

Once the cake was finished he decided to walk to the living and look through the photo album for as a guide, flipping page after page, he felt like he was hitting a dead end until he saw one photo where it showed him tickling a little John on his tummy. Mr. Egbert smiled at that memory, John was around four year’s old and refused to go to bed, so he had to pull out the “tickle monster” to tucker the little tike out. It had become a bedtime ritual for the Egbert’s whenever John wasn’t keen on clocking in for the night. Not that Mr. Egbert was complaining, his son’s bubbly laughter always left him with a smile on his face.

Wait.. that’s it.

The sound of rapid typing can be heard from outside John’s bedroom door. Presumably chatting with one of his friends. Slowly Mr. Egbert opened the door quietly, glancing over seeing fake arms in his son’s cake. “Well, that’s one way to decorate a cake.” He mumbled under his breath. He cleared his throat, startling John a bit. “Dad what the fu— I mean what the frick?!” He said as he quickly exited out of pesterchum. “Sorry, I’ve just wanted to see how you were doing.” His father’s voice was calm and soft, causing John to ease up a bit and sigh “I’m fine, just chatting with friends… stuck fake arms into a-“ “The cake.” John’s father cut him off. John tilted his head to side before glancing over to the cake. “Oh, well. I was getting sick of cake.” He admitted, a frown donned Mr. Egbert’s face as he sighed and shook his head. “You could of just asked me to store it in the fridge for later.” He mumbled, “But never mind that now.” He waved his hand “I wanted to ask you something.” His expression turned stoic.

“Do you hate me?” Mr. Egbert pondered, John was taken aback by the question “Wha-What? No!! Why would I?” How could his dad come to such a question. “Well, it’s just that we’ve.. seem to grow rather distant over the past few months. I understand it’s normal for there to be teen angst but I didn’t think it would effect our father-son bond this much.” Oh that’s how.

John was astonished, was he actually acting that bad? Sure his dad can be a pain in the neck from time to time but he didn’t think he would chalk it up to John hating him. “Dad..” he reached his hand towards his dad before pulling back and looking down. Shit is it really this difficult for him to find the words to help comfort his father. Just as he was about to speak, his dad began to speak. “So I decided that it was long overdue to reintroduce you to an old friend.”

John gave a quizzical look as he got up from his seat. “You have a guest over?” He asked, Mr. Egbert took a step forward prompting John to step back. “Yes, and and I think you know him quite well.” John tried to rack his brain to see if there was anyone his dad could be referring to. “He used to visit you when you little, when you had those nights where you refused to go to bed.” Once that sentence slipped from his father’s mouth, John’s eyes grew wide in remembrance. No.. there’s not way he’s actually-

“Dad.” John took a few steps back, raising his hands in defense “D-Don’t even think about it.” A wobbly smile formed on John’s lips, “I-I’m beheheing serious.” He said through nervous giggles. Mr. Egbert cocked a brow. “Dad? Who’s this Dad you speak of? I’m the tickle monster!” Mr. Egbert then shot his hands out only for John to dodge them, he tried to run past his dad only to pulled in a hug from behind.

“D-Dad wait-“ But it was too late, his father’s fingers were dancing around his rib cage, causing John to bite his lower lip to stifle giggles. “D-Dahad c-come ohohon I’m nahat a little kihid anymore.” Mr. Egbert smiled at his son’s fruitless attempts to muffle his laughter. “Oh? You’re not? Hmm, well I guess you wouldn’t react if I did this.” He switched over to John’s sides, breaking the dam as sweet laughter filled the room. “Ohohoh gahahahad!” John tried to pry his father’s hands away from his sides, but the man was too strong. Mr. Egbert smiled at his son’s melodious laughter, sounding so carefree and lively, and his reactions to different spots was the cherry on top.

John’s laughter reached an octave as his dad went for his tummy, “WAHAHAHAHAIT NAHAHAHAT TH-THEHEHEHERE!” He squealed, instinctively backing away from the tickles only to further pin himself to his father’s chest. “Aw what’s wrong, is your wittle tummy to sensitive.” He teased, John’s face burned a bit brighter. “IHIHIHIHIHIHIHI’M NAHAHAHAHAHAT A BAHAHAHAHABY!!” John protested against the teasing. God why did those work on him. “Oh does the wittle baby hate the teasing, does it make the tickles worse?”

