#there would be more homestuck stuff otherwise

[meraki-sunset]

so your crow strider au gave me inspiration for my own au, but i've built up the idea in my brain so much that now im scared to try to put it to paper (oops) did you ever deal with this while making crow strider? (and if you did, how you got over it would be much appreciated thanks fhdjks) also your art is cool :]

Hi, sure, i encountered a few blocks when writing CSAU and other projects. I think my method comes down to a couple rules

You need to know how the story ends from the start, so everything in the story leads to the end. Things can change about the contents of the story as you write it and you change your mind about the events that will transpire in it, but you need an end goal you can build your story towards. Most importantly, this is what allows you to add foreshadowing for said ending and structure the narrative in a clear direction. Otherwise, you might come up with a cool ending too late and regret some choices from past chapters that now don’t help this new ending you want

On that same note (and i’ll proceed to copy and paste from an old post) You need to have a Word document with a rough timeline of the events from start to finish. You need to know how it ends from the beginning and how they get there. It can be really, really vague, but it has to be there. It can go like

. They start the game, the trolls bother them.

.both games go to hell

.scratch

.trip, develop relationships

.new set of kids/teen drama

.old kids they get there

.to hell again

.John retcons everything

.new timeline

.they win

And that's homestuck simplified, Those are your Acts. With them, you will know where you're going and if you need to change something earlier. Everything will be constantly up to change of course, but you will be going from point A to point Z more easily.

From there, you go to every point in that list and create a Word document for all of them. I have them in different folders to have every act separated and in order.

A folder for each Doc for every Act, Numbered, and in each one make more lists like that one telling what happens, for example

WordDoc1 - ACT 1 "They start the game, the trolls bother them"=

.John needs to get his game

.introduce Rose

.introduce the trolls on pester chats

. John gets the game

.introduce Dave

.etc

And those are your chapters. Now you can know the extent of what you want to do and if it makes any sense.

I addition to that, every Folder can contain not only the Word document for the Act but also relevant texts and art that are connected to the Act, so evey folder is all about that specific act and any inspiration for it.

Another piece of advice I can give you is to hint at anything important. That's a rule of comedy; actually, the comedian usually closes the show with something related to the first things they said.

That works for everything, and makes people go, "Oh the thing! The meaningless thing they said earlier, it was a clue all along!"

Interconnect it like a web, and that web will stop the story from falling

Homestuck is so ridiculously interconnected that you lose track of the stuff and objects that repeat that have no way to be where they got to be, songs and people and events that are too similar to not be connected but nobody addresses, things like that make it feel like you're dealing with a universe and not just a line of events.

3. Yet another thing, it's something I'm still trying to assimilate, and is that less is more, sometimes things don't need to be said, specialy not bluntly, and an expression, a gesture, a flinch can summarize them. Backgrounds can be reduced, and ideas can be conveyed.

one example is, In homestuck, it's never said that Dave was raised with lack of food. He never sais it, but it's shown in how happy he was to find a warm bottle of juice in his closet, how there is only weapons on the kitchen and no sign of food, how he later sais he never learned what the purpose of a fridge was until he saw it on tv. If someone is lacking something, don't have them say, "i grew up without X thing" show what filled that space in the absence of X thing.

Instead of some character saying, "My dad was never there for christmas" have them say how they thrited for presents at the local goodwill, payed with their lawn mowing money and put the presents under the tree themselves for their siblings and mom.

4. Something that I always have in mind when writing the dialogs and sketching the scenes, is

"I have an idea; what's the easiest way for someone to get the idea, to get the feelings i want to transmit from the idea?" I made the art something I could handle drawing hundreds of times, simplified the coloring, the aspect symbols, the way I draw backgrounds, the way I write dialogs, etc.

That will save you time and work and could prevent you from getting stuck with a project too big to handle

5. This is the most important one: The first draft’s only purpose is to exist.

Writing is like playing darts sometimes; you only get closer to hitting the center by missing it and learning what not to do. That’s an actual rule on animation and a motto on the Disney office. “Get it wrong as quick as you can,” because when you learn what you’re doing wrong is when you start learnign what doing it right means.

If it helps, title your first draft “the dumb version,” because that’s what it is—the version to get the idea out of your head, and then you built over it.

On the same note, once you write "the dumb version" don’t correct it. Rewrite it. It’s annoying, I know, i know, but fixing and fixing a text only carries the mistakes from the first draft, and everything looks kind of disconnected, because it ends up being a Frankenstein text of all the versions of the story mixed together.

This also applies to art; that’s how I handle both writing and drawing; if it’s not working, hold onto the core idea, new page, restart.

Rewriting it puts it in perspective; it feels like a text of its own, with a clear intent in mind.

I think that’s all I have. Making a story is mostly about managing your strengths and weaknesses, organizing and not being scared of it not being perfect.

Hope this helps.

[moominmanoneandonly]

Got to make cookies with my partners and friends. It took over 4 hours and a lot of stress but everything turned out alright. That said i got to try making some actual transformers gingerbreads.

(I tried making Breakdown,my gf made homestuck)

(It was supose to be megasound)

Sadly breakdown bo0bs turned out to be to heavy

Rest in peace my love (...fuck i just realised it kinda looks like what happend to him in canon..PRIMUS DAMN YOU!)

A beautifull group effort.

[imsopopfly]

Well, luckily for you, we have over a thousand of them, and we’re posting more every day

Edit: oops reblogged to my main blog. Gonna leave this here so it’s easier to find and reblog it to the right one

-in Saradush-

Nalia: I can’t believe it’s snowing! How lovely!

Jaheira: No, that’s ash.

Nalia: Oh, that makes more sense.

[zoppa682]

I am a therian who fully identifies as non human. The ONLY part of me that is human is my physical vessel, otherwise I am not human at all. Because of this, I have kinsidered fictionkin many times in the past, and every time I have, I pushed it aside since the characters I were kinsidering were human when I don't feel human at all. That was until it occurred to me: both the characters I am kinsidering are characters I headcanon as therians. Therfore, it would still make sense for me to feel nonhuman. So now I have been kinsdering them all over again.

I could not find much info online since all the info about fictionkins I found was past life stuff. I personally do not belive in the multiverse (I find it a cool concept and respect anyone who does), and I don't feel like I had a past life as any characters at all. Because of this, I came to the fictionkins, nunhumans, and alterhumans of tumblr.

