#this is also keeping with the theme of kinda lame nothing titles that reference an important album tm

[nerice]

tge minor title is 'the quiet place'!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bladekindeyewear]

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-10-15

More Homestuck, continuing directly from last time.  Gonna Bang Out A Liveblog Quick (GbOALq)…

No chapter title this time, just straight continuation.  (By the way, I didn’t reblog it so spoilers don’t headline my blog but this post regarding last upd8 is delightful)

> (==>)

Okay, this makes more sense as to why they both disappeared -- Vrissy is either trying to get her back or is going along and just being grousy about it, or one under the pretense of the other or the like.

By the way, if Rose specifically planned in a way that involved telling Vriska to sit on the sidelines and not doing anything, shouldn’t she ABSOLUTELY KNOW, one-hundred percent with a combination of her Seer of Light powers and common sense, that Vriska will Not Do That?  --so whatever Vriska is about to do I’m going to assume Rose has accounted for it, unless she’s like...

...sworn off using her powers much, or something.  That would super suck and I would hate for that to be in this story regardless of themes.

Vriska Maryam-Lalonde, recently "Vrissy," and potentially "You Are So Grounded You Are Never Leaving The House Again," isn’t what’s commonly referred to as an "outside girl".

She likes grass. It’s fine! To look at. And so are trees, as long as they’re somewhere off in the distance, swaying gently in the breeze. Trampling through them is not on the list of acceptable tree activities. Vrissy is already sweaty and dirt-streaked, and there’s probably like fifty gnats trying to drink her eye fluids. At this rate she almost envies Tavros his role as Batterwitch Bait. Sure, he has to pretend to be threatened by Vrissy’s mom, which is lame as hell and also very embarrassing, but at least his eye fluids are safe.

So she’s fine with this in principle, just not with the work involved? Or--

VRISSY: Hey, can you slow Down a Little? VRISSY: I have to run over Shru8s and shit, I can’t Fly! VRISKA: Hah! And who’s fault is that???????? VRISSY: My shitty 8iology I guess! VRISSY: Sorry, not all of Us had SGRU8 Sessions to make ourselves Immortal. VRISKA: Well, we’ll take care of that, don’t even worry a8out it. VRISSY: Lol I wish.

Oh Christ, we really should have seen it coming.  OF COURSE VRISKA is going to get her hands on a copy of the Game and try and have these kids play it, regardless of whatever meteor-based consequences to this happy society.  FUCK.  She doesn’t even see any reason to hide it!

--reading on, some discussion of how people on Earth C view the ability to fly unaided as a sort of religious thing so shot down Roxy’s idea of letting everyone fly.  Why does society always keep trying to shut down Roxy all the time

VRISKA: Really, we have to get you a god tier. That’s pretty much the only solution at this point. VRISKA: Ideally we’d go back to when you were a wiggler and start your training right away, 8ut that’s not exactly an option. So god tier it is. VRISSY: Is that even Possi8le? outside of the Game? VRISKA: Nope. 8ut we don’t have to worry a8out that, once we get back into SGRU8. VRISSY: What???

This is what you get for letting Vriska back into your story:  She starts another meteor apocalypse and destroys your Happily Ever After.  Fuck.

VRISKA: We have to start this shit over again, you have all let it get so out of hand there’s really nothing to do besides a hard reset.

NO.  Fuck you.  You just don’t like hard work.

(I know everything is accidentally going to end up working out “alright” whatever happens, but even if Vriska’s self-aggrandizing malfeasance HAPPENS to be the cause of it, I really, really don’t want her fucking ideology to be the cause of it.  She shouldn’t be Aesma of Kill Six Billion Demons mythology, she’s had too many flirtations with ACTUALLY learning a lesson and BEING EARNEST ABOUT IT to be the selfish chaos at the heart of victory and living.)

(Yes, I recently caught up with KSBD and it’s awesome.)

