#swdktowl wrapup

[callmearcturus]

ok these are all objectively good reasonings for sexiest karkat but i still think it has to be swdktowl karkat for me. kanaya biting him while he killed aranea? flawless. showstopping. never been done before!!!!

Pulling off the plot dominoes leading to the end of act two is maybe the proudest I've ever been of myself. God, that was so much fun.

[callmearcturus]

Why did you choose calliope as the main villain? I don’t think it was a bad choice, I’m just so curious! It’s funny, I see people drawing her now and I’m like AH CALLIOPE OH NO

(remember to block swdktowl wrapup if you're not interested in my ramblings)

lmao so I actually tend to write Calliope as the Big Good of the story. I consider her one of the heroic forces of Homestuck itself in the canon. Writing her as the main villain was something that like... started as a "hahah wouldn't it be interesting" as I was first outlining the story. Caliborn was the central figure of contempt. Then as the story evolved, Caliborn just isn't very effective as a villain for the type of story I'm telling.

But the fun thing I like about Calliope is that... I tried to keep her in character. All the things that make her atrocious are still rooted in her canonical flaws, her fantasies, the ways she sometimes reduces real people into characters for her entertainment.

I think on some subconscious level, Calliope is informed by how fandom can become poisonous. It has so much good potential in it, but also when you stop recognizing the realness of the people around you and get into goading them for reactions, something has gone deeply wrong. And that's all Calliope does. She is miserable and trapped, so she treats everyone around her like toys to entertain herself.

My favorite thing with Calliope is that periodically someone starts KTOWL from the start and the way they start out sympathetic to her and then go "OH. OOOOH." has been a constant delight.

[callmearcturus]

okay someone asked this on the fic itself but its Super Important so fuck it its my blog

So What Happened To Terezi Pyrope In KTOWL?

Quite a few people over the course of the fic wanted to know what happened to Terezi, if she became a lawyer, or if she was still Under The Table.

And the answer to that is... genuinely and truly, whatever you think is what happened?

Terezi is this lingering spectre around the story. She gets a very long introduction and is the one to teach Karkat about life on Terra, about the Umbra, about what is expected of him and what realistically he needs to do to survive.

And then she's gone... but she's mentioned a few more times. Just enough that I wanted to keep her in the mind of the reader, so when Karkat finally asks Roxy about her, it makes sense.

But its important to the Big Themes Of The Story that Karkat goes into his 'boss fight' at Abraxas without a definitive answer. She was the first person who really laid the map out for him and said she was going to get out. Then, Rose shows up and makes the case that no one fucking gets out. But how much of that is Rose's trauma? Or how much is observable truth and the nature of the Table? Aranea seems to corroborate that no one is meant to get out.

But Karkat never knows for certain, so he makes the deal to save Dave.

So in the end it is up to You The Reader to decide. Did Terezi get out? Could Karkat have finally waited for the stars to align and shown him a better path? Or was this the best way?

THAAAAAAAT'S AMBIGUOUS STORYTELLING BABY.

[callmearcturus]

kunacottontail: I feel like Kanaya is going to at some point delicately, awkwardly inform Karkat that Rose has reached out to her and Karkat is only going to say "hmm" with the force of a thousand judgmental WASPs

this is incredibly funny. Kanaya talking to Karkat about her trying to reconnect with Rose is just

Karkat frowning into his glass of tea and having a devil on his shoulder (dirk) arguing that Rose sucks and Karkat should exercise concern for his very dear friend and try to find her another person to date

and the angel on his shoulder (dave) telling Karkat to stop being a bitch and just nod, goddammit

[callmearcturus]

i just wanted to let you know that when karkat SMILED at calliope i got goosebumps you are so good at making karkat the hottest mfcker around <33 ktowl has become my literal fave fanfic am praying for that sweet sweet extra content 🙏

That was truly so fucking satisfying. Umbra Karkat is one of my favorite characters I have written. And I've been thinking about why he's Hot Karkat, because it's not just "oh some characters point out he's hot" I feel like if that was it then the audience would not buy that Karkat Is Hot. But we all seem to be in agreement.

Karkat is hot because the complexity of his arc, I think. Like, KTOWL warns right at the time that consent is meaningless in this world and there are no correct answers. Karkat comes in and despite being from a Fuckawful Situation, he's still principled enough to look around the Umbra and go "this situation is fucked." Everyone else is inured to it and lives with it. Karkat is the one to go "I see this as fucked up and I'm going to do something about it."

And what does he do about it? He kills two people in cold blood, one in self-defense, cuts off his own arm, singlehandedly alters the power in the underworld government, and topples the Umbra.

The arc of Karkat is that for the entire story, I want the audience to understand he's a good person. He cares about people. He'll sacrifice for what he thinks is right. He'll save Dave because its the right thing. He'll save Kanaya because its the right thing. We all know Karkat is a good person.

And then he goes out and does some Fucked Up Shit, all in the name of being a good person.

And that is why I think Karkat is hot. He'll kill Cronus with his bare claws and shoot Caliborn in the back and shoot Aranea in the front. He'll stand in the elevator and grin at Calliope because he's about to blow her kingdom down. But he's the good guy, right?

Life is complicated in KTOWL. And that is sexy.

Also his biceps are incredible.

ETA: THIS IS WHY sorry no one cares but THIS IS WHY Karkat's image song is "Put Your Money On Me" because its a song about love, but its the type of love that is more than a little scary. And that's Karkat. He's the weaponization of What Will You Do For Love.