I am kinsedering two characters. I will post here my experiences with both.

Jade Harley

Well, from the time I first got into Homestuck I always said "She is literally me!" And it always felt far more serious than just a fun joke. I feel so connected to Jade in so many ways. I really sometimes feel like her. My friends even call me Jade for fun, but it feels more serious to me, and I am happy going by the name. I relate to her a ton, for example, not just my therianthropy headcanon, but also her personality (both good and bad), her mannerisms, and even down to the way she types with the emoticons. Maybe that's not enough to mean anything, though.

It gets a little more complicated with the second character.

Mayra Tikuna

Mayra is a character from The Post Traumatic Manifesto by vocaloid artist Weevildoing. My Weevildoing hyperfixation only started about a week ago (on December 20th, when the series ended), but I knew their music and was a part of their fan base for way longer.

From the first time I heard Taxidermy Girl, something felt extremely off about it, in a good way I mean. I am not joking when I say I listened to it 10-15 times in a row after hearing it, trying to determine what it was I felt. I couldn't tell if it was the oddly haunting melody, or the fact that I heavily relate to the song, but either way, it stuck with me a lot even before I began to actually hyperfixate on the series.

I am in countless fandoms, and within every fandom, I have a favorite character that I will go crazy at the mention of, and my obsession with them always seems so exaggerated to others. Out of all the fandoms I have been in, there are only ever very few where I have related to the characters this much, and only ever these two characters have i felt THIS attached to in this context.

Because of how much I, once again, relate to the character in many ways (Again with the ties to therianthropy, the character's gender identity, their negative experiences, etc.), I have kinsedered him as a kintype. Though, I am unsure if it is too soon to tell. It's only been a little over a week, but I still feel as though something is stirring up here.

What do you all think? If there is any guidance or advice you can give me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Anyone who reads this far, have a wonderful day :3

(Also, go support Weevildoing, their music is incredible and has helped me through struggling with horrible intrusive thoughts many times)

[paper-mario-wiki]

Your Trollsona is such a damn cool concept! I love the sheer insanity that the RPS unfolds into and I gotta ask, how does their Captchalogue and Fetch Modi work? Those are always another fun bonus way characters quirks are shown

Not quite!

The Sylladex object recovery and creation system is COMPLETELY separate from the RPS system.

Total mastery of the RPS fractal would be DESTRUCTIVELY OVERPOWERED, considering if you knew exactly how each object interacts with the other, you'd be able to instantly resolve any conflict with a single action no matter what. But this is near impossible because the RPS catalogue accounts for all possible concepts, not all possible objects. This is why a double-sided barcode is used instead of the typical hole punch system. You can't captchalogue a kick in the nose, after all.

Each line in the barcode represents a single binary digit. With each digit added, the amount of possible values goes up exponentially. Within only 10 lines in the barcode, 1024 values are possible. But what's even MORE exponentially gigantic is having it be double sided, because then it squares itself instead of just doubling itself. So a two-sided ticker tape with 10 bars on each side would be 1024^2, or 1,048,576 different values. And that's with a code that fits within the circumference of a nickel.

However, if you refer back to the gif with the ticker in it:

That's WAY more than a nickel's length.

And that’s an absolute necessity, because every possible concept must be accounted for. The system is pretty fucking wildly, multiversally, insanely gigantic. Hence the need for extremely dense data to get anywhere.

And even then, the bar code doesn’t actually grant you access to the item that its value represents. The only thing it does get you is access to all relative values, or everything that interacts with that object in a meaningful way. The RPS Chart acts as a gigantic excel spreadsheet which catalogs and calculates how one thing could reasonably negate, counteract, subvert, or otherwise destroy another thing, and vice versa.

You can't just KNOW where something is on a fractal, you have to find it. Like how theoretically you could find every single number combination within the digits of pi, but you'd still have to go looking for it.

Imagine it like playing the Wikipedia game, where you can only get from one place to another by clicking through links on pages, except instead of words with context on a screen, it’s dozens to thousands of arbitrary binary digits. The longer the code, the more quantumly hyper-specific the item.

You're going to have a lot easier of a time finding "cup of water" than you are "Betty McLaughlin's Red Diary From 1997".

This is why Kippyr has to spend as much time studying it as they do, because navigating through the chart with any amount of grace would take several human lifetimes to accomplish. However, with the Seer of Mind classpect, as well as their countless hours of diligent observation and experimentation with the chart, Kippyr is able to gracefully navigate through the fractals with the instinctual finesse of a sea turtle in an underwater slipstream.

NOW. Onto the topic of a Fetch Modus.

Kippyr is a slow adopter of it. Fetch modi are not a necessary element in the Homestuck world’s set of natural laws. For the majority of their life, Kippyr'd prefer to just use their satchel and pockets to carry all their stuff around. But as they progress further into Sgrub, and their session becomes more demanding and complex, they’d eventually develop one that works seamlessly with the RPS system:

The RPS Modi. The way it works is simple: Just throw the shape of the object which would beat the object you’re looking for. If you wanted Rock, you’d throw Paper, if you wanted Paper you’d throw Scissors, and if you wanted Scissors you’d throw Rock.

Simple! Just don't forget the hand shapes :^]

[nirogryphon]

My commissions are open again! Doing this one person at a time, so as not to stress myself out and overwhelm myself.

contact me via dms here or on either of my twitter accounts if interested, and if wanted we can move to discord too. I'll only give that out in dms though.

Info below cut

Prices are in USD.

Busts: +$10

Sketch/Lineart: +$10

Half-body: +$15

Flat colors: +$15

Full-Body: +$20

Shaded: +$20

Background addition: +$10

Additional characters: +50% per character, not including background (EX: $40 shaded bust, +$30 for two more characters)

animations (simple loops/sequences only): 2-5x price based on complexity and length of loop or sequence. max detail of flat colors only, backgrounds not included.