> (==>)

VRISKA: This is a perfect spot for a fight. An am8ush point. VRISSY: !! VRISKA: Don’t worry about it, that’s good. That’s what we’re looking for.

Vriska leveraging her luck and assuming they’ll be followed when she wants to be.

> (==>)

That’s a really, really damn good waiting-for-an-ambush image.  Pretty hilarious.

(Still having a background mental fit about how this HS2 crew might REALLY be trying to make Vriska the Aesma of the Homestuck “universe” which is just aaaAAAUGH NOBODY SHOULD WANT THAT.  I’ll be really unhappy with the end product of THIS ENTIRE HS2 PROCESS if they pull that shit, no matter what side benefits there are or how happily it ends.  Hell, ESPECIALLY if it ends happily.  They’re having fun elevating her somewhat more than most people agree she deserves but they shouldn’t elevate her TO THAT LEVEL. EDIT3: More discussion on that here if you don't know what I mean.)

> (==>)

VRISKA: This is actually way more fun than I thought it would 8e. VRISKA: 8ringing around a younger, dum8er me. VRISSY: I think we’re 8asically the Same Age. VRISKA: Whatever!

(Fuck you!)  :)

> (==>)

wait what the fuck--

MANDATED HAIRSTYLES?????

what the fuck!???

EDIT: plausible theory here

> (==>)

Vrissy is that fuzzy dice kind what the hell

> (==>)

Circle, fifteen guys, no special significance that i can detect

> (==>)

Oh is War Shit kinda poppin off alongside the whole church thing?

> (==>)

Colorful ship design, weird zoomout frame transition; something wasn’t smooth with that

Anyway is orbital bombardment gonna happen or?

> (==>)

JOHN: vriska! JOHN: i mean, vriskas!! JOHN: where are JOHN: oh fuck

yeap

> (==>)

Is John flying out under the ship away from the house?  That’s really irresponsible.  (And abruptly transitioned, I didn’t realize it happened at first.  KEYFRAME THINGS BETTER AUGH)

--why is that belly button window still there?  I thought we had a line about Harry fixing his outfit, or at least having the capability to, did they not have time to finish?  Let me check, that’s bugging me:

HARRY: plus i wouldn’t have been able to get your measurements for some clothes that actually fit you if we hadn’t come back here where all my sewing stuff is.

Oh GOT IT.  Harry TOOK his measurements, but hasn’t fixed his outfit yet.

> (==>)

JOHN WHY DID YOU GO ALL THE WAY TO THE CHURCH WHO THE FUCK IS PROTECTING THE KIDS

> (==>)

Okay you’re back at Your House instead of Roxy’s house?

What, going to fight the ship or

I mean you could but you’re kind of forgetting what was the most important damn thing a few panels ago you jackass

> (==>)

Is that a bomb or fucking take out??

Why blow up John’s HOUSE that’s just so petty

> (==>)

ka-house

(pretty)

about time John stopped languishing in his childhood home instead of living life, anyway.

> (==>)

(o no i didnt want john to be sad tho)

it’s fine, he’ll be angry next panel or so

> (==>)

UM THE WHOLE SKY IS GETTING DARK???? HOW LONG ARE YOU SITTING HERE AND LETTING THIS BURN OUT???

HOW MANY HOURS ARE YOU LEAVING THOSE KIDS UNPROTECTED YOU GOLDFISH MEMORY CHUCKLEFUCK

> (==>)

APPARENTLY ALL OF THE HOURS BECAUSE IT’S NIGHT NOW YOU ASS

and that’s the last panel

yknow if we are going to have an arc about john learning to be a slightly more responsible parent it would help if it SHOWED HIM LEARNING ANYTHING

GOODNIGHT

EDIT2: Anonymous asked: "I think the whole "John watches his house burn down" is more him coming to terms with who Jane has become. In the last update they mentioned how Rose(I think it was Rose) baited Jane into believing John and the kids were hiding out at his place, and Jane just destroyed it, so he's coming to terms with the fact that she just tried to kill not only John and Vriska, but the kids too."

