#why are they dead this isn’t fair actually why the heck aren’t they real LIKE HONESTLY WHY ARE ALL THE FICTIONAL MEN THE PERFECT ONES??????

[dansamouravecwolfstar]

you know how people are like, in love with those who breathe?? why the heck am i in love with dead gay wizards from the 70s???? like they aren’t even real?????? why??????

[bubblegumbeech]

Haunted Towers and Hidden Truths

Phic Phight prompt by @lexiepiper

Write a more traditional ghost story. How would things change if ghost powers weren’t super powers, but closer to old horror movie tropes?

“We shouldn’t do this Danny,” Sam said, ever the voice of reason. “This place isn’t like our usual haunts.“

But Danny shook his head, “No Sam, I have to do this. I have to know what that dream meant, if it was really a dream or something else.”

He moved to take a step forward when his other friend, Tucker, grabbed his arm, “I don’t know man, I think she’s right. There isn’t a possessed item to destroy, or an overactive ghost to try and calm down, heck even Vlad has a weakness we can exploit, we don’t know anything about this place. What if we don’t make it out of this one?”

“Come on Tucker,” Danny argued, his own confidence nothing but a mask, “It can’t be as bad as the haunted video game right? You die in the game you die in real life!”

Tucker didn’t laugh, “this is serious Danny, I know that dream had you messed up, but what if it was just that? A dream?”

“Or,” Sam cut in, “What if it’s a trap? Remember how Desiree tried to get us with that monkey’s paw when she realized we were getting involved with every scary story and urban legend in town and she didn’t want us to find out about her?”

There was also the time a ghost discovered Danny’s secret and decided to haunt him personally and make his life a living hell until he and Tucker were able to exorcise it. It had involved a gorilla, a lot of research into dead safari hunters, and one of his parent’s inventions that they rigged to do what they needed before destroying it so it couldn’t be used against Danny himself. 

“We made it through all of those things together, remember when we first saw Cujo? And we thought he was to blame for Valerie’s mother?” Danny said.

Sam deflated, “and then we did research and discovered that Cu Sith only foretell death, not cause it… But Danny, we tried to research this place, remember? We found nothing. It’s like it doesn’t exist.”

“Yeah man,” Tucker scratched the back of his neck uncertain, “I couldn’t find so much as a blueprint. No building plans, nothing. The only thing we have to go on are stories from reckless kids trying and failing to spend the night.”

“You don’t have to follow me, the last thing I want is to put you both at risk. Especially after last time.” 

Tucker groaned, “Danny you know we aren’t going to let you do this alone right? Especially not after Walker’s prison. Who knows what would have happened if we didn’t come in and save you?”

Danny smiled, “I probably would have starved to death to be fair, but yeah, I’ll try to avoid getting locked in any metal cages, deal?”

“To be fair,” Sam said, returning his smile with one of her own, strained though it was, “you probably would have died of thirst first.”

Chuckling at his friends' attempts to lighten the mood once they realized his mind wouldn’t be changed, Danny finally let himself look up at the place in question. It was a tall, crooked looking clocktower with old, brittle wood and peeling paint. In the low light of the evening it looked almost purple and with the dust and cobwebs covering it, it was clear no one had been inside for quite some time. 

The Clocktower was a recurrent presence in his dreams, the ones he’d started having since the accident that made him the way he was: different from any person, but not quite anything else. It was always there in the background, but he’d never gone inside. 

Once, during a particularly dull recurring dream where he relived the life and consequent death of a warehouse worker, he’d walked away from the endless piles of boxes and tried to go inside the clocktower instead. But no matter how far he traveled, it was always the same distance away. He just couldn’t get to it. 

Danny couldn’t shake the feeling though, that something inside might have the answers he’s been searching for. So he stepped forward, and knocked on the door.

There was no answer, of course, and  Danny almost felt foolish doing it, but also, ghosts and spiritual beings all had their own rules and perceptions of what is or isn’t polite, most of which Danny had stumbled into learning the hard way, and it really didn’t hurt to check.

“No answer,” Sam said and Danny nodded, turning the handle. It was old and brass and when it turned it made a loud grinding noise that vibrated along his arm. But it did open, and without Danny needing to persuade it, so that had to be a good sign right?

Unless it really was a trap. 

“Maybe we should leave someone outside, in case it really is like Walker’s prison.” He offered, but both of his friends shook their heads and stepped past him. It was dark, musty and smelled in a weird way, like a library. If a library had locked its doors and not let anyone enter for a good century or so. 

Sam took the lead, her flashlight catching on unfamiliar shapes and shadows. “Do you know what we’re looking for?” she asked, her voice uncertain. 

Danny shook his head, “Not really, just… answers.”

They looked around the ground floor at first, but if it held anything particularly supernatural or important, it wasn’t going to be found. “This just looks like my grandma's living room.” Tucker complained, taking the sheet off of one of the couches, “we need to go further in if we want to actually find something.”

He wasn’t wrong, Danny looked over to the spiralling staircase in the back of the room, and then to the other doors that surrounded it on the first floor. “It’s probably better to do this systemically right? Go through every room on each floor and move our way up?”

“You mean like in a video game?” Sam asked, “sure, we can do that.”

They started on the left, but that room wasn’t much better when it came to finding any kind of clues. It held a kitchen, a very old kitchen, with a stove and oven that Danny had only ever seen in period movies. But…

“Why does it smell like cookies?” Danny asked, turning to his friends who both looked at him like he was crazy.

“Cookies? Yo, Danny this place smells like straight up death. Not cookies.” Tucker said, backing away from the oven and starting to open up cabinets. 

Sam rolled her eyes and did the same on the other side of the kitchen, “it doesn’t smell like death you dolt, it smells… like a graveyard.”

Danny walked to the middle of the room, towards the oven- he always made sure to be the one seeking out the more dangerous or suspicious things in the haunts they went to- while the two of them bickered. They tended to start these smaller, petty arguments when they were scared, it took the edge off. 

“Duh?” Tucker said, and Danny heard him slam one of the cabinets shut, “graveyards are death? What does it smell like to you? Your Mom’s perfume?”

“No, it smells like someone dying, you know all hospital chemicals and gross stuff.”

There wasn’t anything in the oven, but oddly, Danny had felt a wave of warmth when he opened it. Almost like it had just been used. But, ghosts didn’t need to eat, right? And there couldn’t have been a person living here, they’d notice that. At least, Danny hopes they would notice that. After being in dozens of life or death scenarios hinging on whether they noticed important but minute details, they’d become pretty good at that kind of thing.

“Ugh! Don’t talk about hospitals, I’m still not over North Mercy, that was horrible,” Tucker turned to Danny, leaning on one of the counters and ignoring the cabinet he opened right behind his head. “What do you think death smells like Danny?”

Danny walked over and closed the cabinet, he didn’t want something to suddenly appear inside of it all twisted limbs and empty eyes or for something to crawl out and scare them, or even have it slam shut on Tuckers head, like some ghosts were known to do. He didn’t have to put much thought into his answer, “It smells like burnt flesh, electricity, and polished wood.”

Tucker paled, “oh… right. Sorry.” 

He shrugged, “anything yet?”

“Not unless you count cobwebs, dust, and deteriorating cooking books,” Sam answered, walking over to both him and Tucker. 

Danny looked around at the kitchen, it looked normal, even some dying light shone in from the one window along the outer wall. The only thing weird was the shape and that was because it was at the bottom of a spiralling clocktower. There was nothing particularly scary about the place, and frankly Danny didn’t know what to do with that.

“Let’s move on, this place is giving me the creeps,” Sam said, crossing the room and going to the next door. 

Danny and Tucker followed, unwilling to be left behind, or to let her go on her own. The next room was the same size as the other two, but it had an extra window and was crammed absolutely full of books. Just books. Stacks and stacks of them where they didn’t fit on the shelves, which were completely packed themselves, and Danny had the thought that this was probably what he was smelling when they first walked in. 

It was a library. A personal one, but without any room to sit or anything to sit on despite the genuinely impressive display of books and Danny found himself gently stroking his hand against the cover of a book on the top of the nearest stack, When Ghosts Speak: Understanding Earthbound Spirits.

“Please tell me we aren’t reading all of this,” Tucker whined. Danny frowned, why wouldn’t he want to read these? It was a treasure trove of information, these books could have countless, researched, answers to questions they’ve been asking since the start of everything! 

What if one of these books could tell them why Amity Park seemed to attract the supernatural, why they seemed to gain power within the city’s boundaries, why Danny wasn’t dead. He wanted nothing more than to grab any one of these books, walk into the next room, with the couches and comfortable chairs, sit down and read and read until he found something, anything he could use. 

These books might even be able to help him deal with the supernatural threats that plagued their town. Mostly they’ve been surviving through luck and half baked internet searches with the occasional trip to the town library. And while it had been enough so far, Danny was practically salivating at the thought of being properly, genuinely prepared for something for once. 

“Of course we aren’t,” Sam said, dragging Danny out of his fantasies of maybe knowing what he was doing, “they’re completely deteriorated. If we even tried to open one it would probably fall apart.”

Danny frowned, and then looked down at the book he’d subconsciously grabbed. It didn’t seem as bad as Sam was describing, but he also didn’t want to risk it either. He’d realized early on there was a difference between what he was seeing and what was actually real. He set it down gently and looked around the rest of the room with his friends. 

“Are we so sure this place is haunted?” Danny asked. By then, the sun had set entirely and the only light left was their flashlights. High powered and with fresh batteries they were still little use against the encroaching dark and Danny wanted to move on to the next floor already if he wasn’t going to be able to open a book. 

Tucker stood up from behind a precariously leaning shelf and dusted himself off, “Dude you’re the one that said there was something here and we needed to investigate. Remember, like an hour ago when the two of us were trying to stop you from going inside?”

Danny scoffed, “that’s not what I mean.”

“What do you mean then?” Sam asked, stepping closer so she could meet his eyes. There was something in her expression, curiosity or suspicion, Danny couldn’t quite parse. 

“I…” Danny stopped to think, what did he mean? Was it just that the place didn’t feel haunted? There wasn’t anything here trying to scare him away, no ominous winds or loud knocking, but they’ve gone into haunts before that took a long time to start actually reacting to them. “There’s no, I don’t know how to explain it. Usually when we go somewhere haunted, that a ghost has a claim to or whatever… there’s this feeling that I’m trespassing? I don’t feel like I’m trespassing here.”

That probably didn’t make any sense, and despite everything they didn’t usually act on Danny’s gut instincts as a group without evidence. The issue with the circus and it’s terrifying owner was a lesson too well learned after all. 

True to expectations neither Sam nor Tucker looked convinced. They shared a quick ‘what now’ look between each other and Danny resisted taking a step back and sinking into the wall. Not that he could do that, as far as he knew he couldn’t do that. Only actual ghosts could do something like that and despite everything Danny was still human- well, still had a physical form. 

Permanently. 

“Let’s move on upstairs,” Sam reasoned, “if Danny’s right there won’t be any harm in it, and if he’s not we’ll find out once whatever’s here starts actually reacting to us, right?”

Perfectly reasonable and logicked as always. Danny nodded and walked to the next door, if he was right it would lead into the room they had first entered with the staircase that twisted and climbed higher and higher into the heart of the tower. That was the next place to go. He knew that.

Tucker gently patted his shoulder as they walked towards the base of the stairs, “yeah, maybe the ghost doesn’t consider this bottom part his haunt? Maybe he just likes the clock on top?”

Danny smiled, “like the hunchback of Notre Dame?”

Smiling back, Tucker nodded, “exactly! Oh man, we gotta find out if that guy is real one of these days.”

“We have our hands a bit tied with Amity Park without going after disney characters,” Sam said, pushing the two of them from behind so they’d actually go up the stairs. “Now let's get a move on, I want to be back home before breakfast so my parents don’t realize I snuck out again.”

There was something Danny could say but he bit back the comment about how at least her parents would notice and quickly walked up the stairs instead. As soon as his feet touched the first step a bubbly feeling lifted in his chest, and it made him want to go higher as fast as he could there was someone up there waiting for him-

“Danny!” Sam called out, grabbing him by the arm, “calm down!”

Her grip on his arm was tight and Danny looked down to see what had her panicked only to find his feet had left the stairs entirely and he’d started floating upwards instead of walking. Like a human. Like his friends. Like what he was supposed to be. 

He swallowed and let himself sink back down, forcing the feeling in his chest back as much as he could. It was like trying to kill the fizz in a shaken soda by screwing a cap back on it and he struggled with it for a moment. He’d never felt like this before- sure, most ghosts and other supernatural entities tended to broadcast emotions to a higher degree than humans, and with them also being natural empaths and Danny’s unfortunate situation it often led to him being overtaken by emotions that weren’t necessarily his own. 

It’s just, they’ve never been this overwhelmingly positive before.

Even with Vlad, as human as he was, his emotions were always tinted with obsession and desperation. His need to have Danny and his mother for his own colored every interaction he’d had with the man and it often left a bitter, strained feeling in his chest. Right now, Danny felt almost giddy. And he wasn’t even sure it wasn’t just his own emotions, reacting to the environment around him. It was a nice environment after all. 

But Danny was good at ignoring things like that. 

“My bad. I’ll try and keep my feet on the ground from now on.”

Sam looked conflicted, “Danny you know we don’t mind you using your powers,” Danny nodded, they’d told him so many times over and over again, “But we don’t want to lose you to them. You promised to stay with us, remember?”

Danny smiled, “I remember. I won’t end up like that, I promised. That’s why we’re here right? To stop it?”

Sam nodded and let him go. 

The second floor was similar to the first, in that it had three rooms leading into each other with the spiral staircase in the center. Danny started with the door on the right. It was a study. There was a desk, paperwork, and a bottle of ink with a quill and Danny found himself wondering just how old this clocktower really was. And how long it had been since its occupant was truly here, alive, if ever. 

They split up and started looking around, eagerness exposed in their movements. This was the most likely place to have something useful, especially if whoever spent their time here was as studious as the lower floor suggested.  Danny went for the desk. 

There was a note on it, in perfect, looped handwriting and the ink was still glistening, fresh from the bottle if the smell had anything to say about it. Danny ran his hand across the words hoping to smudge it, but it had dried already, if barely. 

It’s nice to meet you, little anomaly.

Danny grit his teeth. 

“Guys,” he called out, holding the paper, “It knows we’re here.”

Sam and Tucker rushed over, and Sam grabbed the paper from his hand to read for herself. “Little anomaly? Isn't that kind of insensitive?”

“Yeah,” Tucker agreed, “you just have weird ghost powers right? Vlad’s the same way it’s not like you’re the only person on the planet like you.”

Hesitant to correct him, Danny bit his tongue. It was true that Vlad was a person who had unfortunately gained the abilities of a ghost, things like floating, making objects move with his mind or using his spirit to control people while he slept safe and sound at home. And he’d gained them in a similar way to Danny as well, trusting the wrong people and delving into things he never fully understood and still didn’t. 

It was just … less true for Danny was all. 

But he wasn’t going to tell them that, he wasn’t going to tell anyone that. So how did whoever, or whatever this was, know? Or was it just saying things to get under his skin, that was pretty par for the course when it came to ghosts. So why wasn’t it doing anything else? Trying to get them to leave? Was Sam right? Was it really a trap this entire time? What would happen if they went back downstairs and tried the door, would it open?

He grabbed the paper and shoved it into one of his jackets pockets, there was plenty of time to freak out over it later after all. “Let’s keep looking around, there has to be something here that it’s trying to distract us from.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything more useful than there had been downstairs. Just what one would expect from a normal office. What papers he did find had detailed extensive notes, yes. But they were in a language Danny couldn’t read and neither Sam nor Tucker even recognized. It was infuriating!

Almost like whoever was haunting this place, was telling them it had all the answers they wanted but wouldn’t give them any. He just wanted to know how - Danny shook his head. There had to be something. He wouldn’t have been led all the way here, had all those dreams, if there was nothing he could do at all. 

He threw one more frustrated look around the office before he threw the stack of papers he’d been digging through on the floor and marched over to the next door. It was unlocked, again, just like all of the others and it only served to increase Danny’s frustration. 

“Wait, Danny,” Sam noticed him leaving and quickly followed, the door slammed shut behind them, locking Tucker inside the office.

“No,” he whispered, this was all his fault, he shouldn’t have let this ghost get in his head like this! He never should have let his emotions take him over, he knew better. It led to bad things. Horrible, terrible, things. 

There was a loud bang on the door, someone was pounding against it and Danny flinched. Was the actual haunting finally starting? Was everything really just a way to lure them deeper into the tower and away from each other? 

“Guys?” he heard Tucker call out from the other side of the door, “did you seriously just leave me behind? Don’t we have like, a rule against that?!” 

Danny sighed in relief, it was just Tucker. “Are you okay Tuck? Did anything happen over there when the door shut? Any oozing walls or flying papers-”

There was another thump, probably Tucker banging his head against the door, “I know what to look for Danny I’ve been doing this the exact same amount of time as you.”

“Yeah yeah,” Danny acquessed. “Just get to the stairs and we’ll meet you there.”

He exchanged a glance with Sam, she was glaring a hole into the side of his head and he felt guilty for being the cause of everything going wrong, again. So he apologized and ignored her exaggerated eye roll when she said he should have known better, because well, he did. But what was he going to do, apologize twice?

The room they were in was a simple one, likely some kind of storage space that he and Sam could dig through for hours on end, but it was more important to get to Tucker than to try and make sure they didn’t miss anything. 

Which, in hindsight, was probably exactly why they’d been separated. 

A cold breeze tickled at Danny’s hair and he felt himself relax despite it all. It felt nice, the cold, and Danny liked when the haunts they went to leaned towards the chillier side like this. Sometimes, especially if Vlad was involved, it felt like he was walking into an overwarm swamp when he entered a haunt and it made him itchy and uncomfortable the entire time. Vlad never seemed to notice, and his friends complain equally about both, so Danny had mostly kept it to himself. 

The entire tower felt nice, cold dry air, the smell of books, ink, and cookies, even the playful, excited feeling that seemed to permeate throughout the tower. Like someone had designed it to appeal in every way to both sides of Danny’s instincts. 

It was unnerving. 

He followed Sam out of the room and back into the middle where the stairs were, but Tucker wasn’t there. 

Sam pulled out her phone, and Danny held his breath as it rang, once, twice, and then a click and Tucker’s familiar, annoyed voice came through the speaker and Danny sighed in relief. “Uh guys? I couldn’t get out the door so I tried to climb out a window, and there was uh, a ladder. So I’m outside right now. Come get me?”

Danny met eyes with Sam and nodded, they headed back down, “we’re coming Tuck,” he said.

“Cool, cool, actually rather than coming to get me, can we just go home? Come back later, like in the day time? How come we never do these things in the daytime?”

“You know that’s not how ghosts work Tucker.” Sam said, bored, as they walked to the front door. Danny felt a tug, something like a hand on his shoulder and turned to see what was behind him. There wasn’t anything there. 

He turned back around to see that Sam had already walked outside, and was holding the door open for him, one of her eyebrows raised. Awkwardly, Danny jogged a little, so as to not hold them up too long. But before he could actually walk outside the door slammed shut.

Sam screamed.

“Danny! Are you okay!” Tucker asked, his voice panicked and muffled from the other side of the door.

“I’m fine,” Danny said, gritting his teeth and turning around. The room didn’t look or feel any different. There was nothing screaming at him to get out or anything else malicious. If anything it seemed even cosier than before, and Danny didn’t really know how to react to that. 

He looked back at the door. There was a way, no. He couldn’t do that. Danny pinched at the bridge of his nose, the only thing to do, really, was to see who had invited him in. That’s what it was right? Some kind of weird ghostly invite?

“I’m going to go check upstairs,” he called out to his friends before walking back towards the staircase. 

They pounded on the door, “Danny don’t you dare go up there without us! Just wait, we’ll find a way in! It’s dangerous alone!” 

Ignoring their protests Danny took the stairs two steps at a time, fighting the rising excitement in his chest and firmly planting his feet against the polished wood. There were answers waiting for him, he knew there were. He just had to find them. 

The third floor had a bedroom, it was nice, cozy and the bed even looked inviting. Danny didn’t bother to stay long. Whoever it was that called him here wasn’t in this room, nor were they in the next or the one after that. Just two bedrooms and a bathroom on that floor and Danny quickly made his way to the next. 

This room was different from the rest. For one there were windows, everywhere, that seemed to play different scenes of different people from all over the world. If Danny strained his ears, he could even hear them speaking different languages. On the other side from the windows was an entire wall of clockwork that chimed and churned as the gears moved, keeping the face of the clock on the outside ticking along in sync with the rest of the world. 

When Danny stepped into the room properly the carpet sunk easily underneath his feet and he felt a nice, cold breeze that came from a purple flamed fire housed properly in a fireplace in the middle of the room. He hadn’t even noticed a chimney from outside. 