Will do: Furries, mecha/bots, humans, monsters, nsfw (18+ only, dm for details), mild/moderate horror or gore

Won't do: incest, pedophilia, zoophilia, rape, typical immoral stuff along those lines, homestuck, south park, certain kinks/fetishes (again, dm for details)

turn around time is about 1-2 days, variable. depends on my schedule. I have one slot at a time, so as not to overwork myself. Payment will be completed only via paypal, and will not be accepted in other forms whatsoever. this is non-negotiable. I will only send the HD picture only after payment is completed fully, which payment can be done whenever, but I prefer payment once I tell you it is done. Progress pictures are done throughout the process to gauge how you would like the picture to be completed and to tweak as needed. I have any and all right to refuse service or cancel your commission if at any point you treat me in a way I do not like, or if I am uncomfortable with what you are asking me to do. Upon payment being completed and you receiving your art, payment is finalized, and you are unable to receive any refunds. The reason I ask for no payment until completion before sending the image is so you do not have to be out of money if at any point you are unsatisfied with my service. Please be patient with me, I am slow and awkward about communication with strangers. I ask that if it is an OC that you provide a reference image with a color swatch to pick from, otherwise I will devise my own colors that while trying to be similar as possible, will have a chance to be deviant of what you have set.

if something isn't listed in this post that you're curious, or if you would like a quote on how much something would be for the future, do not be afraid to ask via DMS.

[davekat-sucks]

Its not often I participate in online arguments... or ever... but just this once, I'll throw my hat in the ring. You right, DaveKat is not a good ship at all. I'm a new Homestuck reader (currently at page 4488). I'll never ever get into the sequel stuff of Homestuck bc of the horror stories I've heard of it but even then, when I heard DaveKat as a ship I was like, "Huh??? That's a ship??? and its popular??????" because I don't see the vision. Dave and Karkat have no chemistry like what is their relationship like?? Karkat going on his millionth rant that day and Dave pissing on him for it like??? AND there isn't any build up to it to which I heard it was forced upon. Like for what? For what purpose?? But you know what I do like? DaveJade. I'm a big DaveJade fan. Not only do they have a lot of chemistry but like their dynamic, the contrast between the silliness of Jade and the cool guy Dave is SO fun and SO SO cute. Also Also, Dave and Jade's relationship just feels so real to me. Like I think Jade is like the only person Dave really enjoys talking with other than y'know, Rose and John. iirc (bc its been a while since I continued reading HS) the only time Dave smirked while talking to someone was with Jade on page 382 (which I only found out ta'day :0) and no doubt in my mind Dave was excited to meet Jade when she finally got into the medium and helped her out finding the frogs on her planet. I also think that Jade would be a very supportive figure for Dave givin his insecurities about himself, that at least she thinks Dave is very cool even when he thinks otherwise. Another thing, Jade did not have to go out there dressed all fancy n crap like for who you so fancy for? DAVE OBVIOUSLY!!! Also seeing art of Dave trying so hard to keep his cool around Jade is so cute and funny DaveJade is just so CUTE GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love DaveJade :)

Also I ship Karkat and Terezi bc they have a very funny dynamic lol (I think what sold me on DaveJade was this album art from Vol 8 LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE!!!!)

Dave and Jade could really help and support each other. Jade wants to see the outside world and gain connections with people as Dave learns to open himself more and know he can be vulnerable at times with those he care for so that he can have confidence to still be strong and cool in his own way. Both of them can be out to do whatever they want together. If not just them, then with friends too. See the world they have never saw before when they were stuck at home (get it? Cuz Homestuck lmao). I think some of the Homestuck pairings was suppose to be this. Couples that not only have great chemistry, but also ones that can help grow and mature as people for the new universe they would eventually live in. And it's that support that would soon lead to be with their friends to rise and stand up whatever is facing them. It's why DaveJade works. I don't see it working with Davekat. Most fanon I see has them kind of stationary. Never changing to be something else. Even now, they are just depicted as people that stay the same and too nervous to grow out from their comfort zone.

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @vaamiel  |  AO3: vaamiel

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Interview with Vaamiel

Vaamiel and Dema talk artistic development, childhood anime obsessions (-cough-Naruto-cough), and hoping to see Dorian in DA4

Dema: So, I know you take commissions, but have you done many exchanges before? Any Big Bangs?

Vaamiel: I've done a handful of exchanges over the years, but nothing really substantial. No big bangs either - though I've certainly read enough fics and seen enough art that others have done, haha. I'm sort of just... dipping my toes into the world of fanart for the first time since I was a teenager, so even though I've been drawing for ages, a lot of this is completely new territory for me.

Dema: Oh that is awesome! Welcome to the bang! What led you to return to fanart?

Vaamiel: I think a combination of a couple things: confidence in my own ability plays a big part of it – it's really intimidating to draw characters that I love so much and translating them into my style has always been difficult – but this past year is also the first time I've been really passionate about a game in... well, about a decade, and I think that's led to more experimentation and willingness to stick to learning subject matter that I otherwise struggle with. Mostly, Dragon Age coming back and Baldur's Gate 3 being out at the same time really pushed me back into the world of wanting to participate in fandom from more than the sidelines.

Dema: I really love your work. Artist to artist, how did you develop that confidence and style expression? What has that journey looked like for you?

Vaamiel: Thank you so much! It's funny actually, because the way I draw now has kind of... always been my style? It's just my technique and understanding of fundamentals that has improved. I can look back through my childhood sketchbooks and go, this was for SURE made by the same person, haha. As a kid I was all about anime and comics and games – particularly early gamecube and xbox stuff that relied on very stylized graphics to compensate for the technology. All of those things really saturated my brain and effectively became super tied to my own understanding of art and artistry and how I wanted to make art.

I've tried to emulate other styles or artists' techniques over the years, but (and I think this ties back to why I struggle with fanart) my own voice is so strong in my work that it really took all the joy out of creating. I've learnt over time that my personal art evolution is all about small changes and improvements, rather than trying to force ideas or ability through radical stylistic changes. Basically, I draw what I like and add things here or there as I come across something that I think would fit organically into my own style. That's been things like brushes or expressions or even the way I structure my sketches - all things that are small but can make a big difference in the overall picture. Add to that how my confidence has improved as my actual ability has improved, I think I've really organically grown into being better able to wrangle my style and apply that to fanart, original art, et cetera.