Oh shit. I forgot about that from the previous update: "JOHN: but rose sent out some false intel about us heading toward my house, so technically this is the safest place we can be right now, since they cleared the area and everything." He really does have to come to terms with the fact that Jane just tried to murder them all, too, so shit is definitely real.

...Which makes the fact that he didn't rush off to guard the kids in response to THAT NEW FACT still pretty galling, but.

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #16

UPDATE 16: The Zeroes and the Non-Heroes

Ahahaha, what a lame title I made. Oh well.

Last time it had been the time to deliver the money to the boss, but it turns out two villains stole it and are now making a show out of a fight with the Undersiders. It’s likely to involve bombs. Let’s start that!

It’s strange to read there aren’t good bugs around here. I’d have imagined that bugs had a way to permeate pretty much any place in the city, but all there’s in the storage are cockroaches, spiders and moths – and I suppose there aren’t that many. Skitter is already at disadvantage. Hopefully that won’t be a problem. There isn’t much time to consider what to do because Uber charges in, with the power of raw talent!

I didn’t get a chance to dwell on it, because Über charged us.  I hurried to get out of his way.  Über’s power made him talented.  It didn’t matter if it was playing the harmonica, parkour stunts or Muay Thai, he could pull it off like he’d been working on it for hours a day for most of his life.  If he really focused on it, the way I understood it, he could be top notch.

Huh, that’s actually a pretty cool power! As I interpret it, it’s pretty much a parallel to Tattletale’s, just that instead of intel, Uber goes for practical application. Just that is enough to be decently impressive.

Grue is not afraid of some guy with a leotard and an antenna on his head, talent or not, he confronts him straight ahead with darkness. Uber does fall to the floor, but then he channels the power of fitness and stands up in one move. Huh. May I suggest incapacitating him, then? The less he’s able to move, the better.

Skitter manages to find a nest of wasps one minute away. That’s a problem! In one minute this fight could tip onto the foes’ side. I used to have a friend who played in this online forum game called Mercenaries, and he often told me that every time a skill made one of his fighters be a minute late or so to the battle costed him the victory many times. The Undersiders better be able to hold the fort for one minute, then!

Leet stepped in as Über circled around us.  Reaching behind his back, Leet retrieved what looked like an old school bomb; Round black iron casing with a lit fuse sticking out of it.  The way the light bounced off it made it look wrong, though. Like it was a picture of a bomb instead of a real one.

Did he make it out of pixels? That’s...far less impressive for me than Uber’s power. How did these two get together as a team, anyway?

The bomb is thrown and the Undersiders manage to run away from it with ease – well, not without Regent making Uber trip again and eat asphalt near the bomb, which makes him fly away. These two villains are outright pathetic, sheesh. It is such a bad challenge that Tattetale has the liberty to stand around and start dishing them a speech.

“I keep wondering when you guys are going to give up,” Tattletale grinned, “I mean, you fail more often than you succeed, you make more cash from your web show than you do from actual crimes, you’ve been arrested no less than three times. You’re probably going to wind up at the Birdcage the next time you flub it, aren’t you?”

Oh god. I can’t believe it. After the bank robbery, after fighting a whole team of Wards and two recognized heroes, the next fight is against two denizens of the YouTube comedy category. The difficulty curve took a sharp dive, didn’t it? Heck, Tattetale even says that the reason why people watch this is because they’re so lame it’s funny – and I can see what she means! Also, apparently the reason why they have a videogame motif is because their objective is “Spreading the word about the noble and underrated art form that is video games.“ Underrated? I don’t know, I think in this time and age videogames are anything but underrated.