There was a man in front of the fire. He was tall and hooded and he carried an equally tall and gnarled staff in one of his gloved hands. Danny felt himself freeze, he had never seen a ghost this solid before. There was always a little bit of transparency, no matter how powerful, they didn’t have physical forms afterall. Not like Danny.

“Who are you?” he asked. His voice was dry and soft and Danny was thankful when it didn’t crack on his question. How embarrassing would that have been? 

The man turned around, his face changing as he did from old and aged to a younger one, closer to his parent’s age, a large jagged scar marking it’s way through one of his eyes and down his cheek. He smiled, “I am Clockwork, Master of time. All that was, All that is, and All that will be. I understand you have many questions for me. I hope to answer them.” 

A thousand questions ran rapidly through his mind, why did you call me here? Did you call me here? Why get rid of my friends? What are you and why haven’t I seen anything like you before?

“How do I prevent myself from becoming that.” Danny asked the most pressing question first, desperate. The man-ghost-Clockwork, sighed and gestured for him to sit. There was a comfortable looking couch with an equally comfortable chair across from it and a plate of cookies set on an elegantly carved coffee table between the two.

“That’s easily answered, sit, have a cookie.” Clockwork floated over, crossing his legs and settling into the chair before grabbing a cookie for himself. 

Danny glanced at them, uncertain, before taking a seat. The couch was even more comfortable than it looked and he found himself sinking back into it, confused. The room was a nice, cold, temperature as well, despite the fire clearly burning in the fireplace. 

He grabbed one of the cookies, “can I eat these?” he asked, looking over at his host.

“Of course,” Clockwork smiled, taking a bite of his own before leaning back, “I made them for you. Though your friends would have to be more careful, I’m not sure what food like this would do to a human.”

“I am human,” Danny argued, placing the cookie back on its plate. He had to, denial was all he had left at this point. 

Clockwork frowned, “yes, well, I suppose we’ll get there next. You wanted to know about your dreams.”

Finally, Danny nodded, “they’re different ever since- uh well… ever since the incident.”

“It’s natural to not want to talk about one’s death,” Clockwork said, he leaned forward and tilted his head, “or one’s birth.”

“My dreams,” Danny asked, avoiding that conversation with all the grace of a blind hippo, “why are they different. You know right?”

Sighing, Clockwork nodded and leaned back, “yes, I know everything. They’re different, frankly, because they’re dreams. It’s unsettling to you because it’s new, you’ve never dreamed before.”

Danny scowled, “that doesn’t make any sense, I had plenty of dreams when-”

Clockwork interrupted him, disappointment plain under his hood, “You can lie to your friends Daniel, but I already know the truth. Just as you do.”

“I was astral projecting. Like what Vlad does… but then why-?” Danny bit his tongue. He couldn’t say it, not outloud. It was too difficult, he’d spent too long hiding it, pushing it away and doing everything he could to keep anyone from noticing. 

“Why can’t you do it anymore?” Clockwork answered for him, Danny nodded. “The simple answer is that you aren’t like Vladimir, despite what he believes and would like you to believe as well. But that’s something else you already know. Ask me a question you don’t have the answers for.”

Danny grabbed another cookie, biting into it fiercely just to have an excuse not to speak. It tasted really good, better than anything he’d had in a while and Danny wondered if maybe there was something in it meant to sate his less human cravings. The thought didn’t help his inner turmoil. 

Clockwork smiled softly at him though and sighed, “Fine, in order to answer your question, first I have one of my own.”

“Didn’t you just say you know everything?” Danny mumbled before shoving more cookie in his mouth. 

“What good is a teacher that only lectures?” Clockwork said in retort, “do you remember how you died?”

He did, of course he did. “Kinda hard to forget that. Lab accident, electrocution, nothing fancy.” he said, curling in on himself. Clockwork had been right before, it was painful to talk about. But he wanted, no, needed the answers to his questions. He’d survive this. 

“Well, that’s where your first mistake lies. Yes, that is what stopped your heart, and likely the most memorable part, but you didn’t die from that Daniel. What killed you came after.”

Danny frowned, “that doesn’t make any sense? What happened after?”

“Your spirit was never particularly bound to your body in the first place, likely due to your parents dabbling where they shouldn’t for as long as they did before you were ever born. There was a summoning, I think you remember, that your parents were holding when your accident happened on the floor below them.”

It was frustrating, that he was right. That he knew it. “I remember them recognizing me, my spirit. I remember them finding my body and shoving me back in. I remember the pain, and waking up and seeing-” Danny choked on the realization. It couldn’t be...

“Seeing the world in your dreams?” Clockwork asked, “the way you saw it when you were a spirit, free from the confines of your body, correct?” He floated over the table, sat next to Danny, and placed a hand on his back. Danny realized he had been shaking. 

He grabbed the fabric of his jeans in a tight grip and tried to stop, “It’s all real, right? It isn’t… I’m not still dreaming? Please, I need to know.”

The hand on his back pulled him close, tucked into Clockwork’s side and Danny felt comforted despite himself, he fought to blink away tears that had been building behind his eyes as he tucked himself into Clockwork’s side. He was so solid, unlike any other ghost Danny had ever met and he seemed to radiate comfort where most just gave off fear and hurt. 

“You’re not dreaming Daniel, you never were. The world is different when you see it  through our eyes, that is all. When you woke up, you weren’t human anymore. Of course you wouldn’t be limited by a human’s sight.”

Danny curled into himself tighter, despair clouding around him and likely leeching unpleasantly into the air. It would be a wonder if Clockwork didn’t feel it. “So I’m a ghost.”

“Hardly,” Clockwork said and Danny stopped breathing, “Do you think the world is so simple it is split between what is ghostly and what is not?”

“I…” Danny had actually assumed that. So far everything they’d dealt with so far, short of Vlad, had either been a ghost or spirit of some kind, or a human that used magic or ghostly artifacts. Even Vlad had simply been a person who had learned how to control his own spirit the way a ghost would. If Danny wasn’t a human, and he wasn’t a ghost, then what was he?

Clockwork ruffled his hair, “I suppose you’re young. It is easier, afterall, to think of it that way. But Daniel, ghosts don’t have physical forms. They can possess one, or control one, and sometimes even mimic one, but they are spirits.”

He sighed, “you are something entirely different. You’re something remarkable.”

Danny leaned back, using the sleeves of his hoodie to quickly dry his tears so he could look Clockwork in the eye, “What am I?”

“You’re new.”

Danny shoved him, “Agghh, I knew that you jerk!” It was probably a bad idea to attack or antagonize someone as clearly powerful and knowledgeable as Clockwork, but really he’d been asking for it. And Danny’s patience was only so strong. 

Clockwork didn’t fight him back though, nor did he get offended. Instead he just smiled that soft smile that Danny was starting to realize was affection, and said, “did you? Weren’t you trying to read my books to find out if there was anyone else like you?”

“Well yeah-” Danny stopped, “Oh. There wouldn’t be anything would there? If I’m the first?”

He groaned, that really was just his luck. He’d never figure out anything at this rate. Clockwork, the bastard, just hummed and grabbed another cookie, offering it to him. “No there wouldn’t. But you’re not the only one who was the first or only of their kind. Who had to figure out on their own, who and what they are.”

“You mean Vlad?” Danny asked, the thought left a sour taste in his mouth, wow he really hoped he didn’t mean Vlad.

Clockwork’s smile turned brittle, “I don’t mean Vlad.”

Danny chuckled, his thoughts turning mischievous, “I don’t know, he seems pretty unique, what with all those different abilities he has and the way he can choose to be human or ghost-”

“Oh please,” Clockwork interrupted, “there’s plenty of humans like Vladimir Masters, you were fully capable of astral projecting like that from birth, no black magic necessary. Just because he found a way to twist-”

He stopped, then looked down at Danny who was trying and failing to hold back a shit eating grin. All at once the air seemed to leave him and he deflated, the irritated look on his face replaced with open and honest affection and Danny felt it sing in the air around them.

“You were messing with me.”

“To be fair I didn’t think it would work, all knowing and everything.” Danny said, unable to fight the bubbling feeling in his chest as it rose to meet the affection around them. Usually it sucked having the empathy of a ghost and being near one or at least, something with the same traits. The negative emotions tended to bounce between him and them and amplify and it always made Danny struggle to parse his own emotions from theirs. But right now, in the top of a clock tower with the most powerful entity Danny had ever met, he felt happiness and joy to a degree he’d long forgotten. It was dizzying. He was almost giddy with it.

Clockwork patted him on the head, purposefully messing his hair, “yes well. I think in time, it will be more obvious just how different you truly are, how crucial every small coincidence was that came together that night to create you. But until then, you had another question? I can answer it now.”

Danny frowned as he realized what Clockwork meant, “You! I asked that question first! How did you only answer the one you wanted to!!”

“It was important,” Clockwork said, relaxing into the couch next to Danny, “to answer that question I had to be sure you knew what you were.”

He sputtered, “But I don’t?! I’m just something new! Something different!”

“Something physical that exists with the laws of the spiritual.”

“Yeah!” Danny said, “Wait, what?”

Clockwork nodded his head, “a physical entity that exists within the realms of spiritual possibility. It must be such a struggle, to deal with both sets of instincts like that.”

Danny’s head hurt, it was too much to try and understand the details of all of this. Maybe Tucker was right and he should just have let it be, learn to live with the new normal his life was now. Wasn’t that kind of what Clockwork was suggesting anyways? Then again, unlike Tucker, he did seem to thrive off of all of Danny’s questions, whether he actually answered them or not. 

“Yeah, I have to fight my more ghostly instincts all the time. It’s exhausting.” he said, leaning into Clockwork. It should have been embarrassing, seeking comfort like that, but he’d already cried into his shoulder and there wasn’t really any way to come back from that so Danny did as he pleased. 

He felt Clockwork’s hand return to his back, a solid comforting presence, “Now why would you do that?”

Danny tilted his head in confusion, “what do you mean?”

“Why would you fight against one half of yourself so thoroughly? But embrace the other side entirely?” Clockwork elaborated. “Did you think there wouldn’t be any consequences in fighting against your nature?”

“But,” Danny struggled to speak, pieces of the puzzle he’d thought hopeless putting themselves together in ways he had never expected and didn’t quite understand, “my nature is bad.”

Clockwork frowned and turned to look at Danny properly, “Daniel, it’s your nature. There is nothing good or bad about it. It is only as it is. Everything is as it’s meant to be.”

This was too much, Danny sat up fully and turned entirely towards Clockwork, “are you saying, the way I become that thing from my nightmare, is by… doing what I’ve been doing to avoid becoming that thing?!”

“Yes,” Clockwork answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

He blinked, the answer really couldn’t be that easy. “But in my dream, I, my instincts-”

Clockwork grabbed a cookie and placed it in his hands, “even humans react poorly, when they starve themselves. As you exist now, you simply need a different kind of sustenance. One you’ve been denying.”

Danny felt dread crawl down the length of his spine, “what kind of sustenance?”

“Spirits exist for reasons, and they exist differently from humans. In order to keep existing they need emotions, experiences, something to keep them held together. A spirit that has no reason to exist will simply disappear, you’ve seen such before it is relatively common after all. But you can’t do that, since you are physical in a way that they are not. You can starve yourself endlessly, into madness even if you’re desperate enough.”

“I do it to myself?” Danny asked, flustered and frustrated. It was true then? He really was his own worst enemy? 

Clockwork shook his head, “it is not inevitable Daniel. As you were, it was the most likely path forward. Yes. You would have noticed the symptoms, seen yourself losing control and then, in reaction, suppressed yourself further. Starved yourself further.”

Danny cringed, yeah, that sounded like him. “How do I stop it then? I just embrace what makes me ghostly? What about my parents? If they think they failed the resurrection, that I’m not human anymore, they’ll kill me for real! Or worse!”

“That is indeed troublesome, and the paths of the future where they know your truth are twisted and sharp, every small decision every tiny change causing a greater effect on their reactions as a whole. But you do not need to reveal yourself to your parents to live your truth.”

Relieved, Danny fell back into the couch. He hadn’t even noticed he’d floated off of it, was that good? Bad? He shook his head, this was all too confusing. “How then?” He asked, maybe this time he’d actually get a straight answer. 

Clockwork ruffled his hair and stood up, er, well, floated up and over towards the fire. “You continue doing what you’re doing with your friends, protecting your town and interacting with the truth of the world around you. And…” He turned around, “you can come visit me. It’s quite lonely in the clock tower they trapped me in, and there is much I can teach you about becoming. I had to learn such things about myself once after all.”

“You’ll let me come back? To visit you?” Danny didn’t know what to say. He could come visit, ask more questions, get more answers. It seemed too good to be true, and Danny found himself eager and excited at the prospect. 

For some reason, the entire conversation, he’d thought this would be a one time thing. That the clocktower would disappear behind him and leave any question he didn’t ask unanswered. To find out that wasn’t the case, that he had somehow, against all odds, made some kind of ghostly ally, was beyond expectations. “You’ll help me?”

The answering smile had Danny floating out of his seat, “Of course Daniel. I’ll even bake cookies.” 

[fellowstrangetownappreciator]

La Fiesta Tech and other unfortunate decisions 1: Greek House powered by hatred (Tank and Johnny)

After my last post about my general play style for university in TS2, here I come with something more specific! (aka a blog that promised to be about gameplay is finally posting gameplay)

I ran 35 Sims through college at once - the 8 Strangetown and Pleasantview teens, La Fiesta Tech premades, plus student bin families from the other two universities. In this post I’ll focus on one of the households, what their general experience was and what are my headcanons about it.

Now, I don’t have the save file anymore. The neighborhood succumbed to corruption just a rotation after, so I restarted. It was a learning experience and now I know to run HoodChecker after every rotation and to batbox gossip memories frequently. However, I’m over it and enjoying my new hood even more, I just thought I write a short disclaimer that these bits won’t have any mentions in future posts. But my interpretation of the characters still stands and doesn’t change regardless of save files.

Anyway, let’s get down to business!

...to defeat Academic Probation.

When Johnny Smith signed up for an assignment to establish and lead a Greek House of his own, he was overjoyed. Even more so when he saw the name "Grunt" as his assigned partner.

Founding a Greek House with Ripp? AWESOME!

But... the Grunt in question wasn't Ripp...

No. It was the a**hole Grunt. They’ve already been living in one dorm (with like 14 other people) and the place was a battleground.

To be fair, Johnny and Tank didn't just fight and nothing else. Yes, fighting was like 90 % of how they usually spent their time together but there was something else...

Chess.

In this particular game Johnny had become surprisingly fond of chess and frequently rolled the want to play it.

Chess has always been Tank's favorite game.

They played quite often and it was one of the rare times they were having fun together and actually talked instead of yelling.

But are a few games of chess enough to earn one forgiveness for a teenhood of nastiness and abuse?

In Johnny's eyes rightfully not.

He had to admit the a**hole is quite chill when he's not being a total d*ckhead but that didn't change anything about the fact that Tank had been terrible to him for no good reason ever since forever and he hated him for that.

Those feelings... weren't completely mutual.

College was Tank's awakening. He found himself away from his father, away from prying eyes that would judge him for not being perfect and for the first time in his life, he felt quite free.

And empty. And alone. He realized he had no friends and that the only person who truly liked him was his father and he would most probably stop if he ever learned of Tank's inner world.

He decided it was a high time for a change.

But habits aren't easy to break, especially if they're the only thing you know. Tank had never learnt to relax around people, never learnt to talk to them just to get to know them, never learnt to express himself, never learnt how to make friends.

Why, he had never needed to! They would have been a weakness, an unmanly stain of lollygagging on his consciousness. He was taught that friendships form themselves on the battlefield and it's a waste of time to try to create them otherwise.

It was quite awkward when he started approaching Ripp in attempts to mend their relationship. Tank has hurt Ripp in the past, he actually treated them quite horribly, fueling his own confidence from being the older, bigger, stronger one and from their father approving of such behavior.

Their father has never said it out loud but it has always been simply there that Tank was the superior one. More obedient, stronger, faster, more masculine. Smarter, even! How could Ripp with an attitude like theirs, with their lousy academic results even compare to by-the-book and hardworking Tank?

Yet it was Ripp who was seemingly happier, like they didn't even care about father's disapproval or the pressure of being the offspring of a venerated general. Tank realized he admired them for that. They did things Tank wouldn't even dream of. They didn't hide who they were.

Forgiveness... forgiveness isn't easy to attain. But Tank was determined to try anyway. At the very least he would stop causing any more harm to his sibling in the future.

It wasn't that straightforward with his new alien roommate, though.

Johnny was special. First he despised him because his father taught him they were inherently dangerous and invasive, they needed to be driven away. But that got quickly buried under memories of aggression and hostile experiences. It was by all means Tank who started it and Johnny was only fighting back but that didn't matter deep in Tank's head, his brain had connected Johnny to unpleasant, awful things regardless.

But he was also the most... attractive person Tank knew. Tank couldn't help himself. He wished Johnny Smith wasn't an alien, so they could've been friends right from the start. He was athletic, even more than Tank, was interested in the same sports as him and was damn good at them, he has always had good grades without seemingly having to study that much, and all around, he would make such a worthy friend!

Friend. Was that something Tank sincerely had on mind when he fantasized about Johnny? (And did he do that a lot!) No. Not at all.

Ripp has long been out, proud and loud about their orientation, not denying they liked boys and girls and anything in between and beyond, and the general was giving them dirty looks and deprecating remarks for it. He wasn't outright punishing them, mainly because he expected nothing more from Ripp and knew his middle child was simply "a weirdo" but Tank was sure his reception would be even worse if he came out.

He was supposed to be the good son, after all. The heir. He was not supposed to think or do or, by the Watcher, be something his father considers perverted and unmanly. He could only imagine the horrible things the general could say to him and the thought alone was enough to make him shudder.

Once again Tank simply didn't understand Ripp. They liked girls, so the world didn't even had to know that it's not all there is to it. They could've just find themselves a girlfriend and not face any judging generals. That's what Tank would do!

But he couldn't. He wasn't like Ripp. He only ever felt attracted to other men and male-presenting people. There was nothing he could do, no way he could force himself to be any other way.

And nobody knew. Not even that girl from their high school that Tank asked to prom so that he didn't look weird. They were on amicable terms but they weren't even friends, they just helped each other out so they didn't seem like outcasts to the whole school on the prom night.

He remembered his father being elated and encouraging him to invite his "girlfriend" for a dinner soon, so he could meet the fine young lady that might just one day become his daughter-in-law.

Tank had to tell him that it unfortunately "didn't work out" and that he "needs to focus on his studies and training anyway" and the general then praised him for it.

Little did he know that his favorite son, even back then, was not only gay but had a hopeless crush on an alien boy.

Every time Tank tried to interact with Johnny and be nice to him, he got reminded of his feelings he was so ashamed of and of his fear of his father disavowing him, so he said something mean instead or didn't talk to him at all.

The only exception was chess.

Sometimes, when a game neared its end, they spoke. And they talked... casually. It was awkward and cautious but it was a conversation and it felt... good.

Playing chess with Johnny became Tank's guilty pleasure. (even worse than watching make-up tutorials on SimTube!)

Being forced by the assignment to live together for six semesters was equal parts a living hell and a dream come true.

They had a small house on La Fiesta Tech premises that they were to transform into a lively Greek House.

"This place looks like shit and smells like a prison cell. Or vice-versa?"

"You got everything you have for free, Smith. Stop bitching."

Johnny sighed and opened up a book. "Says someone whose loaded dad literally sent him money for this house."

"I thought your family was also well off. Is that incorrect?"

"We have a financial situation called None of your business, Grunt."

"Sorry for asking like a normal person."

"Nothing you do is 'like a normal person'."

...

"I quit! You're unhinged, Smith!"

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I found a knife under your pillow!"

"You found -what? Why the f*ck were you looking under my pillow?!"

"I was just changing the sheets. I did mine, so I thought I'll do yours, too!"

"Why the f*ck would you change the sheets on MY flipping bed?"

"Because you are a disgusting manchild and it stank."

"I was gonna change them tonight! And, guess what!"

"What?"

"YOU also have a knife under your pillow!"

"I don't!"

"Yes, you do, liar."

"How do you know that?"

"I saw you put it there yesterday, you galaxy brain. The question is, why the hell do you have a f*cking knife under your pillow?"

"Why do you, Smith?"

"Because I live with your ass. I sleep better knowing you can't just murder me in my sleep. Now you tell."

"Same. I've slept with a knife under my pillow ever since grade school in case a robber got to our house. I won't stop now that I live with YOU!"

"..."

"I won't kill you. I'm not a freak! Killing is wrong, even if it's parasites such as you. And, besides, I'm not stupid. If you turned up dead, I'll would be charged immediately, even if I didn't do it."

"So why do heck do you think I would kill you, Grunt?"

"I... don't know."

"Anyway, were you for real? Are you quitting? We fail this assignment but I'm chill with that if it means getting rid of you."