Dema: So now I do have to ask what fanart you were making as a kid and high-schooler? (I was a Sailor Moon kid. Sailor Scouts for ALL the most obscure celestial bodies one can imagine 😂)

Vaamiel: Hah! oh no 😂I was CRAZY about Naruto as a kid - actually, the first fanfiction I ever read was Naruto fanfiction. Then after that it was Homestuck, Inuyasha, Steven Universe, Pokemon, Dragon Age/Mass Effect... not necessarily in that order! I wish I was a Sailor Moon kid to be honest – would be WAY cooler than admitting I was a Naruto kid!

Dema: Inuyasha!!!!

Vaamiel: YES!

Dema: To be fair I am older than you by a pretty big margin LOL, I probably would have been a Naruto kid as well.

Vaamiel: LOL fair enough! It was in just the right time slot on cable when I was about...9 that the 4kids dub formed the foundation of my entire personality from that point onward.

Dema: So cute! Was there a particular moment that got you into Dragon Age fanwork?

Vaamiel: So, for my own work, I think it was the trailer last Dragon Age day and then in… January of this year or so, replaying Origins that had the cup finally spill over and I sat down and started making fanart. It was like my love for the series hit critical mass and with Veilguard coming up, it felt like the perfect time to actually try to make it work, you know? When it comes to appreciating Dragon Age fanart as a fan, it was two creators from tumblr that did it. Crystalvfae did a series of fanart that fundamentally altered my brain chemistry (I still look back on their painting of Morrigan and sigh sometimes - it is SO good). Then I found Spicyshimmy and was never the same. Their Anders/Hawke work is so special and got me into reading fanfiction voraciously in general. It totally reignited my love for reading and was the thing that got me into AO3!

Dema: Is there any specific bit of Veilguard that has you most excited? Or are you mostly avoiding spoilers?

Vaamiel: I am SO all in on all the Veilguard content honestly. I love trying to pick little bits out of the trailers and stills we've gotten so far and make connections to the lore/put together potential plot theories. I think I'm so excited for all of it? Like, I'm just ready to get back into the world of Thedas itself and experience a cool new story. Of course, I do love the graphical upgrade and all the locations we've seen so far and the costuming!! It's really all been exactly what I've been wanting. Also seeing Dorian again. That's probably pretty up there too.

Dema: Yes! Man. I cannot believe how cool Minrathous is. Dorian tried to tell us, but I am still flabbergasted.

Vaamiel: He was right!! All along!!! We really were in a different century.

Dema: As far as the current collaboration process goes, how are you feeling? Are the ideas percolating? Are the sketches sketching?

Vaamiel: Yes! I feel amazing about the partnership I've got!! I've got some scenes that I've got some sketches going for already – as soon as I read my fic I could see exactly where I wanted to take the art. The atmosphere is so good and the writing lends itself perfectly to the kind of pieces that I love to make. I'm really, really excited to be creating for this fic and collaboration!

Dema: I am delighted to hear that, we cannot wait to see what everyone creates!

Vaamiel: That was Very Difficult to be appropriately vague for haha - it really is an absolute delight to be working with my partners and I can't wait to talk about this fic and the art I'm making for it.

Dema: It is soooo hard to ask questions that are not POINTED hahahahaha, as someone on the inside who knows everyone's matches. You get an A+

Vaamiel: Yay!!!! I’m glad I was able to keep things appropriately mysterious 😌

Dema: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today, it has been super fun!

Vaamiel: Absolutely! Thank you so much for hosting this interview and all the work you've put in for this event!! This has been a blast!

[krash-and-co]

haven't done this in a while, so here !! l&co as stuff I've heard/said in the past few months, bc I don't remember exact exchanges before then 👍👍

arguably more unhinged for reasons unknown. fate of Gods favorite clown idk

Lucy: I thought Billie Joe Armstrong went to the moon for a long time, honestly.

~

Lucy: [calling Barnes] there's a stranger at our house. she tried really hard to get in, and--

Lockwood, in the distance: we broke all the stranger danger rules.

Lucy: we broke all the stranger danger rules.

~

Holly: Lockwood, you have the coolest style.

Lockwood: thanks!

Lucy: what?!? she just tells me I look gay.

Lucy: and homeless.

~

holly: I want to help disabled kids ride a tricycle. wait, I meant to say horses.

lockwood: you want to help disabled horses ride a tricycle??????

~

Lucy: I don't have mommy issues I just don't like my mom.

~

Lucy: you gave me a framed photo for my birthday

Lucy: and within thirty minutes you stepped on it.

Lockwood: but then I bought you a new frame!!!

Lucy: and then I opened it, and it looked like you stepped on it.

Lockwood: well I'm not buying you another one.

~

skull: ugh, theyre so obsessed with how they look.

lucy, nodding: yeah, they're all "oh I'm so perfect!" preps. they definitely shave their legs.

~

Lockwood: I need to work on my swearing problem, cuz there are adults around and they don't li-- *drops thermos* ow FUCK

~

Lockwood: shut the windows. shut the fucking windows, I feel like we're being watched.

Lucy: hahaha, this is fucking terrifying.

Lockwood: here are the knives.

Holly: do you have any baseball bats? I don't want to stab people.

George: no, but we have crutches. we can hit people with them.

Holly, nodding: that's good.

~

Lockwood: I'm stupid.

Kipps: no you're not- yes you are. I don't know why I said you're not, so I had to correct myself.

~

holly: if we kill someone, we'll get in.... trouble.

~

George: shit!! I mean fuck!!! I mean crap!!!

Lucy, hitting him repeatedly: stop CURSING YOU FUCKING-- DANG IT!!!!!

~

Holly: do you ever get the urge to be randomly violent, like-

[loud clatter as lockwood and kipps beat each other up in the background]

holly: yeah like that.

~

Kipps, on searching for Bobby: I used to just grab any kid I saw about his height with brown hair, but that caused problems.

~

Lucy: what's your biggest fear?

Lockwood: what? spiders.

Lucy: no the other one

Lockwood: change.

Lucy: no the-- the other one.

George: what do you WANT FROM HIM-

~

lucy: you're going to make me have a gambling addiction.

skull, nodding: that's the idea.

~

George: pff my mom says im special.

Lockwood: im also special! they put me in classes about it.

[Lockwood and George burst out laughing while everyone else stares]

~

[Lucy and George are punching each other, screaming, and spewing out profanity in sign language]

George: literally nobody even looked up

Lucy: we're at the point where it's normal

George: yeah, haha!