Okay now John was convinced his face is on fire. Or at least it had a color to rival the Betty Crocker spoon. “YEHEHEHEHEHEHEHES- HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOLY FUHUHUHUHUHUHUKING SHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT!!!” John cackled as Mr. Egbert let out a gasped at his son’s profanity. “My my, such a filthy little mouth, I think this calls for a punishment don’t you think?” John felt himself being picked up bridal style before his father sat down, placing him on his lap. John took this moment to catch his breath before he felt a hand picking up the hem of his shirt. He froze and panicked “Dad! Wait please, I’m sorry just don’t do that!” He begged.

Me. Egbert pretended to be deep in thought before he took a deep breath and place his face over his son tummy, causing John to squeal. “W-WAIT WAHAHAHAIT!!” Mr. Egbert grinned at this “I didn’t even do anything yet and you’re already laughing up a storm.” John opened one of his eyes to look at this father, huh guess he wasn’t-

Right when his guard was down, Mr. Egbert bent back down a blew a large raspberry on John’s belly, causing the thirteen year old to shrieked. “NAHAHAHAHAHAHAT EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE NAHAHAHAHAHAT FAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAIR!!!” Tears of mirth began to roll down the bespectacled boy’s cheeks. “All fair in love and tickles.” Mr. Egbert quipped before blowing another raspberry only this time it was directly on John’s belly button. “*Snort* NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAD *Snort* PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE *Snort* AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” There it was, that snorty laughter Mr. Egbert knew and loved.

He decided to let up on the boy, using his thumb to wipe away the tears from his’s son’s cheeks. John giggled as the ghost tickles were still in effect. John took off his glasses and wiped his eyes before looking at his dad, who had a smirk on his face. “What?” John tilted his head in confusion.

“Oh nothing, just during all of that, you never once told me to stop tickling you.” John froze, Christ he was right. “W-Well.. um..” John stammered a bit. “You must have really liked it.” Mr. Egbert ruffled his hair, John pouted and crossed his arms. “Okay NOW I hate you.”

“Watch it.” Mr. Egbert gave a warning pinch on John’s side. “I’m keen on having round two if that’s how you’re gonna act.” John stuck his tongue out. “Only if you catch me old man.” With that John quickly got up and sprinted out of the room, giggling as he did so. Mr. Egbert smiled as he shook his head. “You may not hate me, but you’re still gonna get it.”

Soon with Egbert household was filled with laughter once again.

[trollcatgirl]

Why I like her: She is a silly cat girl who has a good time being silly while also having great character dynamics

Why I don't: That is a difficult question. So difficult I went through multiple drafts of this somehow. In the end, I have to fall back on "she doesn't get enough screentime/contribute enough to the plot"

Fafurite scene: Close between her conversation with Jaspers and the bit at the beginning of [S] Equius: Seek the highb100d, the two main parts of Homestuck that continuously makes me feel things. The conversation with Equius probably ekes out the win though

Fafurite line: I'm not good at remembering specific lines, but probably some time when she's goofing with Equius before he seeks the highb100d

Fafurite outfit: She doesn't get much outfit variation, but dress pretty similarly to her sans hat so that's cool

OTP: Meowrails, then Neprezi

BroTP: She would be best friends with Dave and it's practically canon you can not convince me otherwise

Headcanon: Her tail cosplay thing is robotic and can be controlled with her brain

Unpopular opinion: Don't really have any. My mental image of Nepeta might be a little more badass than most people's, but I don't really have many unpopular opinions. I don't see many people shipping Neprezi so maybe that fits the letter, if not the spirit

A wish: Please get more official content made

An oh-god-please-don't-ever-happen: Please don't let that content be in HS^2

5 words to best describe them: Silly, STRONG, Heart (Not just because it's her aspect), Cat, Green (<- Fully aware this is a cop out)

My nickname for them: Nep!