The worst part here is that these two have enough potential they could be more or less respected, in my opinion. The possibility of being good at everything and someone who can invent anything, even if it’s just once. It could be a real challenge, yet here they are. Their actions so far include falling to the floor and rolling a weak bomb – bomb that Leet can’t make again, from the sounds of this, unless he invented a machine that dispenses these bombs.

Tattetale and Regent are doing an excellent job antagonizing them, Leet is getting riled up. He’s even more ashamed when Grue simply blasts him in the face with a cloud of darkness mid-speech. They have a lot of guts broadcasting their shenanigans to the Internet if this is how their escapades tend to be.

The reason why Uber is sticking with Leet is because they’re friends. There it is, the redeemable trait.

Pissing off Leet with constant taunts make him want to fight even harder, getting more bombs and throwing them, catching Skitter off-guard enough to blast her away.

The air and the fire that rolled over me wasn’t hot.  That was the most surprising thing.  That wasn’t to say it didn’t hurt, but it felt more like getting punched by a really big hand than what I would have thought an explosion would feel like.  I could remember Lung’s blasts of fire, Kid Win shattering the wall with his cannon. This felt… false.

...so this is pretty much a make-believe fight. Perhaps it isn’t meant to be a real fight. Perhaps it’s a distraction, keeping the Undersiders busy for a while. I don’t like this convenient timing. The money may not even be nearby anymore. I don’t think it’s impossible that this is all organized by a certain benefactor who’s getting away with scamming the Undersiders. I mean, this is pretty much a good excuse to not give them payment. The problem here is Tattletale, as usual, I’d expect she’d get an inkling of what’s going on once she has the time to think about it all. Maybe I just have overblown expectations of her power.

It’s a good thing these aren’t real bombs! Regent made Leet trip and fall near two of his bombs, which exploded and catapulted him away. That’d have been a very embarrassing way to die. Regent is pretty much kicking these two’s collective behind. I really underestimated how good his power could be during a fight.

I was about to wonder if Uber had just sat around and watch Leet get pummeled, but then I reread and found out Grue pulled him into darkness. I suppose Uber is done for.

Skitter’s bugs arrive and are a minor nuisance, while Regent continues making Leet trip, Skitter just approaches behind Leet and starts choking him with the baton. Thaaaat pretty much seals his own fate too. This whole fight lasted...what, one minute and half? And it was a humiliation show for Uber and Leet. So that’s why people like to watch their show! Nothing like public humiliation to gather the masses.

The viewers have a first-row seat to watch the Undersiders tie up these two minor villains, now it’s matter of waiting them to wake up to find out where Heckpuppy is. I shook my head, “No.  These guys have henchmen, don’t they?  They’ve probably got them watching over the money.  We’d likely find Bitch in the same place.” Do they? I’m no internet streaming professional, but I really don’t think that’d give them enough money to be able to pay for henchmen. Maybe Leet made a few solid holographic Koopas to carry the money away. Shouldn’t be hard to track down a few bipedal turtles lugging around a bag of money.

Right after Skitter says that, a third person comes by, wearing the same Bomberman costume these two were wearing. It’s a woman with a gas mask. The special guest they were about to introduce?

“Bakuda?” Well, crap. The return of this gang happened much quicker than I thought it would! Sure, Lung isn’t around – hopefully – but I thought Bakuda and Oni Lee would do their revenge much later in the story than this! After reading a bit more it doesn’t seem like Oni Lee is around here. Instead there are a couple dozen gang members, all of them prepared to fight. Now this is great! A challenge on the level of the bank robbery chapter. Looks like the focus of this arc has been found!

“Goes without saying, I’m still with the ABB,” Bakuda stated the obvious for us.  “In charge, matter of fact.  I think it’s fitting that I commemorate my new position by dealing with the people that brought down my predecessor, don’t you agree?” Man, if only you weren’t wearing the silly Bomberman costume. That kinda takes a lot off the intimidation department. Still, Bakuda is bound to be dangerous. Without Heckpuppy around, the Undersiders lack some raw force, this is going to need quick planning to overcome. This is going to be great! And in the next chapter, I’m going straight ahead to read that!