Lucy: haha!

[a moment of heavy breathing and grinning before they begin fucking attacking each other again]

~

George, to Lucy: ugh im so sore. why do you keep punching me.

[Lucy punches him]

~

ok last one but this was a hell of a fucking convo and it was so funny everyone just jumped in with random twists 😭😭

[kipps crew, l&co, and flo are all sitting in barnes otherwise empty office]

George: kipps sounds terminally online, but I can't figure out yet if it's the normal kind or if he has. like. a kin list.

Lucy: the two extremes. normal or homestuck.

George: I read all of homestuck but it's okay I'm normal now

skull: im-

lucy: skull YOU'RE terminally online, but like the video gamer kind. kipps sounds like he had a my hero academia phase.

Lockwood: I was friends with someone who would roleplay mha all the time.

George: like pretend to have powers or something?

Lockwood: no, like pretend to be the characters. interact as them.

bobby: I don't roleplay, but I like to imagine I'm a different person with powers sometimes :)

ned: ha, furry.

flo: furry? one of my friends knows a furry who got her tail stolen, and she's in the office right now.

Lockwood: like today??

flo: yeah today. she's there right now.

Lockwood: [silence] oh.

flo: yeah they just. yoink.

[silence]

bobby: .....im not a furry but--

Lucy: aaaand gonna stop you right there before you make things worse for yourself

kat: why can't we EVER have normal conversations

[kozzax]

Homestuck and Aromanticism: A Discussion

I think it's time we talk about the way Homestuck treats aromantic people, both explicitly and implicitly.

Though I personally have a lot of fun talking about my aromantic headcanons for Homestuck characters, there is very little support in the text for the vast majority of them. In fact, there is clear evidence that the narrative would object to such an interpretation of its characters. Homestuck is a story filled with queer characters, but there is a notable dearth of aromanticism within its text.

There are, arguably, two aromantic characters in the entirety of Homestuck. One of them is explicitly aromantic, the other is very heavily discussed in ways that reference the aromantic experience. I am talking, of course, about Calliope and Jake English respectively.

Neither of them serves as a good representation for aromanticism.

Calliope's aromanticism is confirmed in the epilogues. In Meat Chapter 6, we get this passage:

You weren’t prepared to get passively hit on by the Definitely Not Legal version of a girl you used to have a crush on at the age she was when you first met her, only a few hours after you watched the Actually Legal version of her engage in passionate hand-holding with her possibly aromantic skeleton alien monster girlfriend.

This is the only time the word 'aromantic' is said in the entirety of Homestuck, epilogues and dubious canon included. Rather than being discussed as an identity that Calliope associates herself with, it is included on a list of modifiers regarding her status as Roxy's girlfriend. A list that, otherwise, is made up of exclusively terms that emphasize her lack of humanity and otherness.

Given how Calliope's queerness is treated in the Epilogues, it is safe to assume that the term aromantic was used here in that same vein. They are aromantic, and thus are distanced from their humanity. It is worth noting that the terms are of an increasing level of otherness-- skeletons can be vaguely human, aliens can be sentient, monster implies a lack of personhood. Aromantic is the first part of this list. There is a quiet implication that aromantic people are a subsect of humans that aren't quite human.

Their aromanticism is never brought up again. It is never an obstacle in their relationship with Roxy, is never something the narrative addresses the nuances of or the difficulties of. Instead, it exists as exclusively a modifier on their position as a girlfriend. Their position within a romantic relationship, never discussed with nuance again.

It is a part of who they are exclusively to other them. It is not an inherent aspect of who they are, it is not an identity they consider important, it is not something brought up when their queerness is questioned by the narrative. It only exists to other them, and by extension to other aromantic people as a whole.

What about the other aromantic character, then?

What about Jake English?

Many things can be said about Jake English and aromanticism. He reads, to me as an aromantic person, as incredibly aromantic in nature. Every time his romantic troubles are brought up, I am more convinced of his aromanticism.

He was not intended to be aromantic initially. This, I am fairly certain of. I don't think Hussie knew aromanticism existed at the point Jake was being written.

That being said, there is one piece of evidence to suggest that it is possible Hussie knew the term and was referencing it with Jake:

JAKE: But yeah thats pretty much what the doctor ordered for old jake english. No romantic stuff. No platonic stuff either! JAKE: Ill be like... Mr nonrom sansplat... Or... Oh horsenoodles there has to be terminology that more effectively consolidates my present understanding of myself into a coherent identity i can get enthusiastic about.

This is also the first passage that many people associate with Jake being aromantic. Unfortunately, in context, it is not so simple. Within the context of this conversation, this is Jake putting himself down and abstaining from relationships with the people around him because he hates himself. It is not framed as a sudden bout of self-acceptance, but rather as a regression into his worst traits.

It is walked back moments later, when Tavrosprite suggests making new friends who won't be so difficult to get along with.

The idea that someone wouldn't be interested in romance is framed as nothing more than self-hatred and self-destructive action. Where other queer identities are respected by the text, aromanticism is ridiculed.

Jake's romantic difficulties are framed as the butt of the joke consistently, as is Jake himself. He is consistently sexualized and infantalized by the narrative that surrounds him. He is not allowed to speak for himself and be trusted on his speech.

Despite all of this, he reads as aromantic. He avoids discussing romantic topics, he is apathetic to whoever he gets in a relationship with, it feels like his relationship with Dirk is him trying to recreate that which he sees in his movies. The action hero he is determined to turn himself into always has a romantic partner.

Assuming he is aromantic, he is consistently placed next to his romantic partner and consistently made the butt of the joke. In the Epilogues, he ends one having been mind controlled into loving a man romantically so much that he's having a mental breakdown and the other having been in a dead-end marriage for his entire life trying desperately to raise a son he didn't want.

Assuming he is not aromantic, the only aromantic character in Homestuck is Calliope. Aromanticism is framed as self destructive through Jake and dehumanizing through its only mention, and is only ever framed within the context of the aromantic character being in a romantic relationship.

In either case, it is clear that Homestuck is not a story that treats aromantic people kindly. It is not a story that believes we exist, nor is it a story that is willing to engage with us. Despite that, it is a story that uses us and our experiences to emphasize characters' lack of humanity and agency in their own lives.