Sorry this took so long, I've been very distractable today

[coolbeesbro]

I’m sorry for my small hiatus from Luca content. Against my best wishes, my cousin has dragged me back into the Homestuck fandom which is tragic as shit. I’m now balancing between Letters to Luca and another project I’ve had in my brain for well over 8 years, which is a LOT since this other project is just about as long as my Luca series is planned to be.

I’m really hoping to have the next chapter for my Luca fic up as soon as I can, but I’ve got a lot on my plate right now so it’s gonna be a little bit harder for me. Also if you guys hear me give a deadline for something, just come at me with pitchforks and torches because every time I do that I seem to never make it there.

The bottom pic was already posted, but I realized with the grey background I had it set to, it was difficult to actually see it (it looked a lot different on my tablet, bu the phone was where I was noticing the problem) so I’m reposting it with a white background here.

[peevishpants]

Woahhhh your art is so good!!!! I adore how you use colours sm!! Could I ask if you have any advice on environment design? I love how you draw backgrounds and I've always wanted to learn more about coming up with settings for a story ~Aqua

Thank you!!! :D

I get this question pretty often and never really know what to say - there's so many avenues of advice to give, and difficult to tailor it in an AOE (area of effect? howdy ya do gamers im a bit of a gamer myself please believe me) format. Be aware that my "advice" may not be the thing you need to hear or apply right now, so maybe just store it away in the back of your brain for a while, or just discard it if you feel like you're past that point or moving in a complete different direction with your current art level.

But here we go, a little tidbit about environment design for story-telling (sorry long post):

A game I like to play with myself is "what if X... but Y". Like madlibs - what if [bookshelf] ... but it's [meat]. (I'm sitting beside my bookshelf and I just ate haha). Ok, now let's answer that - why would there be a bookshelf of meat? Maybe I'm a nerdy butcher, who collects exotic meat samples. Maybe the meats are monstrous and I'm a demon taxonomist. But meat decays so quickly! How would I keep them? Maybe I preserve them with a magic balm, or my bookshelf is so high tech it keeps the collection of meats cold through uhhhhhh cryo.... cryo uhhhh technology. Maybe I'm a meat wizard and these meat slabs carry runes that I can read and use to do ... Weird Meat Magic. Maybe I have a magical BBQ and I need to grill selected meats to release their Magic Juices. OH, FIRE! What if one day, my house gets set on fire (malevolent spirit? stupid accident?) and my bookshelf full of meats all gets cooked at once, releasing a Pandora's Box swarm of magical atrocities into the world? And now it's my mission to hunt them all down, butcher knife and tongs in hand. Actually wait this is a banger idea for both a Yan NPC AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND a DND character LMAO

But with this utterly random framework, we've already set down a couple world and story design beats to riff off of - there's Meat based Magic, there might be an Enemy somewhere who hates me and my meats, Meat = Jail for Evil Demons and I was a sort of prison warden? Now I have to work in a scene where I say "my MEAT IS HUGE" or "I've FINALLY BEATEN... MY MEATS". I want to design what my meat bookshelf looks like, and how it preserves the meats - different kinds of compartments for different kinds of meat! a special section for seafood? - my home and how the evil spirit got into it to commit arson, and what kind of person would live in a home like that. That's when worldly knowledge and research come in - I'd want to research real cryoprotective tech to help design the bookshelf, maybe base the meat demon designs off of... uh... I dunno? Metallica/KISS facepaint patterns? Rorschach test patterns?

Two skills help a lot in the process of grabbing idea threads and developing them: 1. Expanding your mental library of Concepts and Things and 2. Just being Curious about the world! Constantly asking questions and making little headcanons and never shutting up. Think of it as trying to entertain yourself!

Anyway this is just one quick way to get the brain rolling on world design! Sometimes you'll play "what if X... but Y" and come to a dead-end or realize you've just re-made homestuck (valid), so just try again with another set of concepts, or pick a train of thought you liked from your first game and expand on that. And of course you can always go back and change your ideas - like, maybe instead of a meat bookshelf I think a seed bookshelf would be cooler. I dunno. The point is to fully explore your ideas and through that, assign meaning to them so that they are compelling.

So tldr: read and learn things to expand your knowledge base, be curious, and try to connect cool visuals with a clear reason for their existence.