"No, no! I'm not going anywhere until we pass. I'm not a quitter! But if you want to quit, I'll respect that and be glad this circus is finally over."

"Fine. Are we getting pizza for dinner tonight?"

...

“I invited my family for a lunch...”

“Alright. I’ll be in the library. Or the gym. Haven’t decided yet.”

“No.”

“No?”

“I want you to be here, Grunt.”

“Why? So you can all make fun of me?”

“Stop being so defensive. I want you to be here, so you can just chill with us. And my folks are gonna know you’re actually... okay.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“And if you hang out with mom, dad and Jill, you’re gonna know they’re okay, too.”

“That’s not how this works. I can’t just act like we’re friends now and everything’s peachy.”

“Well, who said that? Maybe that’s exactly how it works. You never know until you try!”

“If anything goes wrong-”

“Nothing’s gonna go wrong. It’s not that deep. We’re been living together for nearly three f*cking years and had a sh*tton of time to talk. In fact, I already told them you’re my friend now.”

“I thought we agreed we wouldn’t use the F-word!”

Johnny laughed. “What? F*cking? F*ck? C’mon! Your dad can’t hear us!”

“No, the other one. The FR-word.”

Johnny rolled his eyes and grinned. “Go friend yourself!”

“Okay, I’ll stay for the lunch. I’ll go get my tuxedo...”

“Please don’t.”

Reaching a truce was a painfully slow and slowly painful process. Sometimes Johnny wondered if there’s even a point. Sometimes Tank wondered if it wouldn’t be better just to focus fully on his studies and forget that Johnny existed.

But they had to live together, they had to work together organizing parties and happenings in order to grow the Greek House. They had to speak. And when the exams drew nearer, the only person who was available for evening study sessions was usually the other.

What did they study anyway?

Tank rolled the want to major in Drama while Johnny studied Political Science. Tank has never told his father the truth of what his field of study is and knowing his father has access to the university's statistics and probably could fact check that in Tank's house there lives a Drama major and a PolSci major, he pretended he's doing Political Science and Johnny is the one majoring in Drama.

When the general came for a visit to attend Tank's graduation, Johnny played along with his lie.

The relationship between Tank and Johnny improved drastically over the three years. They still weren't exactly close friends but were healing with a prospect of a friendship further along the way.

Were they romantic with one another?

No. Johnny reciprocated Tank's attraction and maybe something could happen in the future but Johnny fell in love autonomously with somebody else.

With a different Grunt, to be exact.

(typing angrily)

Anyway, even though Tank's crush on Johnny ended up futile, it was still a great experience for him.

In college, Tank Grunt really flourished, despite the initial struggle. He realized a lot about himself and started working on his social skills and repairing his relationships.

He also found a friend in none other than Ophelia Nigmos and she became the first person he ever came out to.

Plus, he was the most academically successful Sim of the whole 35 students I played, being the only one who graduated with a flawless 4.0 GPA.

Unlike Ripp, Tank returned back to live with their father and Buck for the time being. He was expected to enter the army and needed a place to be. Moreover, the general was vocal about choosing him as the heir who inherits the Grunt house someday, so it was simply right for Tank to go back and live there.

Was it? Wasn’t it?

Tank was definitely having second thoughts.

He didn’t wonder anymore if military was the right career path for him. He knew it wasn’t.

But was he ready to let the world know who he really was?

[calliecat93]

ST: TNG S4 Watchthrough Episodes 22-25

Half a Life: Okay Lwaxana, let's see if the fourth time is the charm. So… gonna be honest, this episode just made me uncomfortable with the subject matter. Essentially Lwaxana becomes friendly with a man named Timicin… who is going to commit suicide as part of his culture due to his age. needless to say, I thoroughly am not okay with this. The episode does delve into it like Lwaxana reacts as you would expect and there are points made about how she has no right to interfere in others cultures/personal beliefs and how we treat middle-aged individuals nearing their elder years. But… y’know… a society that dictates that you kill yourself at 60 is… I’m sorry, I just cannot discuss this topic fairly. While I am opinionated, I do try my best to be fair… but I’m just not comfortable enough to discuss this topic in this way because I thoroughly disagree with suicide as acceptable on any level. At least not with how it was done here. That being said, being fair, I can give some praise. First, David Ogden Stiers! Heck yes~! I love his work in various Disney films, and he was excellent here! And on Lwaxana… I liked her here. Not only is her man-chasing ways with a man who is receptive to it so it feels less dumb/annoying/kinda creepy and more charming and legitimately entertaining than when she’s forcing it on Picard, but frankly I was on her side throughout the episode. When suicide is involved, someone should intervene and Timicin shouldn’t have to die just because he’s hit 60 and they don’t want to burden their children with caring for the elderly. My dad died at 54, and I never hesitated in trying to care for him. No one in my family did. But you could see Lwaxana’s pain and grief and when she broke down in the Transporter Room to Troi… God. I may not be the biggest fan of her character, but the poor woman just needs a big hug. In the end, it's really hard for me to tell which side the episode is standing with. it chooses to shoot down the middle with Timicin choosing to go through with it and Lwaxana finally allowing it… but it doens’t feel like we’re supposed to be okay with it. I get it, it’s their planet’s beliefs and whether one should interfere in one's culture or not is a legit question… but when it comes to matters like this I just… IDK. Like I said IDK if I can give this a fair opinion because again, I just don’t agree with the subject matter whatsoever and it just feels utterly wrong. Maybe it’s supposed to, but… yeah. I’m gonna be fair here and shoot down the middle for the rating because I can’t say it’s a poorly done episode and the personal bias may be affecting my judgment… but it is certainly one I am unlikely to revisit. 3/5.

The Host: Crusher’s got a boyfriend, aww~! Too bad that he ends up dead, aww… but it’s okay! Turns out they’re actually a symbiote known as a Trill in a host body and they stick him into Riker in the meantime! Uhh… sure? Is this how it works for Jadzia in DS9? So the symbiote, Odon, is also an Ambassador and still needed, so Riker volunteers to be that host… despite no human ever carrying a Trill before. Needless to say, this not only causes issues for Riker but… well, muddies up Crusher and Odon’s relationship quite a bit. This makes sense, Odon not only mentioning this detail but being a symbiote that goes from body to body can be hard to settle. Crusher does eventually decide to try and make it work despite the awkwardness because she genuinely loves Odon, who is suffering due to Riker’s body just not being suitable. It’s fine, it’s certainly an interesting concept… until we get to the ending. What causes Crusher to break it off with Odon? His new host body suited for them… is a woman’s body. Now she says it’s because she just can’t handle the body hopping and I’m gonna take that as the truth… but the way the episode portrays it, it’s more like she can’t handle the body hopping into a female body despite her saying that’s not it. I know, I know it was the 90’s and again I’m just gonna act like seeing the new body was when the reality was hitting Crusher and she realized that it was just too much too fast. I can buy that. But again, the execution makes it feel… well, there’s no other way to say it, homophobic/biphobic/transphobic. Again 90’s, but still. At least the Trill’s aren’t picky about their gender at least physically, I can respect that. But yeah… needless to say this has quite a few unfortunate implications under a modern lens. Still, it was alright. Considering Jadzia in DS9, I’m looking forward to seeing more about the Trills then. The episode was alright, I just wish that the ending was more open-minded because it really put a damper on my final opinion. It shows that for all its progressiveness, ST still has plenty of prejudices from the real-life eras that they were made in. I’m just glad that we’re at least beginning to improve now. 2/5.

The Mind’s Eye: Geordi has been kidnapped by the Romulans. That sucks… and it gets worst when they conduct a painful mind-control experiment on him. Why? Well, the Enterprise is en route to deal with a Klingon insurrection and have a Klingon ambassador on board. They want Geordi to kill said the ambassador and thus crumble apart from the Federation/Klingon alliance. So yeah, bad. Geordi is a good boy, in romantically hopeless, he didn’t deserve this! Poor guy isn’t even aware of what he’s doing and can’t even sleep properly. It especially got tense there in the end as Data started piecing everything together… just as Geordi is readying to execute the assassination. Thank God that they managed to stop him, but again, poor Geordi. Oh and the fact that there was a Klingon turncoat on board triggering the order… yeah. Looks like Duras wasn’t the only Klingon in ona. Romulan conspiracy. Geordi’s left with implanted memories and the trauma of undergoing a brainwashing that he can’t even remember happening. Another solid episode that continues the threat of the Romulans and this whole RomulanKlingon conspiracy. We’re beuilding up to something, and it’s likely to be explosive. 4/5.

In Theory: A girl named Jenna has a crush on Data, oh my! Data, despite believing that as an android he can’t feel romantic attraction, decides that he’d like to pursue this, even making a romantic program for himself. In other words, it’s The Dauphin 2.0. So first, again with this whole thing about Data being an unfeeling android. Why can’t Data feel romantic attraction? He’s been shown to feel plenty of feelings including some level of affection for Tasa, just because it’s not in the ‘’normal’ way doesn’t make it any less true. Maybe Data is aromantic, but that’s not gonna come up in a 90’s show, which 90’s standards are why this feels so wrong. Data’s curiosity on the subject and deciding to pursue it is fine. He’s new to it and sure studying/emulating what media and books say about romance isn’t always best as the episode does demonstrate. That’s certainly a fine message to express and plenty of people have done/gone through that. There were some fun moments like Data seeking out advice from the others and Worf pretty much threatening Data to treat Jenna, who is part of Security, well or else was also amusing XD But yeah this episode was cute in a few ways, but I just can’t get over that whole ‘Data is emotionless’ thing. The show has shown far more evidence for Data having emotions than lacking them? Maybe Data thinks that he doesn’t, I can believe that, but still. Had they portrayed it simply as Data, being new to love and curious about it, didn’t fully get it/wasn’t ready but was trying to force it anyways and Jenna broke it off because of that instead of using the ‘he was a rebound’ excuse? I’d have been more accepting of that instead of wondering why they even bothered with this plot to begin with. To say that Data can’t feel love and anyone who tries is doomed to failure instead of Data learning to be better over time? Yeah… sorry, not buying it. The Dauphin, despite me not liking how Welsey acted at the end, was standard but still cute. This one though? Sorry, didn’t care for it. But hey, we got Spot again, so that made it worth it! 2/5.

So… aside from the third one, not the best episodes. But hey, everything else this season has still been good. Very least I’ll have plenty to make a Top 5 Best/Worst list for S4 now. Next time is the S4 finale/S5 premiere! Yay~! S4 has been such a fun ride so far! Will the ending end things on a high note and guarantee a strong beginning for S5? We shall see~!

[braveskyered]

Knights (Part 18)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

(Special Thanks once again to @nebulous-rain​ for providing one of the illustrations. Please check her out if you have the time!)

-

As much as one would hate for this to be repeated, please be aware that there may be some topics from here on out that you as a reader will find uncomfortable. Elaborating what they are in the beginning will be considered spoilers.

Do remember that this story is a work of fiction. Any similarities between characters or events to persons - living or dead - in our real world are purely coincidental.

Only those that have understood and thus agreed to the above have the privilege of continuing to read Knights to the very end with a clear head.

Do you understand what you are getting yourself into?

Yes ←

No

Your goal is to remain strong in the times you are weak, and to keep on fighting even when you are down.

Because if you don’t…

What exactly are you fighting for in the long run?

-

Part 18: And When You Least Expect It...

- - - - - - -

Arthur quietly tucked Vivian into bed for her mid-afternoon nap. So many thoughts, memories, and emotions flood through his mind that he doesn’t really know where to start processing it all.

He isn’t really sure what Elaine was thinking when she had him go ahead to the hotel with the children while she remained behind at a nearby café just a few blocks away to talk to Mr. Pepper. Elaine knew that Arthur didn’t want anyone to know which hotel he stayed in, even though it wouldn’t take a genius to figure that out with how few campers are actually in the town itself.

“Dad.”

Arthur turned away from Vivian to see Gwen and Percy looking concerned.

“Hah… I’m all right, Percy,” he sighed as he sat down on the opposite bed, “I’m just tired.”

“That man we met right before,” Gwen jabbed a thumb at the door, “Who is he?”

He let out a breath of resignation, knowing that his family will find sooner or later, “Joe Pepper. He and his wife are both owners and chefs of the Pepper Paradiso.”

“Pepper? Wait, are both Belle Pepper and her sister related to him?” Percy asked.

Arthur shrugged as he stated the obvious, “He’s their father, so yes.”

The twins looked at each other briefly before Gwen piped up, “Do you have any idea as to how he lost his arm?”

As much as Arthur knew that he doesn’t have any right to meddle in the Pepper family affairs, that is one question that puzzled him, “No, he still had both arms when I left, so whatever happened occurred sometime in the seventeen years I was gone.”

“What about his… breakdown earlier?” Percy asked uneasily, “First Belle, then Cayenne, and now their father… Just what the heck did they do to you that made them regret it so badly?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Arthur shook his head before smiling at his son and daughter, “But we shouldn’t be talking about this. I made it a point to not interact with them anymore if I can help it, not after everything that happened because of me.”

“Because of… you?”

He shouldn’t have said that. He knew that he shouldn’t have said that. He cursed at his slip of the tongue at telling his family everything about what happened so long ago. But at the same time, he knew that he couldn’t hide it from them forever.

So what is he to do?

He let out a brief laugh that sounded like a sob, but thankfully he did not shed tears.

“Hah… So many things went wrong that day, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it because I was so weak,” he disguised his distress by letting out a sad chuckle and tried to smile to his family, “Even now, even though I’m your father, I can’t do anything to help you all stay safe like your mother and nana had done yesterday.”

“That’s not your fault, Daddy!”

To Arthur’s surprise, Gwen grabbed his hand with both of hers.

“We all know you want us to be safe,” Gwen said, “Why do you think you’ve always been our navigator whenever we go on real jobs as a family? And for as long as we can remember, you’ve always been there for us. Whenever we were sad, or sick, or even just lonely, you were there. You did protect us, Daddy. You protected us just by being there for us. You even taught us so many things Mom wouldn’t have been able to teach us.”

“You gave us the brains,” Percy nodded with a bright grin as he pumped a fist, “Mom gave us the brawn. I’d say that’s a good combination.”

Arthur let out a brief laugh before standing up to embrace them.

“Thank you. Really.”

Gwen and Percy returned the favor as they wrapped their arms around him. For a brief moment, it was just a father holding his two oldest children--

“Daddy! No fair!”

--close. Arthur turned his head to chuckle at Vivian looking envious with a funny-looking scowl and pout. Shaking his head slightly in amusement, he brought one hand out to his youngest daughter to invite her in the circle, which she immediately took.

Gwen, Percy, and Vivian. The three children that became his only reasons for living, that he loved with all his heart, and the ones that he wanted to protect above all else.

He won’t let anyone hurt them.

…

“Hey, Daddy? Do you really not know what happened?”

Arthur tensed upon hearing Gwen ask that question before releasing the children from his hold. He looked out the window of their hotel room, suddenly finding interest in the few clouds that were floating in the sky.

What is he to tell them? Why is he holding back? He thinks he knows why, but he can’t comprehend it, he can’t understand it. It just doesn’t make any sense. It goes against everything he knows, against everything he learned.

“Daddy?”

Arthur sighed deeply. All he know is that everything that went wrong… was all my fault.

“Dad, we just told you that none of this is your fault.”

He gave his son a confused glance before realizing that he had said some of his thoughts out loud. With a furrowed brow, Arthur struggled to understand it all, he just couldn’t.

“Daddy?”

Arthur looked down at Vivian before pulling her into his lap. Right at that moment, he felt his phone vibrating continuously. After making sure Vivian is safe in his hold, he took his phone out from his pocket and looked at the screen to see who was calling. He quickly answered it, “Elaine?”

“Hey, Arthur. How are you holding up? Are you and the kids okay?”

“We’re fine,” he nodded, “We’re just waiting for you to come back when… you’re done.”

Elaine was silent for a moment, then spoke before Arthur could prompt her, “Actually, I was hoping if you could come down to where I am.”

He went stiff and barely registered Vivian clinging to him.

“I spoke with Mr. Pepper and...” Elaine sounded hesitant, “He told me about what happened before you left,” she then started to sound a little upset, “He said that he and his family want to apologize for what they had put you through. In person.”

“They don’t have anything to apologize for.”

“What? My knight, they said that during their youngest daughter’s birthday, you—”

“Elaine, they didn’t do anything wrong,” Arthur said firmly, “It was something I deserved since it was because of me their son died. Mr. Pepper knows as well as I do that everything that had happened back then was, and still is, my fault. I bet they were in a better state ever since I left their lives.”

The phone went silent for a moment before Elaine spoke again, “Are you sure that’s the case, Arthur? Because Mr. Pepper was telling me that ever since you left, things in this town had actually gotten worse. Way worse.”

“Everyone has a hard time every now and then, Elaine. We went through such, too.”

“Well, yes, that’s true. But I don’t think our hard times were caused by a curse.”

What?

Is this the excuse everyone in Tempo is using now? A feeling of dread and disgust started to bubble in his throat, and it took a few swallows to keep the feeling of bile threatening to rush down.

After everything went wrong so long ago, after Lewis was killed, after the Mystery Skulls found the wraith and took that home, all Arthur did after leaving Tempo was sending his uncle letters. All the letters contained were just simple messages such as “How are you,” “I’m doing okay,” some small talk, and would typically end with a “don’t try to look for me.”

The only thing Arthur ever cursed about is his own being, for being so weak, being so pathetic, and being a failure as a human being. If it hadn’t been for the love and kindness he had received from Elaine and her family, he didn’t doubt that he would’ve ended up in a worse place than where he was before, if not dead by the time Galahad had passed.

“A curse, Elaine?” Arthur couldn’t help but scoff at the remark, “The only curse I know of is the fact that I’m in this town. I shouldn’t have come back.”

“No, Arthur, I’m serious. This town has been afflicted with a strange curse not long after you left.”

Now this is just getting ridiculous. Arthur knows more than anyone to not doubt about curses, but this? …It’s just ridiculous, as redundant as that sounds, even to him.

“Even so, I think we really need to talk this over with the Pepper family,” Elaine said with determination, “I will be with you during the discussion while Nana Niniane keeps an eye on the kids. It’ll just be us, Mr. Pepper, and his wife. His daughters Belle and Cayenne won’t take part in the conversation. Belle’s still with your uncle at Kingsmen Mechanics where Aunt Morgan is keeping an eye on things, and Cayenne is still in the hospital on watch.”

“And Paprika?”

“Who?”

“The youngest daughter.”

There was a brief silence on the other line before Arthur got an answer, “He says that she’s recently taken over as the head chef of the Pepper Paradiso, so even though she’s also at the restaurant, she’ll probably be too busy to talk to us.”

A chill went through his spine.

“You’re at the Pepper Paradiso, aren’t you,” Arthur didn’t ask his question, he expected it.

“I am,” Elaine said, “My knight, I know that you’re at your limit, and I know that you never wanted to do this. I know you have suffered so much and gone through so much misery, so much more compared to what anyone would have gone through in their entire lifetime. I know you don’t want to talk to anyone from the Pepper family because you’ve said that you’re ‘not allowed to.’”

So she is aware of the rules, or some of them at least. Despite this, Arthur knew where this was going as he stared off into the distance. She’s going to try to convince him to talk to them anyway as to break the rules.

“But I think I have a solution to get around this.”

Without turning his head, Arthur slowly shifted his gaze to his phone.

“What is it?”

When Arthur heard Elaine’s suggestion, he decided to give it some thought, and finally smiled for the first time since the conversation started.

Even now, his beloved light has always been thoughtful for him.

- - - - - - -

A few more turns of the wrench were needed to finish the job. Satisfied that the nuts and bolts were in place and tightened enough, Arthur slid out from beneath the sedan and sat up.

It was a typical day with Arthur working in his uncle’s repair shop. The truck had its flex pipe snapped into two pieces, causing the engine to emit the original loud sounds that would be muffled so it wouldn’t be a nuisance for a typical owner. All Arthur needed to do now was to start the car’s engine to see if it’s back to its relatively quiet state. If it is, then the job is officially done.

The paperwork wasn’t too difficult. All Arthur had to do was record what he was doing, what parts he used, and what process he was using to get the work done. He had to remove the broken flex pipe, grab a suitable replacement from the junkyard behind the shop, cut the pipes to make sure the replacement would fit into the original, weld them together, then assemble the repaired flex pipe back in.

“Arthur, are you in here?”

Arthur smiled. He could recognize that voice anywhere in an instant.

“Lewis? Yeah, I’m here, just give me a sec.”

Within the next few minutes, Arthur came to a good stopping point and cleaned up the oil stains from his hands. Hearing the familiar footsteps, Arthur looked up and saw Lewis grinning.

“Hey,” he greeted before noticing something in Lewis’s possession, “What’s with the box?”

“Sorry, Arthur, I know this seems sudden since you’re still working, but I need you to help me with this,” Lewis held out the medium sized package out to him a bit. From the looks of it, it had arrived in the mail for him not too long ago.