There is more I could say on this topic, and I will do so eventually, but I do not have the time to consolidate it all at the moment. It just... frustrates me, that romance is so heavily featured in Homestuck and queerness is so often celebrated in Homestuck, and yet its only usage of aromanticism is consistently negative in nature.

I love this comic. I love this story, and these characters. And yes, I do love the epilogues and postcanon. But I am also aromantic. I love my aromantic identity. It would be a disservice to myself and to my fellow aromantic Homestuck fans not to bring this discussion to the table.

[xx-shotgunenema-xx]

this is my new homestuck centric sideblog, dm me for my age if you really must

my base account is @dr-goatman, so you may see likes from there

warnings: i just reblog anything i see and like. this may or may not include gore, angst, nsfw, or otherwise 'icky' topics [its fiction tho so get the stick outta ur ass, im not gonna argue with you more than likely]

IF YOU DO NOT LIKE, JUST BLOCK AND MOVE ON FFS

now onto my about me B =o33

cody || cal

my pronouns are it/its

derse, prince of blood

im new-ish to the wider fandom!

my favs to think/talk/reblog stuff about are

- the striders, especially bro and dirk

- jade, shes just like me fr! [sleepy and autistic]

- the beta trolls

- kankri vantas [#me and my bitch wife kankri vantas is for him]

i LOVE music so much, i am listening to music a good majority of the time. i will get annoyed about out-of-character playlists, enough so that i will make my own

[no bro strider would not listen to lemon demon and cavetown, wtf r u on about???? i genuinely saw both of those in a playlist for him, why]

i make trollsonas, kidsonas and otherwise homestuck OCs, and i *might* post the art ive made for them. probably not tho

im kinda a dick, and very sarcastic, if you dont like that then heed this warning and dont interact

I HAVE NO DNI, HOWEVER I WILL BLOCK IF I DEEM IT NECESSARY

[doyouremem8erme]

asks for tomorrow when you are in (point emoji) The Car

what are your biggest inspirations for your ocs and the stories you want to tell?

if you could have absolute control over any book being adapted to film, what book would you choose and how would you adapt it? if you don't have a book choose something else

what is the sexiest car

1. i think the biggest thing is preexisting stories whether music or other works. but also various times in my life that i feel nostalgia for or that otherwise really affected me. and finally relationships that transcend boundaries of platonic/romantic and even fate and lifetimes.

for academy of bad cats, the biggest inspirations for the way the story is told are sparklecare and matilda. but the story itself is still very much at least very loosely based on real events

liminaland is a bit of an outlier since its much more rooted in aesthetics than my other stories, but it did have inspiration from infinity train and a bit from amphibia. and the relationship between the main characters is certainly one of those relationships transcending expectations of platonic and romantic attraction.

the world of light was very inspired by various songs by sleeping at last—the “light” in the title comes from light, which inspired the very first short story i wrote in that setting—melius’s story, which establishes the timeloop and the doomed romance between him and mahina. its still quite funny to me how closely the plot of world of light resembles homestuck despite being put together years before i ever read it, and the fact that the timeloop was created by a character literally originally named akemi before i renamed her to atsuko to stop it from resembling pmmm, which i also hadnt watched and knew almost nothing about at that point! bigger inspirations for the world of light were the sajana/bayala books by gecko keck, and the wolves of the beyond books.

other minor characters i have are usually based around a very specific theme song or concept. sarah and ben are based on the plans album by death cab for cutie, from their designs to their story to their names. phoebe and mara started out as designs i was given based on moodboards i made, and their stories grew entirely out of those designs.

2. hmmmm well before the wildwood movie was even announced as being made by laika that was already my ideal vision for an adaptation and i am sooo excited for it to come out… the laika style complements carson ellis’s illustrations sooo well

but since that one is already happening! i think an anime movie of escaping exodus by nicki drayden would be absolutely beautiful… the visuals in it already feel like if studio ghibli was gorey body horror i think itd work so well

also i know it would never happen and if it did happen it would not be to the vision of fans. but… animated warrior cats movie… hot take lowkey would be kinda fire if they actually USED that realistic 3d animation style for it. like the fandom is so so full of talented 2d animators that create so much incredible stuff on their own but 3d is harder to pull off well on a low budget. and seeing those books brought to life like that would be insanely cool. ofc it would be way too violent for the target audience of the books but if we are simply talking dream scenarios…thatd be so cool. and it would be cool if it was 2d animated too! they both have their pros and cons.

finally another that i know would never be done well but i would still want to see so goddamn bad would be. homestuck movie series. they could probably pull it off in 6 movies at the most and ive talked abt how it could be split up before… i think it should be slightly cheesy live action. like a little bit campy with intentionally dated cgi especially within the medium. faithful to the original comic but perhaps adding in some more modern references… imagine if they were able to get some of the iconic homestuck fandom songs for it. what if lets see how far weve come played in the end credits of one of the movies. i had a wholeass dream abt this once. and i wish it was real so fucking bad. but i know it never will happen

3. i dont know enough about cars to answer this sorry…

[swifty-fox]

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬!

thank you @antiquitea for the tag! ✨ sorry I made u feel oldTM

tagging in @bucking-mustangs-with-wings @bitchsister @sig-nifier and @avonne-writes!

questions and responses under the read more to save your dashboards 😉

how many works do you have on ao3?

only eleven!!

what's your total ao3 word count?

115,430 (and most of that is probably kfak and one old guard fic lol)

what fandoms do you write for?

Currently only for Masters of the Air but I've also written for The Old Guard (my bewoved)

and wolfstar and aftg but i wont touch those again for various reasons lol

top five fics by kudos

my kingdom for a kiss upon your shoulder - Buck x Bucky (Masters of the Air) 528 kudos

Make Me A Saint - Joe x Nicky (The Old Guard) 448 Kudos

press your tired hands against my lips darling - Buck x Bucky (Masters of the Air) 432 Kudos

Little Beast - Buck x Bucky (Masters of the Air) 368 Kudos

The Calcification of a God - Joe x Nicky (The Old Guard) 294 Kudos

do you respond to comments?

yesss i try to respond to every single comment. After the first 48 hours of a fic/chapter being posted I do get lazy with it but I do get around to everyone eventually!