And theeeeeen my excitement deflates like a balloon when I see the next chapter is an interlude. Welp. Oh well, I can’t complain. In technical terms, the interlude is placed properly, there’s suspense about how the fight will go, and the other interludes have been interesting. This is no big deal, it’s likely I’ll like this. This interlude is about nobody I have read about, it’s a new character. Name: Kayden. She has a baby.

The baby isn’t the only minor in this apartment. There’s a teenager watching the TV. Curiously enough, although the narration had talked about the baby as her baby, this teenager isn’t referred at any point as her boy or as her son, even though she seems to be taking care of him. The teenager – Theo, from now on – is rather distant, and knows Kayden is a cape. Yeah, Theo isn’t her son, it’s someone else’s, someone Kayden loathes.

“It’s fine,” Theo said, just a touch too fast.  It wasn’t fine, apparently, but he would never admit it.  Could never admit it.  Kayden felt a flicker of hatred for the man who had eroded every ounce of personality and assertiveness from his son.  She would give her right hand for a smart-alec remark, rolled eyes or to be ignored in favor of a TV show.

Huh. Sounds like this Theo kid’s father isn’t the kind of father most people would approve of. Given the relatively dark themes of Worm, I’m already imagining many grim scenarios. Kayden holds back her frustration and steps out, getting to the roof to pose for the reader’s benefit before jumping off to fly away, thinking of her baby to give herself strength.

Her powers...hmm...flight is here; any other powers haven’t been revealed yet. Her hair and eyes turn bright white, making it hard to look at her directly. A tactical advantage, fantastic. It sounds like she’s a hero, and so far she’s looking far more sympathetic than Glory Girl and Panacea. Great!

A year ago, she had made the ABB a priority target. Well that’s convenient, given what’s happening right now! Now I’m fully expecting Kayden to appear during the arc. If so, pretty much the only reason why this is an intermission and not a chapter more of the arc is because Taylor is not the narrator. Oh well. Potato, potahto.

Kayden’s work has lasted a year so far, and it includes surgical strikes against that gang. Sometimes it’s effective, sometimes it isn’t...one time she was injured a lot by Lung, stopping her job for a while. But now Lung isn’t here. She should have free reign, but things can’t be simply when powers are involved. It had been the best chance she’d get, she thought, to clean up the ABB once and for all. Get that scum out of her city, while they were leaderless. But there’s Bakuda. That’s the problem here, isn’t it? Bakuda is the factor that has stopped Kayden from doing her best, right?

Bakuda isn’t mentioned anywhere because it doesn’t seem Kayden is aware of her. Bakuda’s influence is noted, though. The ABB was still active.  Even with their boss gone, they were more organized than they had been under Lung’s influence. So they’re being more effective under Bakuda than under Lung. Hmmm...maybe Bakuda isn’t in any hurry to get Lung out of the special jail, who knows...

Even broken arms and legs hadn’t hurt or scared the thugs enough to get them talking about what was going on. Welp, my sympathy for Kayden was nice while it lasted. I admit it’s not entirely gone, but breaking limbs isn’t exactly the most heroic move ever. Another reason why Kayden isn’t having much success is because her network of information and alliances isn’t working well right now. Max, Theo’s father, was to blame for that.  Just as she’d left his team a more broken person than she’d been when she joined, others had gone through the same experience. Okay, so, Max is a cape too. Given that Kayden was part of his team, I suppose that means Max is a hero. Hah! Another hero with less than heroic behaviors. You’re totally doing this on purpose, Mr. Wildbow! Golly, I’m glad the Wards were introduced and shown to be decent people – so far – or else I’d think Mr. Wildbow is making heroes be bad just to make the Undersiders look better despite the Undersiders’ own bad traits and behaviors. I mean, I’m aware that it’s completely normal for a good person to have traits and moments where they don’t seem like good people, but...I don’t know, there’s something about seeing it from someone with the label of ‘hero’ that makes it stand out much more than it would otherwise. You understand?