“I can try. Is it something you need help assembling?”

“Oh, no no, not that,” Lewis chuckled, “I just need you to hold on to this until it’s closer to Christmas.”

“Until Christmas?” Arthur blinked in surprise, “But that’s not until the next three to four months. You went Christmas shopping already?”

“Sort of. It’s for Paprika,” Lewis said, “She happened to see an advertisement on TV about this toy rabbit she really wanted, and I saw her asking Mom and Dad about it. Problem is, the toy’s a limited edition and it was quite the hot seller, if you know what I’m saying. I somehow managed to get the last one before it was sold out.”

“Oh…” Arthur slowly made a nod, understanding where Lewis is getting at. Trying to get a toy for a child that’s high in demand but low in supply is never fun, especially if one considers some other people would try to buy them and then sell it online at a much higher price. If that’s the case, Lewis was indeed very, very lucky to get his hands on it.

“Normally, I would just hide it somewhere in my house, but lately the girls have been getting all over everything, even in my own closet whenever they play hide-and-seek,” Lewis gestured his head to the exit, “We haven’t officially started the Christmas shopping yet, but I wanted to make sure that this one is kept safe from their little misadventures.”

Arthur couldn’t help but smirk at that, “And you knew that the girls would never look in a dirty mechanic’s shop, huh?”

“Haha! Yep.”

Arthur couldn’t help but widen his smirk at Lewis’s “devious” plan of hiding things, especially since this isn’t the first time Lewis has done this.

“But yeah, sure, I’ll hold on to it for you. When do you need it back?”

- - - - - - -

“T-Thank you.”

Elaine had asked him to remain seated at a nearby table. With Arthur sitting in one booth with Elaine and Mr. Pepper sitting in the second behind it, Elaine had positioned herself so that she would be sitting right behind Arthur despite having their backs turned to each other in a sense. With the raised barriers between the booths, the Peppers can’t see him, and he can’t see them in turn. He isn’t sure about whether they know he’s here or not, but he’d like to think it was the former.

The solution Elaine had come up with as a workaround is that Arthur would “accidentally eavesdrop” on her conversation with Lewis’s parents, Joe and Lokia Pepper. During any questions that needed Arthur’s input or if he needed to ask something without the Peppers knowing, he would just text it to Elaine and let her handle the rest.

When Arthur briefly saw Mr. and Mrs. Pepper together while they were distracted by Elaine, he couldn’t believe just how… defeated they looked. Seeing Mr. Pepper lacking his right arm did raise some concern, but upon seeing Mrs. Pepper’s state…

…he isn’t sure who had it worse.

The burn scars around Mrs. Pepper’s face and part of her scalp were… Arthur wasn’t sure how to describe them. From the way the burns looked on her face, it’s highly likely that a good portion of her body had been burnt, too.

One thing’s for sure in Arthur’s mind. The burn scars he has pale in comparison to Mrs. Pepper’s.

“I-I know that we’re pushing against your boundaries, but we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for hearing us out.”

Arthur wanted to cover his ears and run but he couldn’t. Somehow, Elaine is able to tell whenever he does, and thus send him a text of a star icon next to a moon icon, as a way to tell him that she is there for him, or she would leave some encouraging words for him to cling onto.

“So… You’re Arthur’s wife?” Mr. Pepper asked, and after a moment of what seemed to be him seeing Elaine nod, he added, “How long have you two been married?”

“We’ve actually just reached the fifteen-year mark,” Elaine answered, “But we’re not here to talk about our love life. We’re here to talk about Arthur.”

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“I’m not sure if anyone told you of this recently, or if either of you hadn’t picked up on it now, but Arthur physically cannot be near you for very long, if at all. When you, and previously, your daughters, made the foolish move to approach him without caring about his boundaries like you had done earlier, he would try to run. He told me that whenever he was near any of you, he would get burned. Literally. He still has the scars to prove it.”

She’s not pulling any punches. Arthur notes as he leaned his head against the back of the booth. As he kept his phone on hand, he was tempted to look through the family album again just to look at photos of the kids. In the end, he held off. Elaine has asked him to listen in carefully, and he agreed to do so.

“I… I didn’t think that he’d be—"

“I cannot tell you just how often he said about how he’s not allowed to speak to any of you because it was ‘all his fault’ and that ‘sorry isn’t good enough.’”

“Well… we--"

“So I will make this very clear to you. Arthur has no intention of talking to you and your daughters whatsoever. When he ate the food that was made in this restaurant that one of your daughters had brought to Kingsmen Mechanics for lunch with us yesterday and realized it was from here, he thought he was being poisoned ‘again.’ You do realize that food tampering is a rather serious crime among you chefs. But alas, the statute of limitations exist for a reason.”

“What? What are you talking about? Poiso--?"

“Arthur made it clear to me that he only intended to just visit and reconnect with his only family here, and his uncle made the lovely choice of bringing two of your daughters to visit us yesterday without telling us. Not a smart move if you ask me.”

Another silence.

“When I had spoken to the Yukino family, I heard something very interesting from the old lady, Mr. Yukino’s mother, during her tirade. So let me ask you this. Seventeen years ago…”

The sound of a hand slamming somewhat against the table is heard. Elaine’s voice is slow, icy cold, and piercing to the ears.

“What. Did. You. Do? What was it that you did that drove him out of this town?”

Arthur huddled closer to himself. He can tell that Elaine is beginning to get the wrong idea, but he knew better than to correct her now.

The Peppers hadn’t done anything wrong and had every right to blame him for everything that went wrong that day. Their beloved son is dead, and as a consequence, their family has been torn apart. The three little girls from so long ago had lost their loving big brother, their mentor that had given them so much love and affection, and thus were never the same since upon learning his fate. Arthur knew that he deserved their hatred, even though it had hurt so much.

 “You won’t let us apologize until we tell you, is that right?” Mrs. Pepper is speaking now, her voice sounding raspy.

“Considering that I actually know Arthur’s boundaries unlike some people, then you are correct,” Elaine said with a sharp tone, “Tell me everything. Do not leave even a single detail behind.”

Arthur closed his eyes.

…No one will ever understand.

- - - - - - -

Days like these were precious. He has to be careful, though.

Whenever it was time to work at Kingsmen Mechanics, Arthur could only feel relief from the pain, even if only for a moment. He learned not to show it in front of anyone, though, because if the wraith were to catch wind of it, then the punishments he is to receive when returning would be worse. A murderer does not deserve to feel relief.

When floating around, it tends to cause power shortages and make various electronics go on the fritz beyond repair whenever it’s in a certain negative mood, which happens frequently when Vivi isn’t around. After it may or may not have accidentally destroyed the computer on one of the cars that was being repaired for a customer, Lance had forbidden the wraith from entering the repair shop ever since.

As a result, whenever Arthur had to work at Kingsmen Mechanics, Arthur was finally able to relax for the first time in days.

Lance is always happy to see his nephew, especially after Arthur no longer declined to eat meals with him. When Arthur ate a simple dinner of mashed potatoes, a thin steak, and some green beans with Lance, he didn’t have the heart to tell his uncle that he has not eaten a proper meal in over three days, and his meager supply of water that he kept hidden beneath his bed in the wraith’s mansion was running out.

His uncle would ask how things were going between him, Lewis, and Vivi, but Arthur couldn’t bring himself to talk about Lewis. The wraith hated it whenever he said something, and his uncle’s shotgun would make things worse more often than not. Regardless, having his uncle has been a blessing. Whenever he isn’t being punished, beaten, or belittled by the wraith, Arthur could work alongside his uncle and recover enough to take on the well-deserved punishments once again.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Arthur smiled at his uncle as they worked in the shop.

Beneath that smile is a young and vulnerable man, crying in pain. He wanted to scream, to be free of the suffering, he wanted to die.

But he couldn’t.

If he told his uncle what was really happening, the older man would just take a shotgun full of lead or purification salt and fire it on the wraith. If the wraith were to disappear, Vivi’s happiness would be shattered all over again. Vivi also wanted Arthur to be with her, and he had no choice but to comply when she cried that she couldn’t bear to lose either of her precious boys.

In a way, she has already--

“Oh…! Darn it…”

At the Kingsmen residence, while cleaning out the closet located in his bedroom, Arthur accidentally knocked over a somewhat large box and knelt down to pick it up. He felt confused upon noticing a label he didn’t recognize, but then he took the time to read it.

Lewis Pepper

108 Scoville Street

Tempo, TX 28185

Why is there a package for Lewis in his closet? Upon looking at who sent it, Arthur did a quick search of the name and found that it was sent from a well-known toy company— He checked his phone and cursed to himself that he had forgotten to keep his promise to Lewis.

Christmas had already passed; it’s now late April. Paprika never got the present Lewis had gotten her for Christmas, and Arthur knew that it was all his fault. He didn’t know how he would ever be able to make up for this until he soon realized… that Paprika was born at around this time, and it was then Arthur realized that her birthday is…

“It’s in three days,” Arthur muttered and looked down at the package again.

He knew that he had no right to approach the Pepper family. At the same time, he isn’t sure if handing the present to the wraith to deliver it to them will work out, either. For all he knows, the wraith would just destroy the special toy inside with hardly a glance, and Arthur knew that he couldn’t let that happen. Lewis wanted Paprika to have this, and Arthur swore to himself that he will see to it that she gets it.

It’s what Lewis would’ve wanted.

Wrapping it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle, but Lance almost never kept any wrapping paper in his home. When it comes to gift wrapping, Arthur’s uncle usually preferred to leave his presents in gift bags. With that thought in mind, Arthur went to a storage closet down the hallway and did some digging. Miraculously, he was able to find a paper bag large enough to fit the package inside.

It’s only fitting that a used Pepper Paradiso takeout bag will do the job.

Smiling to himself, Arthur stuffed a few old newspapers into it before setting it aside. He’ll have to return to the wraith’s home tomorrow, but he knew how to hide things from the wraith for a little while. It’s risky, but it will be worth it. He didn’t doubt that this will make little Paprika happy. Or cheer her up a little at the very least.

It’s the least he could do to fulfill Lewis’s last request.

…

“Why did it have to be our son?!”

“…’m sorry.”

The force made his head snap to the right.

He expected this to happen, but he couldn’t admit at just how much this hurt.

He looked at Mrs. Pepper, her hand still raised even after slapping him. Mr. Pepper is seething with anger alongside her.

“What. Are you doing?” She glared at him with anger and disgust, a far cry from her usual expression of caring watchfulness.

“I…” Arthur looked down at the gift bag containing Lewis’s present at Mr. Pepper’s feet, “Lewis asked me to—”

“It was you that--!” Mrs. Pepper closed in on him, “You think you can try hurting us again?!”

Something cracked in his heart, “N-No, I-I was just—”

“Why couldn’t it have been you?!”

Arthur wondered that himself. All he could is apologize, even though it meant nothing to-- Something hard hit against the back of his head.

A soft thump is felt near his feet. Looking down, Arthur could see that it was a small stone.

He then looked in the direction it was thrown from and saw Belle glaring at him, holding another stone in her hand. Cayenne is behind her older sister, also glaring at him with a snarl shown with her teeth. She’s holding a box small enough to wrap her fingers around.

But the youngest sister is still missing.

Arthur knew that he has to hold his ground. Even if it’s against Mr. Pepper. Lewis wanted Paprika to have the toy sealed in the package. He didn’t survive long enough to give it to her, so he has to do it for him. If he could just show them the label containing Lewis’s name…

Arthur looked up upon noticing some movement leading upstairs. As feeling of relief entered his being, he started to kneel down to pick up the bag—

The feeling of his neck being strangled startled him before realizing that Mrs. Pepper had dragged him by the collar of his shirt before being thrown against the door. A loud sound went off right next to him, and he saw that it was the other rock Belle had upon hearing her mutter something about missing her target.

“You’re never to approach our children again,” Mr. Pepper said with fury, “You’re never to approach us.”

“I only—"

“Mama? Papa?”

The sound of Paprika’s voice. Without a moment to lose, Arthur grabbed the bag near Mr. Pepper’s feet and held it out to her.

But Paprika only cried.

When Mr. Pepper snatched the bag out of Arthur’s hands and stomped on it, the rest of it was just a blur. He could barely register Mrs. Pepper forcing him out of the Pepper home and onto the concrete entrance, throwing his shoes at him, before only looking up in numbness upon seeing the door slam to his face.

It took a moment for the realization to reach him. All Arthur could do is try his hardest not to cry.

He didn’t know if there was a better way for it to play out.

With a heavy heart full of despair, Arthur slowly got up to put on his shoes and hissed in pain upon feeling something stab his feet. Confused at the sight of some blood on his foot that dripped down onto the concrete, he shook one of his shoes and saw a few shiny little things fall out. He shook out the other shoe and saw the exact same thing.

Flat head tacks.

…Cayenne never went that far.

Knowing that he had failed to fulfill Lewis’s final request. Arthur put on his now tack-free shoes, hoping his socks would stop the bleeding. He slowly gathered the tacks and placed them in a fine pile on a spot on the ground where people are least likely to step on them, before finally leaving the Pepper home.

He knew he wasn’t allowed to see them, but it was to protect that present Lewis had asked him to hold on to, but he couldn’t have ever predicted that his parents would have sought to destroy it like the wraith would.

He won’t disobey the rules for any reason anymore. Not even for Lewis.

Later that night, Arthur returned to the ghostly mansion, the one he had been forced to stay in ever since Vivi fell for it. He knew that he couldn’t do anything else after this before the wraith returned.

Sure enough, the wraith wasn’t happy upon learning what Arthur tried to do. He could tell upon feeling the wraith’s large and strong fingers wrap painfully around his shoulders.

No matter what he did to atone, it just wasn’t enough.

You just don’t know your place, do you?

Arthur doesn't know why he’s even trying to plead with the wraith anymore. It’s useless, yet he still begged the wraith to not burn him in front of them. But who are they? They’re not nearby.

Do I need to remind you of your place… again?

He already knew. He didn’t need a reminder.

You are never to approach my family again.

It hurts… The wraith wouldn’t let go of his right forearm. It always knew that it hurts when roughly grabbed there.

For all I know, you could be biding your time to kill them, too.

“No, I would never do that!”

You think I believe you?

This time, it hurt even more upon feeling something crack.

He isn’t sure which is more painful, the possible fracture in his arm or the realization that he couldn’t convince anyone of anything anymore.

…

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

And Arthur knew he deserved it.

It was his arm that did the killing, after all.

- - - - - - -

Elaine is angry. She shouldn’t be.

“I’m well aware that it was a demon that killed your son and that it had used Arthur to do it.”

“Well, yes, but back then, we—”

“But because the demon had disappeared, you needed to blame something, or someone.”

A long silence.

“Frankly, you disgust me. Knowing Arthur, he wouldn’t ever wish for harm to befall on any of you, let alone on his greatest enemy. If you really were as close to him as you said you were back then, then you never would’ve done that,” a huff of anger, “But you know the phrase, ‘You reap what you sow.’

“After everything he did for you, you thought the best way of paying him back for his kindness was to spit at his face and stomp it down,” Elaine scoffed, “If I was around when that happened, I would’ve immediately had you both charged with assault. Knowing Arthur, though, he would’ve just begged me to let it go, if not for the sake of your daughters.”

She’s right. Arthur would’ve done exactly that if she was with him when that happened. As far as he knew, the girls didn’t have any other family members that were nearby. Even if there were, he doubted that they would be able to remain together if the Peppers ever lost custody of them.

The Knights family can be scary even without the monster hunting business.

All Arthur contributes to the Knights family is repairing cars and raising the children. Everything else was left to Elaine and the rest of her family, and he would rather keep it that way.

“But I can tell that you’ve already suffered the consequences from that little stunt and then some,” Elaine coldly said, and Arthur knew she wasn’t being genuine with that statement, “So what happened after that?”

“After that, Arthur just suddenly left without a word,” Mr. Pepper sighed, “At first, we thought it was good riddance…”

“But I guess you never knew how important something, or someone, is to you until they are permanently gone. You took Arthur for granted more than you had thought.”

Arthur isn’t sure how to feel about this. He knew that there are people who impulsively make decisions while deep in emotions, but he also knew that the Peppers never regret their actions. They never regretted opening the restaurant operating in the family name, or having three daughters, or taking in an older child with an unknown background as their son. Throwing him away was no exception.

“You’re right. We did take him for granted.”

What?

“After Arthur left, things just went straight to hell.”

Now Arthur is getting more confused. Didn’t Grandma Yukino say something similar? He never really thought too deeply about what happened in Tempo after he had left seventeen years ago. Mr. Yukino also said something about things not being the same ever since Arthur left, but that’s typical of anyone leaving. …Right?

It’s going against everything Arthur has convinced himself of knowing.

“You’re not the first person that has said something very similar. I can’t imagine just how upset Mr. Kingsmen was when he found out that you essentially exiled his nephew out of this town,” Elaine said, “I bet it was even more inconvenient for you, Mr. Pepper, since Arthur is the one to go to for prosthetic limbs. I’m going to bet that your arm was lost as a consequence of this whole fiasco.”

Arthur winced. A sigh is heard.

“You’re absolutely right, Mrs. Knights.”

…

Did Arthur hear Mr. Pepper right?

“Really,” Elaine didn’t sound convinced, and quickly changed the subject, “Before we delve further into that, there is one more matter that needs to be discussed. Your daughter, Cayenne.”

“What,” Mrs. Pepper sounds nervous, “What about her?”

“I fail to see what the loss of her son last month has anything to do with Arthur. After all, you know as well as I do that we were nowhere near you at that time. While I’m sorry that it happened, I am not going to let you blame my husband for your grandson’s passing, nor your daughter’s mental illness that most likely came as a result of it.”

“No! No! You’re misunderstanding, Mrs. Knights!” Mr. Pepper sounded like he was pleading, “We know it was just unfortunate and that there’s no one to blame. It just… happened. We just…” A hitching sigh, “We just want to apologize. To apologize and hope that we can end all this. It’s our fault that we drove him away. It’s our fault that everything has gone so wrong.”

…

Is that what they really think? Arthur narrowed his eyes.

He texted Elaine.

They’re wrong.

The buzz of Elaine’s phone reached Arthur’s ears. He saw on his phone that Elaine had read it.

“What…?”

If it was just that, I would grin and bear it. It’s what I deserved. There is nothing to end.

There was a brief silence. Instead of hearing Elaine ask or text back, he heard the familiar ringtone of her phone.

“Yes? Nana Niniane?” A brief silence, “Yes, we are. I’m with Mr. and Mrs. Pepper. …What? Nana Niniane, you know Arthur isn’t going to like this.”

Another silence.

“…Yeah. Okay. Okay, we’ll do that. I’ll let him know. Just make sure there aren’t any fights by the time we get there.”

Elaine sighed as she hung up.

“All right. I just got a call from my family, and it’s been decided that we’re going to properly discuss this with all the involved parties. No more miscommunications, and no more… funny little stunts.”

“Stunts?”

“We’re heading to Kingsmen Mechanics. You are to meet us there in one hour and we will not take no for an answer.”

Arthur shivered. He wants to run away, but he has no way to take the kids with him. Vivian will follow him without question, but Gwen and Percy are old enough to know something is up. A part of him is wondering why he is even trying to even consider doing such an unthinkable thing.

What is Niniane up to? What did she do? What did she learn?

What does she know?

Something is close to snapping in Arthur’s mind, and he knows it. Gritting his teeth, Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose harder and harder.

Keep it together. Keep it together. Keep it together. Keep it—

A hand brushed against his.

“My knight.”

Arthur looked up to Elaine standing next to the booth he is in. He held onto her hand like a lifeline.

It seems Elaine had waited for Mr. and Mrs. Pepper to leave first in order to either prevent them from seeing Arthur, or to keep them from trying to apologize without context on her end. It was then that he knew that Elaine is starting to realize the misunderstanding.

And from what he had gathered, it looks like those he knew in Tempo have also reached a misunderstanding of their own.

Later, they both got inside Lance’s spare car with Elaine in the driver’s seat.

“Arthur.”

He huddled closer to himself. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Elaine.

“I need you to talk to me.”

He opened his mouth, but a heavy weight in his throat kept him from speaking. He couldn’t do anything but tremble.

“In that case, I just need you to nod or shake your head.”

Nod or shake. He could do that. He can try.

“Yukino-san said that it was her son and the Pepper family that drove you away from here. Is that true?”

It’s easy to see how they could be a contributing factor. Regardless, Arthur shook his head without looking at Elaine. He didn’t know what to do if he saw her look disappointed.

“Did you run away from here because you couldn’t handle your abuser anymore?”

Arthur remained still, for he didn’t know what to tell her. If he answered one way, it would be a lie; but if he answered the other way, Elaine would think that he is lying. In the end, he had to be truthful and slowly shook his head.

When Elaine didn’t respond, Arthur risked looking over to her, and saw something that broke his heart.

Why are there tears on Elaine’s face? Why is she crying?