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

In another life maybe you and i will be walking down the aisle in white (The Old Guard (Movie 2020)) (18,264 words) lol It's got MCD in it cause I was #coping after losing my grandmother. It was really well received though

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uhhhmaaaa....Kfak WILL be?? probably????? Or Little Beasts AU but im so far out from finishing that. The first two endings are pretty emotionally ambiguous I wouldn't quite call them happy.....so maybe

Oh Captain, My Captain! (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) (1,612 words) (wolfstar) even though its angsty and kinda implying Remus is dying lmfao

do you get hate on fics?

I got like one comment on a recent chapter that I wasn't sure was hate but otherwise no not really! People seem to receive my stuff really well

do you write smut?

LOL if you asked me four months ago I would have said no <3

craziest crossover?

I don't really do or read crossovers! I did a few years ago start concepting a Wolfstar x Eastern Promises au though

have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope! I've had art stolen though. Someone even got it tattooed without my permission which pissed me off pretty bad lol

have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yeah I have lol. I orphaned it though cause the fellow author and I had a massive falling out over Peter fucking Steele of all things

all time favorite ship?

Always and forever Malec from The Mortal Instruments (BOOK ONLY) or DaveKat (Homestuck)

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I started a really fucking awesome supernatural horror that took place in rural Maine for Wolfstar as well as actually a Fae/WWII au (inspired by the Bastogne episode of BOB) that I will not be finishing for... reasons.

The ringing in Remus’ ears is so loud he almost doesn’t hear Sirius. There’s a sharp pain on his tongue, rot and muck coating his taste buds. He cannot breathe, his hands shake. He thinks he may be making a noise. In his head there is a voice. His mothers his voice except he doesn't have a mother does he? Not since he was seventeen and whole. His mother’s voice crooning in his ear as she once did around the green 1960’s kitchen.

There’s a bird who sits on a tower. There’s a bird who sits on a tower - who sits on a tower, with beady eyes so clever.

Where did that scar come from?

“А bird who sits on a tower…” He mutters. 

“Pardon?” Sirius asks, snapping Remus out of his thoughts. 

He starts. 

The cabin is up ahead, peeking between the snowy trees like a warm wooden refuge and even at the sight of it Remus feels an uncurling of nerves in his gut. His flesh settles back onto his bones and the ringing eases back to a manageable level. He watches a sodden bloody bee drag her dying body across the dashboard. 

“Cults...you were saying?” - Factis ut credam facis

-

“Hello there Sir Raven.” He says with a chuckle “I don’t suppose you’re one of the King’s are you? Or Churchill perhaps. That would be quite a long way to travel.” 

Sirius puffs up his feathers and clacks his beak at the Man because even though he didn’t quite understand what the Man meant, he knew a compliment when he heard one. Bravely, he hops closer, the warnings of his parents and even of James ringing in his ears. But the shiny thing is dangling free and curious from the Man's neck and he must know what it is. 

“Haha. What a handsome fellow, handsome indeed. Much more well fed than we all are.” The Man laughs, setting aside his Paper and rummaging around in his Clothes. “Still, I bet pickings are getting a bit slim nowadays, even for a clever old Raven. Have you had digestives before?” 

He holds out a hand, nearly as large as Sirius himself and as elegant and pretty as the branches of a willow. All of the Man was like a tree, sharp lines and slightly less sharp curves. There was something in his hand, sweet-smelling and crumbly. Sirius turns his head first one way then the other, regarding the hand with both beady eyes as the warnings of his people ring in his ears. James' voice be careful plays at the forefront and he shakes out his wings in irritation. Man would catch him. Man would hurt him. Capture him and take him away never to be seen again like his Uncle Alphard. Man did not understand magic and magic did not like Man and so Sirius too, did not like Man. Men who burned and tore apart forests, who killed his kinfolk and killed animals and killed each other. And really, Sirius just wanted to understand. It could not be this man, with his quiet words and his offer of food who had destroyed his people. Surely there were other men, cruel men, who had done this and so it would be okay for Sirius to be brave and a little bold. 

“That’s a handsome old boy.” The Man whispers. 

Well that does it then, surely no evil Man would notice how beautiful I am. He must be like my other man with the Paper. Sirius thinks, leaping into the air just long enough to snatch the prize from the Man’s hand and retreat far enough away to devour the sweet treat with his clever beak. It was delicious, dry and crumbly and so sweet that it makes him shiver. He hops boldly onto the Man’s hand, searching for the last crumbs of the food between the cracks and crevices of his skin. - untitled WWII/Fae fic

what are your writing strengths?

Apparently heartwrenching angst <3

what are your writing weaknesses?

I think i don't linger over things long enough, I feel like i can dive more deeply into feelings and scenes if I just stopped and contemplated over them lol

thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I think when done right it adds a lot! I like when authors put the translations at the bottom of the fic/chapter though

first fandom you wrote in?

ouughaaa Probably Maximum Ride back in the late aughts

favorite fic you've written?

Sorry y'all it's definitely Kingdom for a Kiss haha

[aroaceleovaldez]

Not ask-blog related, then, but how would you get into role-playing?

honestly, just find an RP space/community (that's accepting new members) and hop right in. If you're nervous about your writing not being up to snuff, RP spaces are in my opinion the way to build up your writing. We all start somewhere and RP spaces are a great place to start and often full of beginners. You will pick it up and improve very quickly, have no fear. The general rules to be aware of in any RP space is basically just be nice and don't powerplay (which means don't do stuff like start controlling other people's characters, or deciding things for other people's characters without their permission, don't make everything in the RP about only your character, etc etc. Generally just treat everybody else and their characters with general courtesy). Also if everybody else in a space is doing only script or only paragraph format rp, try to match that. And try to make sure your writing is legible as a general courtesy cause otherwise people will have a hard time joining you in RP even if they want to - so avoid letter replacement/typing quirks (unless it's specific to the RP - see: Homestuck, though even with HS rp there is sometimes a site toggle to turn typing quirks off or similar) and do a quick scan to make sure your posts aren't super full of typos or etc.

more advice below the cut cause whoops this got long:

The finding the space is really the hardest part - RP-designated spaces are becoming more difficult to find since forum boards have started disappearing (though they have also started making a resurgence!). My old forum stomping grounds have since become an adoptables pet game site - though I do know a lot of online pet game sites have very active forum communities that usually had plenty of rp. I know for a fact Flight Rising has an active RP community. Rarely you can also find some other forms of RP-designated sites, like MSPARP used to be the big one for Homestuck and had some pan-fandom offshoots, but I don't know exactly what the status is for that stuff over there. I believe MSPARP doesn't exist anymore and I don't know anything about the rest of all that.