Since the ABB was out on a big job and Kayden has no idea what’s going on, she goes to the building where Max is at. Max takes her arrival calmly, as if this was something that happened everyday. Was this something Max planned, I wonder? Pressure Kayden’s allies so she’d have no more option than go see him? It wouldn’t be a surprise if that’s what happened. “And our daughter?” Aha, so that baby is Kayden and Max’s daughter. Not a good sign. Kayden herself knows this is a veiled threat, a reminder he can take the baby away whenever he wants.

Since Kayden can’t do anything about the ABB right now, she requests to reunite the old team, to which Max replies “Not interested” Charming. The reason why nobody is helping Kayden is because they’re afraid of Max and his reaction/influence, or at least that’s what it sounds like here. Max doesn’t state he’d help, but he says that Kayden returning to his team would be good, and that he’d give her a separate team. “You’d double check with me on anything you did, but other than that, you’d be completely autonomous.  Free to use your team as you see fit.” So...so Max would pretty much have control of that other team. This is a terrible bargain.

Max’s methods are no different than a villain’s. “You do it by putting drugs on the street, stealing, extorting.  I can’t agree with that.  I never did. It doesn’t make any sense, to improve things by making them worse.” Is the Protectorate unaware of this? Looks like these weren’t heroes after all. I mean, Max does state he wants to make things better and all, but there’s no way this all can be considered by anyone as the actions of a hero. It’s possible the public as a whole considers him a villain more, and by an extent, anyone who associates with him would be a villain as well.

And then Mr. Wildbow proceeds to throw dirt on Kayden.

“Of course,” he replied, and she didn’t miss the hint of condescension in his voice, “You left my team to go do good work, it’s just pure coincidence that it’s black, brown, or yellow criminals you target.” “And in the process, you’re doing little to shake the notion that you’re a part of Empire Eighty-Eight,” Max smiled, “It’s amusing to hear you try and justify your perspective, but you’re ignoring the elephant in the room.  Cut the B.S. and tell me you don’t feel something different when you look at a black face, compared to when you look at a white one.”

Is that so? Well...my sympathy really was nice while it lasted. Look at that, it’s gone now, gone with the wind as if it was never there.

What’s more, this Max guy seems to be the leader of Empire Eighty-Eight, and he pretty much states they – including Kayden -- aren’t superheroes. Yeah, I kinda understood that many paragraphs ago, Max. Subtlety isn’t anyone’s trait, that’s for sure. Max offers to leave the whole gang to Kayden if his methods and work aren’t useful at all, and she...she’s actually considering it. She’s not even thinking about rejecting it. So much for the righteous behavior from earlier!

The deal is done. Kayden is back into the gang, her alter ego is called Purity. Max follows her example in showing off his power, he can manipulate metal and make it sprout from any solid surface around him. Interesting power. They shake hands and Mr. Wildbow calls it a day, ending the intermission there.

Well that was kind of a curveball. I didn’t think this was how the thing with Kayden would go, it sure was a twist for me. These were no heroes; my former thought was wrong on that regard. There’s no room for discussion in that these two are full-fledged villains, even if they don’t seem to be in a hurry to think of themselves like that. So that’s the leader of the Empire Eighty-Eight gang...huh. The war between gangs continues.

I don’t think it’s likely anymore that Kayden or anyone will appear during the ABB’s fight with the Undersiders, but I suppose it isn’t impossible for Max to be aware of where the gang is right now and that Bakuda is commanding it. There’s a chance she’ll appear during that, so I’m not ruling it out. That aside, that fight is bound to be good to read! Unfortunately for me, the intermission managed to sap the remaining free time I had today to read, so I’ll have to leave the fight for next time.

Next update: five updates