He didn’t know why Elaine decided to embrace him, he just couldn’t understand it. He never lied to her, but he never told her everything that had happened to him in Tempo, either. To him, it didn’t matter why he left. He couldn’t control what the people he knew in Tempo had thought. They wanted him gone, and his reason for leaving just happened to fit into their desires.

“Arthur. I need you to tell me. Please.”

He nuzzled further into her shoulder.

“What was it that had hurt you so much more than the abuse you had gone through?”

Arthur didn’t want to say it. It may seem insignificant, but he knew Elaine would disagree.

“Elaine, I… I couldn’t,” he finally muttered.

She waited for him to continue.

He slowly pulled himself out of her hold and held her hands, “I just couldn’t.”

“You couldn’t what?” Elaine asked.

“I couldn’t stay,” Arthur finally looked her in the eye, “I knew that I would have to tell you eventually, but... The real reason I left Tempo is because I... I couldn't let them have it. I couldn’t let them have the only thing I had left,” he looked down at Elaine’s hands and held them tighter, “I just couldn’t.”

“Have what?”

He placed a hand over the moon pin on his vest and looked away. He couldn't tell her in front of the kids, or anyone really. His heart and soul could only take so much pain.

How does he put this in a way that won't make him break down?

Taking a shaky breath, he reached out to her and touched the old and worn star pin on her jacket, the one that he had given her so long ago.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Elaine said, “What do you mean?”

How else can he get her to understand? He didn’t want to say it out loud. It would break his heart even more if he did.

“I love you,” Arthur’s breath hitched as tears began to shed, “You know that, right?”

Please. Please, understand.

Despite everything going on in the madness and despair, the love of his light and family are all he has now. As long as he has that…

Elaine smiled sadly, slowly wiping away Arthur’s tears with her thumbs until he could calm down.

“It will be okay, my star. It will be okay. I promise.”

For all he knows, this might be the last time he’ll be able to feel her warmth.

- - - - - - -

Arthur really didn’t want to be here. He didn’t like the looks he was getting, especially since he has Vivian in his arms while sitting down on a chair with Elaine and the twins beside him remaining on guard.

Lance had closed down Kingsmen Mechanics for the evening. To Arthur, this meant that he had no opportunities to escape. In the lobby of the repair shop with him were three separate parties. Parties he’d rather not be a part of because of the rules.

Lance and Belle are behind the desk exchanging nervous glances between each other under Morgan’s watchful eye. Whatever Elaine’s aunt had done to scold them, Arthur knew not to question it. Mr. and Mrs. Pepper are sitting on some chairs used by customers that wait for their cars to be repaired.

Arthur took a moment to properly look at Mr. and Mrs. Pepper. Although he had seen it earlier today, he can confirm that Mr. Pepper is indeed missing his right arm. He couldn’t tell if it had been severed just below the shoulder or right at the socket, but in the end it’s irrelevant. He briefly wondered how such an injury could happen, but again, it’s not important for him to know.

The injuries Mrs. Pepper has on the other hand, Arthur isn’t sure if she has it just as bad if not worse compared to her husband’s. Instead of missing any major limbs, Mrs. Pepper has severe burn scars around her face and down her neck. Her right eye looks like it had been melted shut, so it stands to reason that she’s blind in that eye, too. More disturbingly, she also has some burn scars over her hands as well. Was she thrown into a fire or something?

Upon seeing Mr. Pepper make eye contact with him, Arthur quickly turns away, giving Vivian some attention before looking over at his uncle and Belle. Belle looks as healthy as a typical person in their twenties would be, and while Lance has started to show some signs of old age here and there, nothing about him has really changed much.

“We’re waiting for Nana Niniane to arrive,” Morgan broke the silence, “Before anyone says anything, I’m going to make this clear.”

She glared at Lance and the Peppers.

“I don’t know what you did and frankly, I don’t really care. But when Nana Niniane wants answers, she will get answers. So all of you better answer honestly, because trust me, she’s much worse than I am.”

They all nervously glanced at each other. Arthur isn’t really sure how to feel about their reaction. At the same time, though, he knew about Morgan’s talent in using her words instead of physical violence to get the results she wants. Hopefully, her presence will make the Pepper family a little more cooperative. The last thing he wants is for a rock to be thrown at him right now, because he didn’t want any of the stones to hurt Vivian.

Vivian tugged at the collar of Arthur’s vest, and he nuzzled his cheek against her head in response.

“Um…”

Arthur immediately turned to the Peppers and grimaced in disgust. He didn’t like the way they were looking at him or his children. Vivian didn’t seem to care as she just remained focused on him.

“Is,” Mr. Pepper started to speak, then quickly turned to Elaine, “Is she also your daughter? She’s really cute.”

An attempted save. Arthur thought. He isn’t sure whether to commend Mr. Pepper for that or not.

Gwen and Percy looked at each other with uncertainty in their eyes.

“Her name is Vivian. And yes, she is our youngest daughter,” Elaine said as she placed a hand on Arthur’s shoulder, “In case you’re curious, she’s three. And the twins, Gwen and Percy, are fourteen. But we’re not here to talk about that, are we?”

Arthur looked down to see Vivian staring at Elaine strangely. He figured it was probably because she isn’t used to seeing her mother look or talk so strictly and decided to distract her by whispering to her ear that he loves her. Vivian giggled and hugged him.

“Love you, too, Daddy,” she whispered back, only audible enough for him to hear.

Right as Elaine knelt down to give Vivian some affection, the sound of a bell alerting employees of customers made everyone look to see who came.

Arthur felt chills run down into his spine.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur could see Vivian’s hair bristle at the sight of Vivi and Mystery coming in, with Gwen and Percy at the ready. He couldn’t blame them, especially once he knew that the Mystery Skulls had in fact tried to kill his children as “monsters.” What’s also worrying is that the section of Vivian’s hair that had been cut off by Vivi hasn’t even grown back yet.

The reaction upon seeing Arthur with the children is instantaneous. Vivi looked upset while Mystery’s fur bristled like a scared animal would. Arthur followed their gaze to see that it’s Percy they’re staring a--

“Wait, Vivian!”

At and Percy’s shouts, Vivi and Mystery barely had time to react before dodging Vivian’s hair spearing at their feet with a loud crack. Growling, Mystery started to move forward before suddenly being yanked back by the collar as a light blue aura surrounded Vivi and most of Vivian’s hair, which then got uprooted from the floor.

“Don’t even think about it, mutt.”

Arthur, as he held Vivian closer to himself with Elaine holding an arm in front of them protectively, could only feel relieved upon seeing Niniane with one hand surrounded by magic, then felt confusion when he noticed her holding up a colored rope of some sort with her other hand. Tracing the rope led him to seeing that it’s roped around Mystery’s neck like a leash, which led to a rather unnerving sight of the kitsune turned dog being strangled with little breathing room.

“I thought I told you that you are not to attack my family. Let alone approach them without our explicit permission,” Niniane said in a calm tone, but everyone could tell that she is furious.

“But she started it!” Mystery protested, which turned out to be a mistake as Niniane lifted the rope to bring him closer to her face, causing him to gag.

Is she trying to hang him on purpose? Arthur quietly turned Vivian’s head away from the scene while feeling very unnerved. If not for the fact that he knew what Mystery actually is, he would have immediately considered Niniane’s actions to be animal abuse. Vivi looked like she wanted to help, but judging from her fearful look at Niniane, she had to reconsider.

“And I have told you that I will handle my family and that you and Yukino are not to lay a single finger, or paw, on them,” Niniane then roughly let Mystery back down on the floor, giving him some much needed breath, “I will let this slide just this once, but do it again and I will not hesitate to stay true to my word,” she tapped her foot once to emphasize, “I’m sure the both of you know very well on what I mean.”

The two cracks left on the floor from Vivian’s hair spearing it could very well make whatever potential consequences Niniane has planned for them be sunshine and daisies in comparison.

Niniane then approached Arthur and smiled affectionately at Vivian, “Sorry about that, my sweet moppet. I can see that you were just being a good little girl wanting to protect her daddy. I ask that you do not do anything to them unless your mommy says so, for I will make sure that the bad girl and her mutt behave,” she gently tapped Vivian on the nose, “Could you do that for me? Pretty please?”

Vivian looked up at Arthur, as if wanting to ask if she really has to. “Bad girl,” she said in a voice that showed how scared she really is, pointing at Vivi, who briefly looked offended before switching to a neutral expression in response to Niniane and Elaine’s glare.

Although he has his doubts, Arthur nodded and stroked at her hair, “It’s okay, Vivian. Nana is here, Auntie Morgan is here, Mama is here, and Daddy is here. It’s okay. They won’t hurt you anymore.”

Fortunately, it was enough to convince Vivian as she let her hair return to its normal state. Arthur could hear the twins sign in relief.

“I do apologize for the damage on your floor, Mr. Kingsmen,” Niniane said as she released her magic, “But worry not. I will repair it once we adjourn this meeting. I believe you have seen enough ‘paranormal activity’ for today, have you not?”

“Right…”

Arthur is thankful that Lance and the Peppers wisely decided to keep quiet during the whole ordeal. Come to think of it, do the Peppers know what the Knights family can do? They probably do since they didn’t react as loudly as Lance did. He figured his uncle had filled them in somewhat.

“But before we do that, there’s one more thing that needs to be addressed,” Niniane gave Vivi a nod.

Vivi shifted her gaze to Arthur and Vivian briefly before turning to the exit and opened the door. She made a gesture as if inviting someone, then stepped back to allow a young boy in blue to enter the shop. Arthur recognized him immediately.

“This is my son, Jason,” Vivi has her hands on the boy’s shoulders, “My parents had to take grandma for a doctor’s appointment, so I had to bring him with me.”

“Arthur, with your permission, will it be all right if we leave the boy with Gwen and Percy?” Niniane asked, “I found that Nobuhiro Yukino wasn’t lying about his grandson’s interest in robotics. I have no issues with this since this situation surrounds your generation and not the children’s, but if you do, then I will send him and his mother away for another time. We probably don’t need her for this discussion, after all, just the mutt. It’s your choice.”

Jason kept his gaze down to his feet, not looking at anyone in the eye.

Arthur didn’t know what to do. If it were any other circumstance, he would have allowed it in a heartbeat, since Gwen and Percy would occasionally talk about trying to find like-minded people with an interest in robotics. But because Jason is Vivi’s son, he is a part of the Yukino family, and Arthur isn’t allowed to be near them according to the rules. If the wraith were to find out about the children…

But his whole family is here. Niniane is here, and she has demonstrated very well in that she could keep the Mystery Skulls from trying anything funny. Jason’s just a kid, and if by some chance that he has that strange ice magic like his mother does, then Gwen and Percy can handle him with no issue.

“That… would be fine,” he relented before turning to the twins, “I think you left one of your projects in Lance’s living room. Just stay in there until this is over.”

“What about Vivian?” Gwen asked.

“She’ll stay with us until she calms down a little more,” Elaine said, “And then we’ll bring her to you.”

Seeing Gwen and Percy nod in agreement is a relief. They took a moment to introduce themselves to Jason, which made the boy perk up a little. They seemed to be getting along, but Arthur didn’t get a chance to see any more after they left the lobby through the door leading to Lance’s home.

A minute passed in total silence.

“Now then, I think it’s time we finally have a proper conversation,” Niniane is the first to cut to the chase, her eyes narrowed down at Mystery briefly before showing a look of disgusted disappointment, “I believe we know why we’re here?”

“To apologize,” Mr. Pepper said, “We wanted—”

“Wrong. We’re here for answers, for there seems to be a major…” Niniane gave the leash a quick tug, making Mystery briefly struggle for breath, “Misunderstanding.”

Why does it matter? Regardless of the reason, Arthur knew he had to leave. It’s what they wanted. Still, it was wise for the Gwen and Percy to be out of sight and out of hearing range. He isn’t sure about having Vivian with him still, but if he just left her with her siblings, she would just teleport or run her way back to him whenever she felt like it.

So he just has to stay calm. Stay calm… for Vivian’s sake.

“Seeing that Arthur is in no condition to actually tell us why he left this drab town, I think it would be most adequate if we simply discuss what we have learned,” Niniane said as she twirled the rope that is Mystery’s leash around her fingers, “I shall start since my investigation has given me some rather… inconsistent answers.”

Stay calm… for her sake.

Niniane spoke about how it all started seventeen years ago. Where Arthur was maimed and traumatized, where Lewis died, and Vivi lost her memory of the former. How Arthur searched and searched for Lewis, not knowing he was dead. How Vivi and Mystery had followed him to help with the search, how they soon came across a haunted mansion.

Stay calm… for her sake…!

How the wraith had attacked them to how the Mystery Skulls barely escaped with their lives, to being attacked by the wraith and run off the road. So many events that Arthur did not want to recall among the loud sounds of a shotgun, Vivi’s screams, and Mystery’s growls. He didn’t want to deal with that part of the past. It had hurt so much.

“…even when it was spelled out to you that Arthur was unwillingly possessed by a demon, you never forgave him for his unwilling role in your son’s death,” Niniane said as she looked at Mr. and Mrs. Pepper with a mix of disappointment and disgust, “Did you?”

Mr. and Mrs. Pepper look guilty, and Arthur couldn’t understand why. No matter how many apologies he made, they have every right to not forgive him.

“I hope you realize that you’re not very knowledgeable if you seriously think that just anyone could resist a possession of that caliber,” Niniane sighed, “After all, if Arthur had, your son would probably still be alive. Keyword being ‘probably,’ because that demon could have easily taken control of either your son or Yukino, and there’s no telling whether either of them would have fared any better, if not worse.”

“I know that now. More than anyone here,” Mr. Pepper said as he used his only hand to grip at his right shoulder, “I lost this arm pretty much the same way, after all.”

Arthur felt cold, his face turned white as he took in Mr. Pepper’s words. If he lost his arm the same way he has, then… He narrowed his gaze at Mystery in disgust, who took a step back with his tail between his legs.

“That must have been dreadful,” Niniane said, her tone showing that she has no sympathy for Mr. Pepper’s condition, “Moving on, I have also found that this town has been cursed roughly a week or so after Arthur left, and that it has affected the entire population of Tempo,” she turned to Vivi, “Perhaps you would be willing to elaborate on what this curse does in detail?”

Vivi looked down at her feet and fiddled with her skirt, “It… It’s a nightmare.”

“Meaning?” Morgan furrowed her brow.

Arthur didn’t like where this was going.

Vivi gave them a wry smile, “I’m sure you’ve read about this town’s unusually high suicide rate?”

“That we did,” Morgan piped up as she looked at something on her phone, “Although it doesn’t explain why, it says here that for approximately the past sixteen years, there has been an increase in suicides by eightfold. It’s says on average that there would be a death toll of around forty every year, which is rather high for a town of less than two thousand people.”

“That’s an understatement, Aunt Morgan,” Elaine said with unease, “If we take simple math into account, then that means over six hundred people have ended their own lives from back then to now. But what does all that have to do with Arthur? He wasn’t here when all those people died.”

“That’s true, but the nightmares never cease to remind us.”

When everyone looked at Mystery, the kitsune disguised as a dog continued.

“Almost every night, we have nightmares of the… punishments Arthur went through.”

“Through his eyes,” Vivi continued, shivering “As if we were the ones receiving it. I-I never thought that it would hurt so much…”

“At first, we didn’t think much of it, since we thought we were the only ones that were cursed, but then we were confronted by some of the townspeople,” Mystery turned away in shame, “They lost some of their loved ones by the time they came to us.”

“So the curse that is plaguing Tempo are supernaturally-induced nightmares, which not only affect you but the townspeople as well,” Niniane hummed, “Unless Arthur is the one that deliberately left such a curse, I’d imagine it came from a separate source.”

“I know for a fact that it wasn’t me,” Arthur spoke, upset that Niniane would even suggest such a conclusion, even though he knows she doesn’t believe it, “All I cared about was leaving this place. Anyone here could do whatever they wanted for all I care so long as I wasn’t a part of it.”

He felt a tug on his vest and looked down at Vivian. He held her closer to himself to assure both her (and himself) that it’s okay.

He hopes so.

The thought of being responsible for more than Lewis’s death would be too much to bear.

“I suppose you have an idea on what caused this curse in the first place,” Niniane said, “Especially since some of you have mentioned at least once that Arthur is needed to end the nightmare.”

“We believe he’s the key to breaking it,” Mystery said, “Since it was the demon that ruined everything that caused it.”

There was a long silence.

“You mean to tell me that the demon that took your arm was never exorcised?” Elaine asked in disbelief before looking at Arthur, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I… I never knew,” Arthur muttered as he looked down, “All I knew was that it was gone. I actually thought that they took care of it after I left.”

“It escaped before we could properly destroy it,” Vivi sighed, “That’s also the reason why we’ve been going around exterminating monsters. We were trying to find the demon that caused all this and hopefully break the curse, but we never could.”

“And nearly killed our children in the process,” Elaine grumbled to herself, which Arthur is pretty sure everyone could hear.

“When did this demon escape?” Niniane asked before her face shifted into an expression Arthur couldn’t identify, “Or more accurately, when and how did you first encounter it after Arthur left?”

The look of guilt that spread across Vivi and the Peppers is… telling. Lance also looked angry, as if recalling an unpleasant memory, which he probably is. Arthur didn’t know how to feel about that fact.

“It all started when I got a phone call from Lance,” Vivi rubbed her arm, as if to distract herself, “He asked me if I heard from Arthur and when he would be back from his solo vacation. Back then, I had no idea what he was talking about. That’s when we realized that Arthur went missing. Lance called the police to see if they could find him, and while they were on their search, Lance visited our home to see if we could find any clues in Arthur’s room.”

“That’s how I found the medical supplies and some used bandages,” Lance grumbled, “And when I realized that Arthur ran off to escape from domestic abuse.”

“I didn’t know he was being abused by Lewis! I swear to it!” Vivi insisted despite Niniane’s glare, “As soon as I learned of it, I immediately tried to fix things!”

Arthur gritted his teeth. Even now, Vivi still clings to her delusions.

“And what about you, mutt?” Niniane gave a tug on the leash, “I would imagine that through your role as a family pet of sorts, you would have a whiff of what was going on.”

“Arthur is very good at hiding his problems,” Mystery said, “And even then, I was more focused on caring for Vivi, for I am bound to her family. I know this does not excuse myself for my ignorance, and I doubt you will accept any apologies from me now, if ever.”

Arthur knew very well that the Knights family won’t accept it. For some reason, neither will he. Unlike everyone else in the room, Arthur has no intention to delve further into it. What’s in the past should stay in the past.

“Mmh…”

Arthur looked down at Vivian and saw that she is nodding off. He figures that’s a good thing, since he is beginning to think that it may be for the best that she isn’t around for this conversation.

He didn’t want to be here. He has to get away.

“I need to put her to bed,” he said as he stood up, all eyes trained on him, “I’ll… be back shortly.”

“I’ll go with you,” Elaine gave him an understanding smile.

Niniane and Morgan nodded, and Arthur left with Elaine behind him.

…

“It’s hard for you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Arthur nodded as he tucked Vivian into the bed that is in his old bedroom, “I-I know I haven’t told you and your family everything, and I’m sorry. But I just couldn’t, I couldn’t say anything. Even I don’t understand why anymore. All I wanted was just to let go and move on.”

“Arthur…”

“I-I don’t even know what’s wrong with me anymore,” he shook his head, “All this time, I’ve accepted that the Peppers had every right to be angry at me, that I deserved their hatred. I even accepted the blame from Vivi’s parents for being the cause of her amnesia. I mean, as far as I know, her memory is already back, but—I just don’t understand. Just… Why? Why are they always apologizing ever since we came here?”

The two left the bedroom.

“My knight,” Elaine cupped a hand around Arthur’s cheek, “Let me ask you this, then. After their apologies, can you tell me that you still blame yourself even now?”

“It doesn’t matter about who apologizes, Elaine,” he said as he held Elaine’s hand, “It doesn’t change the fact that, in a sense, I still killed Lewis. The Peppers had their family torn apart because of me. I even tried to turn myself in to the police, but I’d get held back every time. And just now we’ve learned that my leaving may have caused so many people unrelated to me, to everyone I knew here, to die from a curse that demon made. How can I not blame myself?”

Elaine smiled sadly, “Did you want Lewis dead at any point? Or any of this to happen?”

“No!” Arthur forced himself to keep his volume to a minimum in order to not wake Vivian, “I never wanted any of this to happen! All I wanted was to leave. They… they were already happy even without me.”

“You should tell the others that when we get back to them. Remember, I’m here for you, and Aunt Morgan and Nana Niniane are here for you. The kids are here for you, too. Know that you’re not alone. Not anymore ever since the day we got married, ever since you became a part of my family.”

Arthur gave a breath that mixed from a single laugh and a sob, “I know.”

“Whether or not you may have caused this town’s curse is irrelevant. What is relevant is that you left this place for one reason or another, it was something someone here did, and you had to get away from the pain,” Elaine pulled him closer, “No matter what anyone says, none of this is your fault. I know it.”