I used to also play some RP-dedicated multiplayer games and those can be a great option, depending on the game and your personal tastes. The main one I used to play a.) i would not recommend to people lol and b.) i'm pretty sure is very dead anyways so I don't have any exact recommendations there. I hear Roblox is a good place to find RP servers in a similar vein to that type of stuff but I never got into Roblox so I cannot confirm/deny that. You can sometimes find public Minecraft servers that have rp spaces but those are harder to find nowadays. There's a ton of discord RP communities you can join though. It's a bit more difficult to search around and get a feel for them just with how discord is but there's definitely plenty of 'em.

And I am not very in the tumblr RP community spheres (or other social media rp spheres - though i have dabbled) but to my understanding with those you either find an active group and ask if they're open to new members/if you can join, or you just jump right in to making your own blog/account/etc for it. Make some prompts/rp starters for people to potentially hop in and join you with or otherwise just kind of find you and rope you into their rp group or whatever. And of course you can always start a group with your friends.

The major things with RP is just kind of figuring what type of RP you want to be doing cause that informs everything else. Do you want to do script rp (usually formatted along the lines of [CHARACTER]: *runs around*) or paragraph/prose rp (the "[Character] ran around in circles before coming to a halt before the door." type format)? Do you want to do more of a video-game type rp where you have an avatar? Do you want to do something more like a TTRPG/D&D? Do you wanna do just straight up LARP (i can't really help you with that one much that one. you'd just have to search for local LARP groups - sometimes you can find them at your local conventions)? All those things are going to point you in different directions for what you want to do. In general, if you can find RP forums you can usually find both script and paragraph rp though paragraph rp is more common. Chatrooms and video games are more likely to lean script rp format due to chat limitations though this is not always the case. Social media rp is kind of it's whole own beast and everybody does it differently or different groups do it differently but if you want to do RP stuff primarily on your own and maybe pick up a group as you go then in-character social media can be a fun route for that. Or if you're not particularly looking for collaborative RP but want to do some interactive story stuff in a similar vein, then making an askblog might be more your style.

In general right now though, looking for RP discords is a relatively easy one or you can start your own and advertise it. Tbh if you find Warrior Cat RPers they may very likely have a designated area for non-WC rp (in the past Warriors RP sites/groups/etc ive been a part of, this has been the case in all of them). Also Warriors RP is like, everywhere. You will find it. It's like a constant of the universe or something. Actually doing a quick search i found some newer WCRPG forums and they look beautiful and yes, they do have non-Warriors rp sections. Idk much about RP communities in other fandoms but you can always count on Warriors. And as mentioned before, social media RP is an easy one.

Hopefully something in all of that helps a lil bit.

[superficialexis]

hello!! this is the sideblog i use when im too embarrassed to ask for rp on my main ☺️

the time has finally come. i want homestuck roleplay. i haven't read anything that wasn't in homestuck proper yet so i know very little about anything post-canon.

ideally i'd write with someone 17+ (i'm 21. i don't have much interest in smut it's just kind of the nature of the gap)

i don't really know what i want tbh! i've been thinking a lot about june egbert lately and would love to do some coming out/self realization stuff (i'd be june but i can double up, keeping in mind you know i haven't really written as anybody before). i'm fine with most ships but would love to see some friends/found family stuff with the beta kids. if we talk about it we could do more/other things definitely! if i warm up to you we can talk about oc stuff but i don't often make ocs so i don't often write with them.

i write on discord (i don't prefer tupper but can use it) and will leave an example of my writing style (albeit for a different fandom) below! i can adjust as needed otherwise but i'd call this a pretty basic example of my writing. interact with this post and ill check you out etc etc. tysm :)

[davekat-sucks]

Its disgusting how Sarah Zedig still seems to think Tavros is a chaser and will defend Vriska at all costs and victim blame Tavros and somhow is still considered a "popular" respected figure in the community. I have even seen one person once say that constantly and when they finally got called out they started to say it was a "joke" even if they kept getting into arguments over it and constantly defending Vriska and people like Zedig go around and spread this fucked up interpretation and try to defend it and to this day, she still claims that Tavros is a "chaser" and she doesnt seem to realized how wrong and possibly even harmful going around claiming that stuff (and how in the past she posted tweets that sounded aggressive about

"some folks think homestuck did tavros and gamzee dirty and that this is a fatal flaw in the text; when i countenance these people, i am convinced we read two very different comics. who’s right and who’s wrong? there are degrees. i can pull out any number of quotes from andrew hussie about the importance of vriska and the weenieness of tavros, but then, authors love to say things, and there’s plenty of stories i love in ways that directly oppose to the authors’ stated intent." - Sarah Zedig on hms-no-fun, march 6th 2024

"tavros and aradia sprites looking good, but damn the boy likers out there really gotta chill the fuck out and remember what comic they're a fan of"

2. "how do you read all eight thousand pages of homestuck and come away thinking "actually men are the real victims" "

3. "i cannot imagine it has anything to do with misogyny or transphobia, internalized or otherwise. that would be ridiculous"

-Three tweets from Sarah Zedig from thirty november 2019 (remember that shes the one who wrote Terezi pesterquest route)

Im sorry if I sound mad or heated up this blog is one of the few places where it seems that people have common sense and also people on the community tend to usually not talk about the other people that are just as responsible as Kate is for the awful things that post canon brought to Homestuck and how tiring it is to hear people trying to make Vriska into an angel and try to make Tavros looks like hes an horrible person who doesnt deserve sympathy and deserves to be blamed and harassed.

This bitch would unironically agree with Kate Mitchell. Ever since Pesterquest, people have taken it too seriously as canon despite it's similar to HS2/Beyond Canon that it is dubious or locked out from the main story. Most of the members in the WhatPumpkin team are full of bad influencers. Some worse than others. I want more to acknowledge that there are some shitty people within the group.