[callmearcturus]

That ending was so damn good, so happy for davekat, super curious about what life would look like for dirkjake now but I’m most of all grinning about Rose’s end, that is so fucking satisfying

Rose really... was just so much.

Fun fact, the idea of doing a Rose POV chapter to open Act 3 was an eleventh hour decision. It was not in the original plan. But by the time I reached What Karkat Fucking Did and Rose showed up, I wanted to actually explore what she's going through, what it's like being in Abraxas, what it meant for her to lose absolutely everything, and the particular desolation she has.

Rose frankly is not a good person. She has done everything to survive and to get her revenge on the Umbra, and being able to position her on that fucking throne was so satisfying. Jake and Rose's relationship totally snuck up on me but its one of my favorites (along with Dirk and Karkat honestly).

One of my favorite things about the future of Rose is that... she is going to want to reach out to Kanaya now that it's safe to do so, but she's so bad at communication, it's going to be extremely hard. Meanwhile Kanaya is having a strange one-way palerom with Karkat, Karkat is her best friend, and Dave hangs out with her. And if he wanted, Karkat could probably fast-track the Kanaya-Rose reconciliation.

But because Karkat doesn't fucking like Rose, he absolutely will not. So she has to put in the work herself. That's, to me, incredibly funny. I like when characters Do Not Get Along and Rose completely blew her first impression with Karkat. IT'S FUN. LOVE IT.

[callmearcturus]

Gotta love how Jake became the anti-Calliope, thriving on and actively trying to enable more romantic toothrotting sweet moments between Karkat and Dave, where Calliope thrived on the misery of tearing them apart Lisa

To be fair, Calliope did enjoy Karkat and Dave getting together! She thought it was going to bring her a lot of vicarious enjoyment. But it gave Dave a place to be himself and to feel emotionally safe, so he was both more stable on his day to day (which to her is boring) and was more aware of how fucked up his situation is and was more willing to call Calliope out on it (which made her feel back and she didn't like that!) so that was an undercurrent through the whole thing, when Calliope started to feel left out and stopped having Fun.

JAKE THOUGH IS FASCINATING because like. Jake is a manipulative fuck just like Calliope is, but is not an emotional maximalist like the Cherubs are. He doesn't get off from that kind of thing, he mostly just wants to win. And has learned that the best way to do that is to position himself where his winning benefits the right people.

Also he adores his Striders.

I'm gonna be a shit and lay out one of my favorite things about Jake, and its how he handled Rose.

In Jake's chapter, his gran reminds him that he cannot trust Rose and that she will stab him in the back. He confirms he already knows this and is handling it. He does so in a huge way in the final chapter by giving Rose the Umbra. Now, he does it because

1. He does not want to run both Abraxas and the Umbra, that's no fun.

2. He likes the poetic justice. It feels good to give that to Rose! He likes a good story!

3. It declaws Rose's intentions to kill him. It's a calculated move. Rose has been resistant to Jake's sibling-like affection for her and how he routinely positions them in that relationship. It makes her hiss like a cat. But a genuine gesture like that, giving her something tangible and emotional that she never even thought she could have, that's not something Rose can just cat hiss at. So he's doing something nice! But also he's building a safety catch.

And if it wasn't obvious, Jake and Karkat are foils, and one of the main things they share is that their superpower is extreme emotional intelligence while surrounded by emotionally constipated idiots.

ANYWAY I LOVE ROSE AND JAKE that's all. jfc this went long.

[callmearcturus]

rose literally warned karkat that someone might ask him to do anything for dave holy SHIT

/CACKLES WILDLY

"Is this about Dave?" Karkat asked as he stood over the table.

"No," Rose said simply, taking a sip of her wine. "Why would it be?"

And it was in that moment Karkat realized he did not like this woman.

"But of course, to you, everything is," she went on, swirling her glass, the stem held between two fingers. "You should be very careful about that, the fact you would do anything for him."

There was the beginning of a growl coming loose in the base of his throat. He swallowed back against it. Maybe a drink would be a good idea. "Can't wait for you to tell me why."

"Because someday, someone might ask you to," she said, handing it to him with all the gravity of celestial divination.

in the biz we call that Hilariously Unsubtle Foreshadowing

[callmearcturus]

Will we get to see more of dirk and jake together in the epilogues? I love their dynamic in this story so so much,,, also congratulations on finishing it! I’ve been following your fics for years and they’re always such a delight to read! You’re very talented!!

(remember you can blocklist #swdktowl wrapup)

Oh absolutely. They do have a very Specific dynamic which I like to call "i'm the only motherfucker in this world who can handle you" x 2 combo

Thank you for reading, it's been an absolute joy to write.

[callmearcturus]

hey babes idk if its in the fic or not but which arm was karkats armband on in swdktowl?? thx

Karkat's right arm had his armband. His left hand has the cool scars.

[callmearcturus]

i gotta say i still do not know enough about whomstve to actually understand the dynamics etc in your fics but watching your writing process is fun as hell

...i feel like i pester you too much with these writing related asks. you're the most prolific writer i know and it's always impressive so i can't help myself sometimes but i can curtail it i promise

Lottie, never underestimate how fucking self-obsessed I am. I just put in SO MUCH intricacy and work into my writing, I wanna yell about it all the time. I am always here for talking about The Process and the little nuances. Makes me happy.

[callmearcturus]

How do you feel now that it’s over?

i took an hour nap and feel like i have, like, an emotional hangover? i'm excited to write some codas but also to have the story Complete for a while.

also i have a PILE of asks, but i'm not gonna touch them until tomorrow and i'll use #swdktowl wrapup so people can block that. 'cause it'll prob be a lot. XD