She kissed him in the lips and held him close. The two stayed like that for a moment before Arthur broke away from the contact.

“We should check on the kids before we go back,” Arthur said, “I don’t think Vivi’s son will do anything, but I… I just want to make sure they’re safe.”

“Of course.”

Soon, Arthur and Elaine were about to approach the living room, but something seems strange. Why does it feel oddly cold yet hot? It feels familiar, but it can’t be. The last time Arthur ever felt this is when-- Arthur made the sudden decision to rush for the twins. If Vivi’s son did something that could harm them—

“We never knew Dad like that. Sure, he does get scared sometimes, but he was never scared of us, even after that time back when I was seven.”

Arthur stopped. Is Percy talking to Jason? Back when Percy was seven? It took a moment before realizing that his son is talking about the time his power first awakened before losing control, and how Arthur himself nearly died because of it.

“I’m sure it’s because the three of you are his children,” a good-natured chuckle rumbled, “And from what you told me, your father is still a forgiving person even now. I just don’t think…”

It’s strange… that voice is familiar. The somewhat soft-spoken and low baritone voice that’s enough to put anyone at ease when someone new speaks to him for the first time…!

“Is someone else here?” Elaine whispered, “It feels like a ghost, but it’s not malicious. At least, I don’t think it is.”

Elaine can sense ghosts.

…No.

“Arthur?!”

His heart pounding, Arthur immediately went into the living room as Elaine called out to him. The three children were startled upon seeing him, and Arthur immediately spotted Gwen reading what looks like a comic book of sorts with Jason, the boy hiding behind her. Immediately after he sees Percy.

Something cracked.

“Daddy…?” Gwen looked scared. She should be.

Something snapped.

“Dad?” Percy is slow to speak, “W-What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Percy is holding something in his hands. Blue. Heart-shaped.

Pulsing.

The three children didn’t concern him. It’s what’s behind them.

Arthur opened his mouth.

A gurgle.

Something broke.

“Arthur…?!”

The wraith is among them.

The wraith has its hand on Percy…!

The wraith moved.

His left arm raised.

Before he could take a step, Arthur’s mind went blank as red spilled.

- - - - - - -

...Told ya.

I’m worried about the future, future!

Ain’t fucking with that past shit, baby!

I’m worried about the future, future, future, future…!

Part 19: Thought I Told Ya...!

[natsubeatsrock]

The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 26 (Zeref)

Is Zeref a villain?

Wait, no. That's not the right question. 

That makes it seem like I'm saying that Zeref didn't do anything wrong or that he isn't responsible for any of the bad things that happened in the series in his name. Make no mistake, that's not what I'm asking. What I am asking is if he did what he did for bad reasons.

Now, one complaint about the end of Fairy Tail is that it shifted focus from the big evil being Zeref to Acnologia. I mean, that series was setting Zeref up to be the villain, only to trick us into seeing that the real villain was Acnologia. The shift in focus from one bad guy to another is bad writing, right?

To be fair, I don't know that Fairy Tail handled this in the best ways. However, the idea that the big evil force isn't the one that we thought it to be isn't one unique to Fairy Tail. This is a fairly common twist in fiction, in general. One really popular theory about the Kanto Region Pokemon games is that the actions of Crime Boss Giovanni are really to make up for making the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo. It was even the angle that the Nuzlocke comics went with. (Yeah, like that Nuzlocke.)

Of course, that's based on the precedent that Zeref was trying to do something good. Was he though?

Only kind of, I guess?

Zeref was interested in the study of life and death in response to his family dying. Out of this study, the R-System and the Eclipse Gate were theorized as possibilities. After some wacky stuff happened, Zeref accidentally gained eternal life. He turned to the creation of the Etherious, which would eventually lead him to revive Natsu. However, his purpose in that was to create a way to kill himself. Sometime afterward, he got involved with the plan to defeat Acnologia and volunteered Natsu to help complete his goal.

I would say that Zeref had four main motivations for his actions, three of which are found in this explanation of his backstory: defeating Acnologia,  reviving his brother, and ending his own life. Defeating Acnologia was an ultimate good. I don't think that's something that needs to be argued for. Presentation, introduction, and necessity aside, it's hard to argue that Acnologia wasn't a bad guy, even if he did what he did for not terrible reasons.

Was it ultimately a good thing to want to bring Natsu back? Considering, I started writing the first draft of this post not too long after watching FMA: Brotherhood, I should feel a bit conflicted. Of course, this series is about rewriting Fairy Tail and not a discussion of the rewrite of FMA 2003.

In Fairy Tail, Zeref gets warned that what he is doing is wrong repeatedly by the elders around him. The reason he ends up cursed is that he was trying to bring people back to life. However, it would be foolish of me to argue that bringing Natsu back from the dead didn't result in good things happening, especially towards the end of defeating Acnologia.

Now, should he have been trying to kill himself?

Here's the thing. I'm not pro-suicide (as if such there is such a thing). I've had my struggles with suicide, as have many people I know. I believe that you ought to seek help if you have those kinds of issues. 

Nonetheless, I feel like this isn't the same kind of thing. Zeref's longing to die comes from a place that few, if any, could compare their situations with. He can't die and has been alive for hundreds of years. That's not to say that I don't think that there are things that can be latched onto from Zeref's situation. I don't know that it's entirely wrong for someone who can't die to want death.

What I do think is wrong is how this was written through the series. The simple facts that Zeref made Natsu (his brother) into the thing that would eventually destroy him and sent him into the future as a plan to help kill Acnologia make sense, given that he gave him away as a part of his ultimate plan to die. But if he's also responsible for the Etherious, I'd assume that he would have come up with some of them throughout his time, maybe he would realize the futility of sending his "one true hope" 400 years away. At least, he could have made the Etherious that would be members of Tartarus in between that gap using the extra knowledge he learned from recreating Natsu.

Though, this is getting a bit away from the main question: Was Zeref doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons? So far, the answer has only been kind of. The stuff he created ultimately achieved bad things, but I don't think that trying to defeat Acnologia or bringing his brother back were bad things. Wanting to die may be a bit more questionable, but it makes sense for him to want death.

Of course, there is one thing that does make him more of a villain than an anti-hero: his views on humanity. While he was alive, he had seen humanity fail over and over. His one romance was incredibly short-lived (pun not intended, I swear). Just as he was starting to get hope in humanity, the events of Tenrou caused him to throw that aside. He even goes so far as to say that true humanity has died a long time ago.

And this shift changes things. Zeref went from only trying to help kill Acnologia and himself to trying to destroy both Acnologia and humanity as a whole. He even says as much in his war declaration to Acnologia.

Though, there may be a reason for this change that isn't just about humanity being rotten. Natsu was asked point-blank by Zeref to kill him in Tenrou and he refused. He only concludes that he ought to destroy humanity after the first time skip and part of that may have started off the back of Acnologia supposedly destroying Natsu and other important members of Fairy Tail. Could it be that part of his will to die changed when it became clear that Natsu wouldn't kill him?

Actually, not really. He still does stuff to make Natsu angry enough to want to kill him. He sent his little gremlin (whatever that thing Oba had) to accompany the guild member who sapped Wendy's magic ability. He took the Book of E.N.D, stopping him from completing the mission that Igneel had given him. He even tried to kill Makarov with the explicit purpose of trying to get Natsu mad.

Why would he want to destroy humanity, kill Acnologia, and die? The idea that humanity has no value is fairly fatalistic. However, this feels like there's no plan to rebuild. If Zeref feels that the entire human race is imperfect, why wouldn't he also believe that he is the only one who should be able to rule over all of them? After all, he seems to have the ability to recreate life from the dead. 

Stuff like this is why I think of Zeref as a tragic villain. He was given several bad hands and couldn't have played many of them well even if he wanted to. It's easy to see why he ended up the way he did. 

At the same time, he is a villain. He does terrible things. Many of his actions aren't justifiable. There are good alternatives to what he wants to do. Often, doing literally nothing is a better alternative to whatever action he did in canon. It results in a lot fewer dead bodies in a lot of cases.

That being said, a lot of terrible actions committed by him or in his name aren't his direct fault. It's not his fault the Eclipse Gate wasn't destroyed after the Eclipse Project succeeded. It's not his fault the Tower of Heaven was created by slave labor, especially and notably by children. It's not his fault people used his demons in his stead. Heck, the Curse of Ankhseram (as far as canon is concerned) is considered a curse, as in not something he put on himself.

Will I change things about Zeref? Not a whole lot of things. Some things are worth changing regarding Zeref, but many involve other things surrounding Zeref. Much of what I want to do with Zeref is clarify and provide context to his canon goals and actions. Zeref as fans know and love him (?) is going to stay very similar to his canon iteration.

Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19  | Part 20  | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25

[geekmedium]

Jack Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen

So I just got through reading the first omnibus in Jack Kirby’s Fourth World saga. I’m gonna try to make my way through every last one in order to see what the big deal is and analyze why they have such imaginative power while other Jack Kirby creations like the Eternals went down the memory hole.

And honestly this isn’t an auspicious way to start. I had wondered for a while why Jimmy Olsen isn’t really recommended in the New Gods Saga and now I know why. It’s barely a New Gods book. The only connections to the New Gods are:

Mokkari and Simyan as the recurring antagonists

Morgan Edge working for Darkseid (which isn’t resolved in this book)

Lightray appearing for a scene

Clark spending an issue in New Genesis

A few references to the Forever People

Not exactly the best intro to the War of the New Gods. In fact I would describe this book more as New Gods clean up. It spends more time dealing with threats that are the spillover of war rather than confronting the war directly.

The real through line of these tales is “The Project.” A genetics facility that would later be known as Project Cadmus.

Mokkari and Simyan create threats based on Cadmus tech. Superman and Jimmy deal with the monsters of a Cadmus scientist. We meet the D.N.Alien Dubbilex who investigates a secret passage to Cadmus. Heck the entire story starts with Jimmy investigating a wildness group that uses technology left over from Cadmus. If you’re someone who likes Project Cadmus then this is a highly recommended collection for you.

I think the biggest revelation was that Superman was a partner and firm advocate for the Project. Literally every piece of superhero media I’ve watched portrayed Project Cadmus as morally dubious at best, so it’s kind of surreal that Kirby intended them to be good guys. Especially since a lot of stuff they do in this book is still morally dubious. They create human clones (seemingly without permission) and employ mad scientists. Some of their soldiers are children or teens and they seem really intent on keeping all this literal life changing tech undercover. It’s kind of wild that Kirby framed all of this in the narrative as morally good without questioning it at all. Then again, wasn’t eugenics a well thought of science back in the day? I figured it died out in the 50s or so, but maybe a lot of people still agreed with it in the early 70s.

Anyway, the real reason why I think Project Cadmus is the focal point is that it allowed Kirby to work where he shines brightest. Big ideas.

Someone once described Jack Kirby as a hundred ideas per square inch, and it’s hard to disagree when reading through this. Small planets, D.N.Aliens, the Habitat, Zoomway, and the solar phone are just some of the inventions that fill the pages of this collection and I purposely left out the stuff connected with New Gods like the Boom Tube. But more than just making cool technology, Jack gave Superman cool threats.

It can be hard coming up with challenges for any incarnation of the Man of Steel, and I have to imagine the Bronze Age one was one of the hardest. But reading through these I’m amazed with how rarely I felt the threat was below Superman. And I think that comes down to the fact that rarely was Kirby trying to write a cosmic wrestling match. His solution to problems had a more cerebral element to them, and required Superman to get creative or even occasionally play for a more peaceful resolution. I think my favorite was when he saved Cadmus from a collection of atomic energy eaters in like 10 seconds.

In fact, Kirby wrote an absolutely fantastic Superman. Strong, clever, mature, creative, kind, and badass. I said it can be hard to write for Superman, and I think a lot of comic writers think that decreasing him makes him work better, but Kirby knew that all you really have to do is make the threats bigger. And this cosmic war of gods, with Earth as just a casualty in the way, is about as big as you can get. And as a result, the Superman that emerges here is all the stronger for facing these threats as they come one by one while also trying to help start a whole new branch of science that these monsters threaten or distort. While this isn’t much of a New Gods book, I consider it a bit of a hidden classic for Bronze Age Superman stories.

But what about the titular character of Jimmy Olsen? Well honestly, he really ends up playing a side character in his own book. And I’m fine with that, because I think Jimmy only really works as a spotlight character once every couple dozen of issues, but if you are reading these stories for him, you’ll probably be disappointed. It’s not that he has nothing to do, but when your book has New Gods and Superman and genetic warfare and interdimensional schemes of every shape and size, you’re just gonna have to play second or even third billing. To be fair, no other main player in the Superman mythos can really tag along either. Lois is nowhere to be seen, I think Perry White only shows up once, and while Morgan Edge is a small antagonists, he really only acts as an orchestrator instead of a major player. They are all gone to make room for the Newsboy Legion.

And man do the Newsboy Legion just barge into the story. Sometimes literally.

Kirby seemed to really want to make them a thing again like when he wrote them in the 40s. It kind of reminds me of how J.M. DeMatteis tried to put Vermin in a lot of his stories. And just like with Vermin, they really end up over staying their welcome.

They were fine in the first two or three issues, but around the time the Outsiders (no not those Outsiders, a different one) exit the story, the NL should have left too. They could return for a story or two, but no more. Instead Kirby makes sure they appear in every single story in this omnibus, including ones where they aren’t really needed. Oh no! Jimmy has been ambushed and Clark has been sent off to Apokolips with no way to return. Quick, let’s go see what hijinks the Newsboy Legion are getting up to. Like, I don’t hate them, and giving Superman super wacky kids who support him in his adventures isn’t a setup I’m adverse to, since that’s basically what Jimmy was for the Silver/Bronze Age. But man, the 70s slang and rapscallion attitude you see in the panel above is only a little of what shows up, and it gets really grating after a while.

On top of that were some other weird cast choices. I actually really like the Golden Guardian’s setup as a genetically made man with memories implanted with those of a dead man. I really looked forward to him relearning his past life while making a new one in Metropolis as much needed backup for Superman. But he honestly ends up as just a kind of Captain America clone

He also ends up just dropping out of the story later on. Not even leaving, it’s just that one scene he is with Superman exploring the city and the next Superman is off exploring a secret tunnel with Dubbilex and not-Lois character Terry Dean.

And speaking of Terry Dean I find it just hilarious that she is in this panel. Superman and the others are exploring secret entrances and contemplating literal apocalyptic war, and she’s just kind of...there. For those who don’t know or care, according to my research she is a character who showed up once before Kirby came on the Jimmy title, twice after he left it, and then one more time eighteen years later as a deep cut in Superman vol 2. #46.

If I seem to be nitpicking, it’s just that it’s so weird Kirby would go for this character instead of bringing in Lois. And he includes another weird character named Goody Rickels for like two or three issues for a story arc I’m gonna have to reread just to understand what the point of it was.

Still, ignoring these flaws, the Jack Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen Omnibus is a recommend if for nothing else than the fact that it is a good set of Superman stories with incredibly inventive and creative plots that hint at a larger world on the horizon. And I honestly can’t wait to tackle that new world of New Gods.

[just-jammin]

Relighting

Word Count: 2024

Summary: The obscure yet infamous game of Sburb has probably caused some trauma & all-around bad times within the Chaos Family.

Their resident Protector can tell you all about it, and about how this predicament can be solved...

So. It’s been a while.

Not in the sense that I haven’t spoken to anyone in a while, just that I haven’t written a journal since... yeah, it wasn’t that long since I did that, but my point still stands.

Look, this whole Sburb thing is crazy ever since I first knew about it, but this is just outright ludicrous. The world-ending meteor shower, trying to process the abstract concepts & lore within the game, witnessing death itself... it’s not my cup of tea when it comes to first-hand experiences.

All of this reminds me of... something. It reminds me of a story that I’ve heard once while participating Mass, in a Homily. I can’t help it but think that it’s so much similar to our situation as of now.

How? I’ll tell it here.

>> —^— <<

In a dark, quiet room, there were four Candles.

Peace, Faith, Love, & Hope.

These four elements are very important to the story, as it is related to the people’s thoughts & actions. The Peace within the group, the Faith of triumph & joy, the unconditional Love for each other, and the Hope fueling our will to go on & go forth.

It’s all present in this session, as the Chaos Family. Even though we never formally met each other until the game started, and somehow one of us was accidentally sucked into it, we still have some camaraderie with each other.

And that’s when things started falling apart.

>> —^— <<

While talking to each other, the Candles noticed that Peace was melting.

You see, we never had proper Peace. We’re all about Chaos, right? But this is our kind of Peace; knowing that everyone is having fun & laughing along to our antics is our kind of Peace. It means that every single member is getting to know each other more.

Yet somehow, when we entered the Medium, things got serious. When I thought setting up a Zoom call tutorial thing for the extremely confused members was a mess, I didn’t expect our problems to be worse when we got our own Planets.

Don’t get me wrong, all of our Sprites did say that our Planets’ purpose was to strengthen ourselves. But all I could feel was insecurity. Scared of moving forward. And I bet the others felt that too.

Basically, our first impressions of our planets are outright Hell.

I think this is why fights started breaking out whenever we talked to each other. Whether it was a memo in Pesterchum (which we had to download), or just meeting up in one of the Planets, arguments are thrown here & there. Unfortunately, it escalated to rowdy fistfights that we had to have a hard time to let them struggle & break it up.

To be fair, sometimes I was in those fights. It was... rough.

Needless to say, this was a different kind of Chaos. It wasn’t the one we’re used to, nor the one that brings people together. It was the kind of Chaos that tears relationships apart and basically destroys everyone, inside & out.

When Peace had been standing in its final moments, it cried out, “Oh, what’s the use of me being here?! Everybody has been making a fool of themselves by causing nonsensical conflict!

“That’s it! I’m done here!”

There’s no Peace in there. Not anymore.

Its light flickers out.

>> —^— <<

There were three left.

And it had been for days.

Until one time, while the Candles were talking, they noticed that Faith was melting.

Faith. It’s hard to say when it was there in the first place.

I mean, to be fair, a lot of things are difficult to see in this Family, or the rest of Tumblr, actually. (Heh... I miss Tumblr...) But Faith comes in small things, like the friendships of others. And even full-on relationships. Little things like that can let us keep on believing that we can do better for ourselves.

That was... unfortunate.

Although entering the Medium was a win for all of us, there were also some losses for a handful of us.

It included our friends outside the Chaos Family. And even some of them in the Family.

Almost everyone not participating in our session is dead.

Dead. Gone forever.

It was a hard one to take in. Some of our real-life family relatives in our houses are still alive, but our Tumblr friends impacted some of us the most. People were crying. Like real tears.

And for some reason, I didn’t.

Almost all of my friends are here, my brother is here, and honestly, I didn’t have much back on Earth. Sure, my parents and relatives are gone, so that’s... depressing. But I can cope with them here. They’re the reason why I’m thriving.

The others? Not so much.

Faith had shouted while getting weakened, “Look, my own Faith is dwindling too, y’know?! They’re moping around in their own disbelief!

“I’m out!”

I guess I’m the only one who had more of it. But only by a smidge.

Its smoke wafts away in the dark.

>> —^— <<

And then there were two.

Unfortunately, Love was next to melt.

Ah, Love. This one is somewhat different from the story I’m telling than the source material.

You see, our Family’s Love never dwindled. We all still care for each other, no matter what happens to any of us. Through thick & thin, we helped each other to get ourselves up & going.

Heck, some of them got together romantically. Not that I’m too envious of them, but to be honest, they’re really cute with each other. A handful of them loved those outside of the Family, but you know what happened...

It’s just that we talked to each other less over time, either because of the missions we were given or because we just didn’t feel like talking to each other. It’s ok, I do respect their reasons, whether good or bad.

However, it just made me more concerned. I bet the others feel the same about that, but I think it’s been taking over my brain recently. I even tried talking about it to the closest people I know in the Family. No responses were made.

It doesn’t help that I have to literally build my way up, going through a complicated labyrinth of temperature-changing caverns filled with walking & talking thorny devils that hate me so much they shoot blood from their eyes at me.

Not to mention that I only have my annoying older brother with me, who only set my issue aside when I tried telling him. It sucks.

So no, our Love never dwindled.

It just became more isolated.

And yet, Love sobbed out, “Come on! Why am I not strong enough for them?! I thought I can keep all of them together!

“I can’t take this anymore!”

It just... feels like before. Numb all over.

Hehe, shit. I’m too familiar with that...

Love’s warmth faded away soon.

>> —^— <<

Only one was left standing.

The Candle of Hope.

Hope...

Well, that’s the only one that’s actually relevant to our session, huh?

It’s one of the main Aspects of Sburb, so of course it’s relevant! According to my Sprite, Hope is the embodiment of all positive emotions & beliefs, including Hope itself. It’s a pretty nice Aspect, in my opinion.

Anyway, Hope’s the one that got us through all our shit. Yes, even the very bad times. It’s basically a lifesaver for the Chaos Family and the rest of Tumblr. It can be distributed in many ways, from simple things like compliments, to posts like those ‘One Note a Day’ ones and a bunch of others like that.

But this, this is what I thought we were lacking the most at the time.

By that time, a little girl came running inside the dark room.

She noticed the other three Candles, melted & burnt out.

“Peace? Faith? Love?” she tried to call out.

I... didn’t think it was there when we started the session, nor when the fights started to break out. Not even when... when my friends started struggling with themselves.

Heck, some of them wanted to let their lives go to get to God Tier... or for worse intentions...

Shit, everything sucked.

The girl started tearing up, calling the other Candles repeatedly.

“Why?!” she finally sobbed. “Why aren’t you still burning?! You’re supposed to stay till the end, right?!”

At least, that’s what I thought... before, uh, that happened.

You see, it was one day while I was struggling to find my way through the Land of Rumors and Elements when someone stood in a distance away from me. When I tried to process who it was, they somehow got to me in quick speeds & punched my glasses off of me.

I was at a disadvantage by then. I tried to use my two knives (alchemized ones; they looked cool & they were more fit for fighting) to get them, but my eyesight is pretty crap. I missed my slashes so many times.

Then I felt them getting one of the knives, and it turned into what was basically a very inconvenient sword-fight. It went on for a long time, trying to injure free spots before getting parried repeatedly.

I then noticed a sharp pain on my right side.

When I turned my head towards the feeling, my right arm was on the ground.

Bleeding. Aching. Hurting.

Fading.

I faced the person one last time, and I only see a silhouette. On their head is a mint-colored circle with three wisp-like appendages... a symbol...

The next thing I knew, I was lying on stone. I was... weak. And tired.

On my side was my Sprite, a golden retriever with water buffalo horns & a fedora. She had a mournful look on her face.

I closed my own eyes & took a deep breath when I realized.

I was dying.

“RIGHT?!?!”

She cried out before falling to the ground, practically drowning in her own tears.

Then I felt as numb as I could ever be.

>> —^— <<

Then she heard a voice.

It said, “Worry not, child. I’m still here.”

She looked up to see the remaining Candle in the room.

“Why should I not worry, then?” the girl questioned.

It replied, “I can relight the others if you truly acknowledge my presence.”

She perked up at the response she was given. Crawling closer towards the Candle, she followed up with, “And why is that?”

A soft chuckle came out from it.

“Well... isn’t my name Hope?”

>> —^— <<

I didn’t expect to feel a burst of cool air from where my arm was cut off. At least, I didn’t expect it to be the first thing I felt since I died.

Then I felt something on my back, pushing me up & up until I recognized it as floating in the air. Little by little, my senses came back to normal. The numbness had subsided, replaced with what I think was... power.

My lungs breathed air again; I can make sounds; I can see, smell, hear, feel...

I’m human again. Alive. Awake.

Unfortunately, living again came with having to deal with pain. Remnants of the aching on my right arm arrived, so naturally, I let my left hand clench where it hurt. There was a scar on where I was touching, but I can unusually feel the rest of my arm...

Yep, I got my arm back. Nice, I guess. Let’s set that aside for now.

One other detail I noticed was that I was wearing a mostly yellow outfit: a sleeveless shirt, some leggings, and dark green boots, along with long fingerless gloves. I then took a look at a puddle to see that my reflection has a superhero-like mask on my face.

I did not know how the fuck they got on me.

Yet one thing’s for sure: I’ve ascended and went to God Tier.

And my role?

I relight our Family’s bond & trust with the help of Hope.

With shining eyes, the girl picked the Candle up and lighted the other three.

Peace, Faith, & Love.

All together, alight again, in the dark room.

>> —^— <<

I am the Rogue of Hope, the one who distributes Hope to others.

[gayiconwaluigi]

Tracking the dynamic between Argo and Fitzroy eps 9-11.

Episode 9:

Fitzroy: Damn!! This is good jerky!! Argo: Oh, my mom would be pleased to hear you say that. What—how about you, Firbolg? You want to try a little bite?

Argo: Well, I'd agree to that idea, as long as we could maybe name it after my ma. Cause y'know, she was a very important part of my life. Fitzroy: Thundermom! Argo: [quietly] Thundermom… 

Argo: Memories, huh? What about you, Fitzroy? What about your folks? Fitzroy: Oh… You know, uh, the—the house where I grew up, Argo, it‘s um… I don‘t like to flaunt it, but uh… it was large enough that I would go days without seeing either of my parents, and uh, they would frequently sort of travel from villa to villa. Or ‗vi-ya,‘ as they would say it. 

Argo: Avast ye—oh, he‘s already dead. I actually should've said the ava— but then it wouldn‘t have been a sneak attack if I'd yelled out ‗avast ye.‘ Firbolg: This is the problem. Fitzroy: Well, it still wasn‘t a sneak attack, if you think about it… Argo: It wouldn‘t have been, no. 

Fitzroy: [quietly] There may be invisible imps in here. So make sure you sneak attack just every square inch of the room, okay partner? Argo: Well, it doesn‘t really work like that. That‘s not sneaky. Fitzroy: Well, again, I think… the last play was a little bit also unsneaky, but let‘s just, um… hm. Uhh… Argo: Let me try something. Let me try something. 

Griffin: And I attack the model skeleton with my maul. Argo: You have sneak attack too?! Fitzroy: Sure, if this is what we‘re calling it. I sneak attack the heck out of him.

Fitzroy: What… just… happened, Argo? Argo: Hell if I know. [laughs] I have—I have magic, too! I have one freakin‘ spell!

Fitzroy: Argo, take a grabski, bud! We‘re all takin‘ one. Argo: Uh, I'll take the… oh, I don't know. I'll take the arsenic. I'll take some arsenic. Travis: Whoa! Fitzroy: I don‘t love that. Argo: Well, I am a rogue.

Argo: Sneak attack!! Fitzroy: Now this is a good—yes!

Fitzroy: Hey, Argo, you're just— Travis: If you're wondering, you get some in your hair. Fitzroy: Yeah, Argo, you're just kind of trying some stuff out tonight, aren't you? Argo: [laughs] I'm just really exploring meself. I'm discovering Argo! Fitzroy: Okay, so just like, moving forward, how did you feel about the head-butt operation? Argo: Probably a bad choice. ‗Cause now I've got ichor. But my skin is so naturally… y'know, it always looks like it‘s kind of covered in water and oily and stuff that, hopefully, the ichor will wash out.

Argo: Oh, okay. [sings] Night fever, night fever… Fitzroy: I don‘t think he was speaking… Argo: Oh, you didn‘t mean that literally?

Griffin: Yeah. Uh, I think that sort of takes the wind out of me, as I see Argo, uh, seemingly be killed by a razor-sharp chain. So I'm going to try and get over to him, taking an attack of opportunity, and try to get in his bag if I can.

Griffin: [laughs] I'm glad I said I drop out of rage, as uh, as I see that, because I lose my half damage ability, and uh, that‘s gonna take me down to, uh, two hit points! So, I dive towards Argo, take an enormous hit. Uhh, reach into his bag, grab the medicine kit, think about it real hard, about just kind of eatin‘ it myself, uh… but no, I'm going to uh, use it to revive Argo.

Summary: Lots of back and forth between Argo and Fitzroy. Argo is investigating Fitzroy (from what it appears). There’s a back and forth about Fitzroy wanting to sneak attack (Argo’s thing) and Argo wanting to do magic (Fitzroy’s thing). Argo head butts an imp, and even Fitzroy knows that’s dumb. Fitzroy drops out of rage to help Argo and helps Argo instead of helping himself after getting knocked to 2 HP.

Episode 10:

Gary: Those imps taught you something, eh? Fitzroy: Yeah, those imps taught me a lot about life and love. [????Griffin?????]

Argo: Umm… well, I did, uh… thanks to my new hero, Fitz, I—I escaped from the brink of death. I missed a lot, because I was at zero—no, I was unconscious.

Argo: By god, the little guy came along and brought me back to life, and I owe him a life debt. Buckminster: Oh! Fitzroy: Uh, yes, and a lot of times, when people say that, they do mean it sort of… um… metaphorically. At this school, there is actually a sort of fungible like, equivalent to a life debt. And we can get into that later.

Argo: No, wait, we need to try to guess, don‘t we? Buckminster: No, it‘s not a riddle, it‘s a joke. Fitzroy: No, it‘s not a riddle. It‘s not a quiz. It‘s a joke. Argo: Oh, gotcha. We don‘t know!

Argo: Uh, well, I mean, it was interesting. It was kind of creepy. Umm… but uh, yeah. I almost died. So, that was kind of a sucky, y'know, angle to it. Jackle: No. Argo. Argo, I'm not talking about the imps, boy. I'm talking about, what did you learn about Fitzroy Maplecourt? What'd you learn about his family? Argo: Oh! Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, listen to this. You're gonna love this. His ma, her name was Dindra. And she handed out really good gum. Had a big purse. Had a huge purse. And in this purse, she kept like, jewels and gems, and uh, amulets, and uh, hot mint gum, apparently. So… that—that‘s… that‘s about the extent of what I learned. Jackle: [sighs] Argo: These guys don‘t like talkin‘ about themselves. They don‘t want to share. [weepy] I mean, they kind of bond together, and they got their little things, and they talk, but nobody—

Argo: Because listen… the—the guy could‘a… he had a chance to help himself, or save my salty ass. And he saved my salty ass. I… I… I don‘t feel so comfortable spying on him, especially if it‘s gonna lead to something bad happenin‘ to him. He‘s not a bad guy. For an arrogant jerk, he‘s kind of a nice arrogant jerk. 

Argo: Well why can't I just come out and ask him? Why can't I, instead of just sittin‘ around, y'know, trying to be—

Argo: I understand. Okay, let me just tell you something. That‘s fine. And I‘ll pursue this up to a point. But if it reaches the point where something bad‘s gonna happen to him, you may have your first broken chain link, my… my friend. 

Fitzroy: But I don't know how much you've been paying attention – Argo sneaks out at night very frequently. He does not talk very much about the classes he takes. I know he is a rogue by nature, and so, there is a certain amount of that to be expected from him, but… I… there is something very big and strange happening, and there is also something strange happening with our friend, Argo Keene. I don't know if we can bring him in on this.

Fitzroy: Master Firbolg, I trust you with my life. It‘s what… it‘s what happens to you occasionally that I don‘t trust. I don't know that I can say the same for Argo. And I don‘t necessarily know how to get there, so I think… at least for right now, it would behoove us to stay quiet, at least until we can protect ourselves from whatever is doing this to students at this school.

Summary: Fitzroy...I know you’re joking about kissing an imp, but if the imp’s taught you about love and to sacrifice yourself for the one’s you love...Argo call’s Fitzroy “my new hero.” Fitzroy is thinking about taking Argo up on that life debt. Argo is dumb and also sad that his friends exclude him. Argo says he’ll leave if they hurt Fitzroy because he thinks he’s a good person for saving his life instead of trying to save himself instead. Fitzroy doesn’t know how to begin to trust Argo, so he’s not sharing anything with him.

Episode 11:

Fitzroy: Uh, we like to keep it more fluid around here. More jazz-like, with our long term planning. I mean, right now, we've got a great thing going on. We have a fantastic thing going on. My CFO is always crackin‘ the books, trying to ink out every little bit of gold and copper and coin that we can possibly squeeze into our coffers, and Argo is doing… something. Equally vital, I'm sure.

Argo: And y'know, they're great fellas. They're really… they're really good, and they really seem to have really kind of, y'know, connected. They‘ve got… okay, they're both CEO and CFO of this… Thunderman thing, and I don‘t have a title. And it bothers me. 

Argo: But I don't know, I'm kind of the odd man out. Y'know, with the two fellas. And it‘s, uh… y'know, like I said, it‘s not a big thing. It‘s just a fittin‘ in, y'know, kind of thing. I've never been one to make friends fast. But y'know, I feel a little left out. Especially at the meetings. Y'know, they all get to make official reports, and I just sit there, writin‘ all the stuff down. Eh, y'know…

Althea: Now, Argo, this isn't necessarily within my prevue. But… have you spoken with them directly? Have you told them that you feel left out, that you would like to be closer friends? Have you… opened up to them? Argo: Well… here‘s the thing. I think Fitz thinks I'm kind of an idiot.

Argo: And thank you. Thank you, by the way, for the compliment. I appreciate that. Althea: Oh, of course. Argo: So far, all I've been complimented on is like, uh, like, stealing things, and killing. It‘s nice to get a compliment on, y'know… bein‘ smart.

Fitzroy: Sneak attack! Travis: Wait, you don‘t have sneak attack! Griffin: I mean, I just did it fast.

Argo: Sneak attack! Crush: Okay. I'm standing right here looking at all three of you, and you're saying out loud, ‗sneak attack.‘ Um, so, this is going to be lesson number one. If you're going— Argo: I was trying to encourage—I was trying to encourage Fitzroy to try it again. Crush: Sure. If you're going to sneak attack – and this is just kind of basic 101 stuff – don‘t yell ‗sneak attack‘ before you do it. Fitzroy: You should whisper it. Crush: No, don‘t—okay. Argo: [whispers] Sneak attaaack!

Fitzroy: Hey, you did a fair amount of ass kicking before you were— Argo: Thank youuu. Fitzroy: Before you were killed. 

Fitzroy: They had a evil boss. Crush: Like a big imp? Argo: He was an imperor. Fitzroy: Yowza.

Argo: Um, okay. Listen, um, I'm uh… I'm checkin‘ out—I wanna check out things on uh, Fitzroy. Y'know, I'm on my secret mission, which I assume you know, so it‘s not that big a secret. Sabour: Oh, yes. Yes. Argo: I was thinking, like, any… like, a social register from Goodcastle, or uh, old issues of… Knights Illustrated. Especially the bathing suit of armor issues. [laughs]

Argo: Wow. Caravan? Huh. So he was… a truck driver. [laughs] Travis: Basically, yes. Argo: Oh. [laughing] I'm not meanin‘ to laugh. Um… I… there‘s no way Fitzroy knows this, does he? 

Argo’s Letter: Greetings, salutations, and general huzzahs! We haven‘t been formally introduced in the flesh so to speak, but I am Argonaut Keene, friend, roommate, and business associate of your son, Fitzroy. And let me just say right off the bat – your son is quite well. He is excelling in his classwork, wreaking a lot of havoc among imps, and making fast friends with many of his fellow students. Most notably, myself, his best friend, and our other roommate, a Firbolg named… Bud… Furby… Dr. Fungus. I tell you what, that can wait for another letter. Actually, the friendships are the reason I'm contacting you. We've all grown quite fond of Fitzroy and would like to surprise him with a kind of social event. Here at the academy, they have a tradition called a roast – and no, it does not involve cooking of any kind. I had to explain that to the Firbolg… It‘s where friends gather and show their affection for a designated buddy by standing up and making speeches; most of them, good natured ribbing of the honoree. I am organizing just such an event, and Fitzroy will be the honoree! ...Of course, I in return, vow to watch over Fitz and allow no harm to come to him here. That is a solemn promise that I do not make lightly, but to ease any concerns you have over the safety of your boy, my BFF. 

Summary:  Fitzroy admits that he doesn’t have a role for Argo, and then Argo notes that in his own meeting. Argo is hurt that Fitzroy thinks he’s stupid, and he takes Althea’s compliment that he’s not dumb to heart. There’s the whole sneak attack bit, which I cannot tell if Fitzroy is trying to mock Argo or genuinely has stolen his bit. Argo makes bad jokes and also asks for Knights Illustrated. Argo thinks it’s funny Fitzroy’s dad was a truck driver and trusts Fiztroy so much that he believes he doesn’t know his dad’s a truck driver. Argo labels himself as Fitzroy’s best friend although he’s obviously been upset that he’s not as close to Fiztroy as everyone else is. Then Argo vows to watch over Fitzroy, okay man, chill.

[homespork-review]

Homespork Act 4, Part 2: Flight of the Paradox Groans

BRIGHT: Remember Spades Slick being bizarrely aware he was in a comic, back in the Intermission? Buckle up, things are about to get even more fourth-wall-breaking. Appropriately, this starts by the comic focusing on an actual fourth wall, which activates to show...Andrew Hussie.

Hussie’s MS Paint avatar notices the audience watching him, laments that his side of the wall doesn’t have an off switch, and then recaps the first year of Homestuck.

Now, in all fairness: The recap is thorough, full of links, and explains things fairly well. It’s quite long, but given how much territory it has to cover I’m not sure it could be any shorter. So it does its job well, and it’s a boon if you’re getting lost with the plot.

As for the author insertion...on this occasion I don’t mind it. It comes across as tongue-in-cheek, but framed more as the author talking to the reader than as the author inserting himself into the narrative. It’s definitely very Homestuck.

Anyway, AH gets back to work, and after a couple of false starts we return to John!

John is still flying around with his jet pack. GC trolls him to offer him a world map of LOWAS and tell him she feels awful about killing him, although in literally the next line she tells him that technically he never even died so she doesn’t understand why he’s so upset. John understandably finds this disturbing. They have a brief nonsensical discussion about Jesus/Jegus, and then John agrees to go take a look at what’s on the other side of his Second Gate. Yes, on the advice of someone whose previous advice got him killed.

CHEL: Almost a shame we didn’t set up a Too Dumb To Live count, but then to be fair that was a separate timeline and he’s probably not thinking of it as something that “really” happened. This is supported by his later dialogue.

FAILURE ARTIST: The word Jegus is really popular in the Homestuck fandom, used far more often than it is in the canon. Gets quite annoying, in my opinion. Actually, a rather Jesus-like figure does appear, but he’s not called “Jegus”.

CHEL: Yeah, I think only Terezi, John, and Dave ever use the term, but it somehow became latched onto as an actual term used by trolls in general, even though in canon it isn’t.

BRIGHT: Fortunately, this time GC appears to be playing nice. John flies though the Second Gate and emerges...into LOLAR?

FAILURE ARTIST: Hussie does an amusing trick where he has what looks like a loading screen for a flash but it’s actually a still image eternally at 2%.

BRIGHT: Yes, it’s LOLAR. John promptly crashes into Rose’s house, smashing through a wall and into her bedroom, where Rose is still snoozing in her knitting pile. Apart from briefly being stuck upside down, he does not appear injured by this collision.

Rose has somehow slept through the commotion. John decides to let her rest and borrows her computer to talk to Dave.

The first one he talks to is actually Davesprite, who points out how moronic John was to listen to GC again. No arguments here! Then he explains how the Gate system works: Odd-numbered Gates, above players’ houses, lead to somewhere on their planets. Even-numbered Gates lead to other players’ planets, exiting over their houses. Normally they aren’t meant to go through even-numbered Gates until the houses are built up, so they don’t fall to their deaths, but fortunately John has a jetpack workaround. So far Davesprite is living up to his promise of being straightforward.

John realises he’s talking to Future Dave, and asks “do you think i could talk to the real dave for a second?”

...ouch, John.

Davesprite goes off on a tear, ranting that he is a real Dave — arguably the realest Dave, since he’s been running around LOHAC for months trying to get enough information to save everyone. John apologises sincerely.

CHEL: This won’t be the last we hear of this theme, though.

EB: i think i pissed off your future self. TG: what did you do EB: i said he wasn't the real dave. TG: ahahahahaha EB: i think i might have really hurt his feelings though! TG: pff TG: dont worry about it EB: why not? TG: cause i wouldnt give a shit TG: and hes me

BRIGHT: Not a hundred percent sure I believe Dave, there.

CHEL: Dave uses John to snoop around Rose’s room and get the captcha code for her journals. Classy, Dave. Not a SLAMMER point, however, as this does come back to bite him very soon.

Rose’s dreamself has awoken on Derse, the purple planet, and flies across to the opposite tower. Dave’s dreamself appears to be awake, sitting upright in his computer chair; the room is entirely an unsettling bloody red colour apart from the SBaHJ cartoons on the walls, and… oh shit, there’s Lil Cal again, now in a long purple nightdress and hopping around the room on his own. If Rose was having nightmares because of dreamself issues, I can only imagine how Dave’s nightmares must look. Rose throws a ball of yarn at Dave’s dreamself, alerting him, and causing the awake Dave to pass out.

Back in Rose’s room, it seems that Charles Barkley quote was not misattributed:

FAILURE ARTIST: Another SBaHJ reference in the book quote. Is that where Dave got it?

Still, I don’t recall this book ever coming up again. Just another item that seems like a Chekhov's Gun but isn’t.

CHEL: John feels guilty about opening his birthday gift from Rose, but reasons that it’s technically now his anyway, so he does, finding another bunny, this one black and filthy-looking except for the pristine knitted purple patches repairing it, though its shape is eerily familiar.

The gift in this box is a resurrection. I used your present to thread life anew into a tattered heirloom. As long as I can remember, its black, greasy appendages have been tethered limply to its ratty, porous carriage. Too delicate to wash, too dear to discard. I used to love this rabbit. Now he's yours. I trust you'll find this to be adequately sentimental. Happy birthday.

Oh my gosh, awwwwww. Even if you don’t ship them romantically how can you not love their interactions? Definitely one of the comic’s strong points. Also I need to go hug my childhood teddy bear.

John puts the bunny back in the box again and the box in his sylladex, freeing Casey the salamander while he’s at it. And let’s just take a minute to feel utter horror because dead John still had Casey in his sylladex, so the best option is that she died too, and the worst is that we have an And I Must Scream situation on for a baby salamander. Gah.

FAILURE ARTIST: Thanks, I’d never thought of that and I never want to again.

You aren't actually sure if she is a girl though. You don't even know if salamanders can be girls. Aren't they hermaphrodites or something?

CHEL: No, for the record. Though some frogs can switch from one to the other.

FAILURE ARTIST: Casey is very popular as a name for an OC child of John (often having Rose as the mother).

CHEL: John answers Rose’s Pesterchum, upon which GA is half-heartedly sending antagonistic messages. John answers on Rose’s account, saying that Rose is asleep, which GA takes for Human Sarcasm, prompting John to pretend to be Rose.

GA: I Should Figure Out How The Viewport Feature Of This Application Works GA: So I Can See What Such A Primitive Creature Looks Like TT: haha, well i know what you guys look like. TT: you look kind of like... TT: howie mandel from little monsters.

Wait, how does he know? Am I forgetting a point at which he saw them?

BRIGHT: I always assumed that he was just goofing around and his guess happened to land in the right ballpark, but thinking about it, I’m not sure the kids ever express surprise at the trolls’ appearance.

CHEL: John, pretending to be Rose, talks about how awesome John is.

GA: He Is Either The Leader Of Your Party Or You Hold Whatever The Human Equivalent Of Mating Fondness For Him Is

CHEL: Both. Both is good!

FAILURE ARTIST: Knowing what we do of troll culture later this is an odd statement. Heck, it’s just an odd statement. Maybe this is why people think trolls don’t do friendship.

CHEL: John apparently confuses GA by saying it’s because Rose is thoughtful and John appreciates his gift, and suggests GA talk to John.

TT: why don't you pick the time that will make the most complicated mess out of everything imaginable?

GA sounds very annoyed, and leaves, intending to have the conversation with John that she had previously. We see her, GC, and the horns of AT and an unknown troll in the grey room, now revealed to be a computer laboratory. For some reason she chats via Pesterchum with another troll instead of just walking over to talk to them. This new troll is twinArmageddons, an appropriate name for the circumstances, who type2 iin yellow text liike thii2; he is, as it turns out, the hacker guy GC mentioned earlier. TA is busy setting up the network and seems irritable in general, and is not willing to help GA work her viewport.

TA: iif ii 2ee one more 2narl of wiire2. TA: kiind of juttiing out and beiing tangled or whatever. TA: ii am goiing two perform 2ome 2ort of athletiic fuckiing 2omer2ault off the deep end and get a call from the pre2iident or 2ome 2hiit.

Nice callback, but trolls, as we’ll later find out, don’t have presidents.

WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 14

GA wonders why TA doesn’t want to talk to her, and TA complains that he knew in advance the trolls were doomed and no one believed him. He refuses to troll the humans himself but is setting up the system so the others can in order to get them to leave him alone. GA asks again for help, to no avail.

TA: iif you cant fiigure 2hiit out by fuckiing around you dont belong near computer2. TA: kiind of liike wiith regii2tered 2ex offender2 and 2chool2. TA: iif you move two a new town you have two go up two your neiighbor2 door and warn them about how 2tupiid you are. TA: and giive them a chance two hiide all theiir iinnocent technology. TA: and vandaliize your hou2e.

Ooh, a threefer plus one! Tacky simile for the Problematykks. As for WSP, we’ll later find out that 1) trolls kill all their criminals, 2) trolls don’t give a shit about the welfare of their children, and 3) trolls don’t appear to actually go to school. These two counts are neck and neck in the lead now!

CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS: 17 WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 17

BRIGHT: As with much of Homestuck, the trolls give the impression of being made up as Hussie went along. That’s not entirely a bad thing -- it certainly makes the comic pretty unique -- but it does lead to some out-of-place slip-ups.

Anyway, GA chucks her F1 key at TA’s head and then starts poking him. We also see CG in the lab.

FAILURE ARTIST: I think I recall GA/TA were a popular ship before we learned more about GA. It does seem like they have a Rose & Dave dynamic going on.

BRIGHT: Back on Derse, Rose and Dave have a dance party to Dave’s music while accompanied by some crows and Lil Cal, who keeps teleporting around the room. Rose eventually gets tired of Cal’s shenanigans and hurls him out of the window, to the relief of many.

FAILURE ARTIST: The flash originally included music by Bill Bolin. In fact, it was his unfinished music being included here that caused all the drama in the first place.

BRIGHT: Time for some random interludes! First up is Maplehoof the pony, who is following Rose’s mother through a large cave which, judging by the grist lying around, recently contained very dangerous monsters.

FAILURE ARTIST: Apparently pets can collect grist for their masters...and know what grist is despite being a normal(?) animal.

BRIGHT: First Mom, and then Maplehoof, stand on a transportaliser platform and disappear. Second is Dad, who has just acquired a replacement shoe and hat (which showed up in the walkaround game, way back at the beginning of the Act), when he encounters a familiar-looking stranger with a Colonel Sassacre book, who leads him to another transportalizer platform. Both of these interludes do become relevant later, but at the time they seem a tad unnecessary.

Meanwhile, John uses Rose’s alchemiter and a code Davesprite gave him mid-rant to produce a truly epic hammer called FEAR NO ANVIL. It’s far too big for John to wield, but fortunately he can use the scaling upgrade on the alchemiter to reduce it to a more useable size. ...wait. When did Rose’s alchemiter get a scaling upgrade? Dave and Jade added a lot of modifications to his, but Rose’s should be the original edition. Sigh.

EB: so what is this? EB: the thing the code made... TG: really powerful hammer EB: how do you know? EB: i thought you couldn't use hammers. TG: i cant TG: better be though TG: got it from hephaestus EB: who's that? TG: really tough to kill dude EB: you killed him for it? TG: nope EB: how'd you get it then? TG: shenanigans EB: ok.

...and we’re back to sprite evasiveness. Davesprite is being less than forthcoming here, although it’s less obvious than with Nannasprite because it superficially imitates John and Dave’s bantering.

CHEL: Now, this would be a good way of keeping us interested if we were eventually going to see how he did it, and also they have a time limit, so not going off into a long anecdote would be understandable. However, we’ll see how his evasiveness level proceeds in the future.

BRIGHT: Dream Rose and Dave see John using Rose’s alchemiter on Dream Dave’s computer. Rose wakes up.

FAILURE ARTIST: It is interesting how early Homestuck avoided having characters have face-to-face conversations. Would have been unique if it kept up throughout the entire comic.

BRIGHT: Back in the meteor, GA hassles TA into opening the viewport on her computer. This turns out to be as simple as clicking on the point in Rose’s timeline that she wants to see. No wonder TA was frustrated!

Of course, by this point, the only one left in the room is Rose, now awake, and the young salamander. Rose hurries to catch up with John, but he blasts off to explore before she can reach him, taking her mutated kitten with him.

CHEL: John renames Vodka Mutini to Dr Meowgon Spengler, and Rose renames Casey to Viceroy Bubbles von Salamancer. Interesting link to the themes of identities which are starting to crop up, though it’s not really a direct analogue. The animals are the same animals with different names; the alternate timeline characters have the same names and superficially the same identities, but are they really the same people after their new experiences?

BRIGHT: Back on Derse, Lil Cal inexplicably lands on a stray rocket board, catching the attention of AR.

You're not sure which laws are being broken, but it is probably a lot.

AR follows Cal to yet another transportaliser, and they both dematerialise.

We jump back to John, who spies a boat on one of the islands dotting LOLAR and lands to investigate. He follows hoofprints in the sand into a subterranean hallway filled with monsters. Fortunately his new hammer has time powers, which stun the monsters long enough for John to kill them. Further on, he finds the transportaliser Mom used. John, naturally, stands on it, and is transported to a meteor in the Veil.

Actually, it’s not just a meteor; it’s one of the laboratories where the Skaian troops are produced. John, along with the cat and Maplehoof, finds a bunch of chess guys being grown in glass jars on a giant podium. Most of them are the standard carapaces we’re familiar with, but there are also a few larger pieces, apparently based on knights and rooks. He also finds a JUNIOR ECTOBIOLOGIST’S LAB SUIT, and another of those strange house-shaped sets of monitors.

On Prospit, PM is preparing to board a shuttle to Skaia when a COURTYARD DROLL sneaks up behind her. Unaccountably, she fails to notice him, despite the fact that he’s wearing a hat larger than he is. CD successfully pickpockets the White Queen’s ring, and PM departs for Skaia, none the wiser.

CD radios the DRACONIAN DIGNITARY to report mission success, and is told that he doesn’t need to keep wearing his ridiculous outfit, per orders from Jack Noir, who is now going by the SOVEREIGN SLAYER. CD says he’d rather keep wearing the outfit. Apart from the sword-through-the-chest part, it is a very nice outfit, so I’m with CD on this one.

Catastrophe is averted by Jade delivering a flying kick to CD’s head and following up with a very efficient smackdown. Her robot body replicates this back on Earth, beating the stuffing out of her mummified grandfather. Jade retrieves the ring, and puts it on her fingers to remind herself to give it back to PM later. Unfortunately, this doesn’t cause Jade to sprout wings and tentacles. Seems the rings don’t work on humans like that.

Meanwhile, in a Timeless Expanse, a WARWEARY VILLEIN is getting tired of the battle between Derse and Prospit. The next animation is called “WV?: Rise Up” and it’s one of my favorites! When I first read Homestuck I had to watch it a few times before I understood what was going on, but it is a very neat video.

Watch on YouTube

The Battlefield has been prototyped three times, and is now spherical. The forces of Derse and Prospit meet. The usual carapaces with swords are backed up by larger pieces -- some of them very strange -- and by battleships clashing in the sky. In the chaos, WV, who is farming peacefully on Skaia, has his home and farm burned down. He raises a flag and addresses the troops of both armies. Elsewhere, Jack Noir appears, flying over the Battlefield in search of the Black King.

WV rallies the armies and tells them that their real enemies are the monarchs, who are responsible for the war. Encouraged, the Dersite and Prospitan troops band together and march on the Black King.

Meanwhile, PM has reached the White King and discovers that she no longer has the White Queen’s ring. The White King listens to her and hands over his scepter, which seems to represent Skaia and serves a similar function to the Queens’ rings. Behind a nearby hill, the Hegemonic Brute radios somebody to report the transfer.

As WV and the united armies reach the Black King, Jack arrives and slices the Black King’s scepter in half, nullifying its powers and turning the Black King back into a normal carapace. PM is attacked by HB, who knocks the White King’s scepter out of her hand; it falls down a waterfall. Jack Noir beheads the Black King and turns to WV, and the animation ends.

...okay, much as I love it, I have to admit there’s a glaring question here: Namely, the kids started playing the Game less than a day ago and Dave’s kernelsprite has been prototyped for a few hours max. The second prototyping made the Battlefield more complex and the third took it into its current form. That’s a very short time to instigate a cross-faction revolution, organise the troops, and march on a monarch. For that matter, how long has WV been a farmer? The inhabitants of Derse and Prospit have obviously been doing their thing all the kids’ lives, but the Battlefield was supposedly a static, rudimentary space until John entered the Medium, so what gives?

Then again, the timeline in the Medium is supposed to be distinct from the timeline on Earth, so maybe that explains it?

CHEL: An interesting point is also raised by WV’s revolution. Namely, Derse is presented as a kingdom of darkness and evil by the game, while Prospit is presented as good. However, while PM is good, WV and AR are demonstrably not bad people either. In this animation, we see carapaces of both sides apparently don’t want to be involved in the war and are willing to rise up against the Black King. The rank-and-file carapaces on both sides, it seems, are decent people who are just following orders. (Not to mention very cute.) Jack Noir and his gang are nasty pieces of work, except CD who’s also just kind of going along with it, but there’s nothing saying white carapaces couldn’t also be… And is that a Problematykks point, presenting the black-coloured people as bad and the white-coloured ones as good? I know they’re chess pieces, but still.

This raises the question, however, what’s Derse’s motive? Are its rulers and archagents simply destroying for the evulz? I wonder. I also wonder how much Skaia itself is involved in this and how aware it is. Skaia is called the crucible of creation, and it’s responsible for the creation of the carapaces too. References are made to it “seeing” and “knowing”; it’s quite possibly sentient, though maybe not sapient. On top of that, SBurb is specifically a game, and a game needs an objective, and an adventure-type game needs enemies. Derse, it seems likely, was created and presented the way it is in order to give the players something to battle against even if its people don’t want to be their enemies. No wonder WV’s pissed!

BRIGHT: Yup. Hmm, thinking about it...the imps and other enemies we saw attacking John’s house early on were obviously Dersite, but the ones we’ve seen in Rose’s seem to be Prospitian, if anything? The colour scheme looks that way, at least. But Nanna said earlier that Derse was the enemy, nothing about Prospit.

Perhaps it has something to do with Rose being a Derse dreamer, while John is a Prospit dreamer? But in that case I’d have expected it to come up in the text. Instead it just goes unremarked.

Rose goes on a massive alchemising spree and ends up creating the Thorns of Oglogoth, a pair of wands.

The needles seem to shiver with the dark desires of THE DEEP ONE. Any sane adventurer would cast these instruments of the occult into the FURTHEST RING and forget they ever existed.

Instead of throwing the wands away, Rose takes on the enemies camping all over her house, with style.

Meanwhile, Dave goes on another, less visibly productive alchemising spree.

GET ON WITH IT!: 18

FAILURE ARTIST: The SBaHJifier could be considered productive in that it provides foreshadowing cartoons. Wish Dave’s Brain in a Jar came up again.

BRIGHT: Once he’s done creating smuppet variations to disturb the monsters encroaching on his house, he sits down to take a look at those two journals he copied from Rose earlier. One of them is called ‘MEOW’, and is literally just those same four letters, repeated over and over in different orders. The second is ‘Complacency of the Learned’.

There is no way to adequately recap the beauty of ‘Complacency of the Learned’, so we’re just going to show the whole thing:

Frigglish bothered his beard, as if unkinking a hitch in a long silk windsock. A more pedestrian audience would parse the exhibit as nervous compulsion. Behavior to petition contempt among the reasonable. He was however not surrounded by the reasonable, but the wise, a distinction in men that would forever be the difference in history's garland of treasured follies. As a matter of fact, his cadre of fellow wizards were all putting similar moves on their beards as well. The practice would evince thoughtfulness - sagacity, even - if they didn't do it all the time. Standing in line at the bank. Shooing squirrels from bird feeders. Few occasions were safe. Zazzerpan inspected the clue. A single piece of evidence cradled in his coriaceous old man palms. It was a human bone, not striking in the tale it told alone so much as that told by the thousands like it festooning the marshy soil of the mass grave. The grisly expanse bore the texture of a decadent dessert, like one of Smarny's formidable custard trifles wobbled out on wheels for the holidays, to the dismay of a small nation. "You're certain of this?" asked Frigglish. Despite what he was doing with his beard, he was, in fact, immersed in meaningful contemplation. "I am afraid I am becoming more so with each terrible tick groused by that gaudy timepiece slung around your neck." In case it wasn't clear, Frigglish wore a clock Zazzerpan didn't care for. It was magic. "The massacre of Syrs Gnelph was not as written." "What has you convinced it was the hand of our disciples in this blackness?" Executus chimed in. "I believe... I..." a fat face stammered, eyes darting with the guilt of a thief in the throes of an unraveling alibi. "I can summon a... more pressing line of inquiry..." No, Smarny. Nobody was in the mood for a sticky bundt loaf just now. Zazzerpan's ears fell insubstantial to any line of inquiry, pastry-oriented or otherwise. His abstruse contour carved a pondering shape in the fog carpeting centuries-dead. His eleven contemporaries too embraced the muted consternation of their great Predicant Scholar. Few wizards kept sharper adumbratives or read them with such lucidity. When Zazzerpan treated men with silence it was seldom unrepaid by the wise and reasonable alike. It was harrowing to entertain. Zazzerpan the Learned's storied Complacency of Wizards was marked for grander descendence. Disciples hand-picked, vetted by Ockite the Bonafide and tested by Gastrell the Munificent. The twelve sweetest, most studious children a pair of elderly eyes could give their sparkle. Not the ragged guttersnipe so oft-harvested by the common Obscenity, those vituperative little beggars with hearts to corrupt as dropped bananas brown. That these chosen youngsters would turn was not merely unthinkable, but something of a roundhouse to the temporal bones of the Upper Indifference's high chamber of Softskulled Prophets. His wisdom-savaged brow pruned further with recount of his many lessons to wouldbe successors. Lessons to advance humanity's elucidation and prosperity, an outcome this bleak trail now painfully obviated. There were few puzzles The Learned could not suspend and dissect in the recondite manifold beneath his extremely expensive pointy hat. Daring to pitch his cherished pupils in with the foul melange of history's rogues, the heretofore abstract scourge that built up civilizations with ungodly magic and tore them down with joyful malice, would prove an intellectual trespass to make his calcium-deficient bones quake. And more daring yet was the only question that now mattered. Could a bunch of bearded, scraggly old men in preposterous outfits hunt them down? He didn't have an answer. Only a simple observation so blunt and uncharacteristically jejune for the lauded sage it was breathtaking in its selfevidency. "We're going to need more wands." (Wow. Think of something better.)

Wow.

Dave is understandably intimidated by this, and decides to stop reading for now. He puts his copy of the SBURB Beta in the notebook to act as a bookmark, and leaves both books in his room for later.

Then he checks in on Rose, who is burning her version of the MEOW book.

CHEL: Dave inquires about the wizard story.

TG: i thought you hated wizards TG: whats the deal with that TT: I like wizards. TT: What I don't like is my mother's obsession with feigning interest in them to antagonize me. TG: oh man thats so messed up TG: that you think that TG: she probably digs wizards for real just like you and youre blowing shit out of proportion like pretty much always

Once again, we see exactly how fucked-up Rose’s relationship with her mother is. Mom Lalonde has somehow managed to raise a child in such a way that Rose interprets everything her mother does as an attempt to mock and provoke her.

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 16

TIER: The Lalondes are pretty damn dysfunctional as a family unit, and considering the zany nature of early Homestuck and its world's weird logic that is saying something indeed.

CHEL: As for the MEOW book, it turns out the gods from the Furthest Ring informed Rose while she was sleeping that the book’s contents are highly dangerous and must be destroyed. Said gods dwell in the sky above Derse; Dave’s never heard or seen them, but Rose points out his dreamself is always wearing shades, listening to music, and distracted by Cal.

TT: You're the prince of the moon. TG: ........ TT: I'm sure they've been meaning to seek a royal audience. TG: ..........................

Davesprite chats to Rose next. She protests at being spied on by two people, but Davesprite asks her why she burned the codebook. She didn’t need to in the future, but according to her future memories of the gods absorbed from her future dreamself, Davesprite appeared to make it relevant by traveling to the past. A sinister and familiar face watches through Dave’s window, soon proving to be the Draconian Dignitary, while Dave and Davesprite awkwardly spout elaborate mixed metaphors about how safe they are, until Dave, embarrassed, says "so i guess ill go back down and burn that book".

As any savvy reader could guess, he’s too late. The prompt suggests that he should go back in time to stop the books from being stolen, but, well...

It looks like you already tried that. GORE GALORE: 10

Dave looks completely undisturbed, but whether he is undisturbed is a different matter. He flings the corpse out the window into the lava, claiming it would freak Jade out.

John, in the lab, presses a button, causing the first monitor to depict his town, shortly before his birth. There is a Betty Crocker factory and a shopping mall, neither of which are in the town now. Zooming in locks a target over Nanna Egbert, who is taking a stroll with Dad. A meteor looms; this looks like it’s going to go very badly, considering the target lock, but it hits the factory instead. When John presses the glowing blue button, a PARADOX GHOST IMPRINT of Nanna is created; refer back to Rose’s experimentation in the lab and the green slime blobs. This time, the slime is sucked into a tube.

The next monitor does something similar with Grandpa Harley on his ship, and the next the same with Bro Strider, who stands over a meteor crater on an unseasonably warm day; something of an understatement, as the sky is the same lurid red and the sun the same glowing spiral that they were during the Strider bros’ battle even though it’s December. Bro is, regardless, prepared for the occasion with a small pair of outrageously awesome shades. What he needs these for will soon be revealed.

The fourth monitor goes back to John’s home town, a gigantic crater where the factory once was. In the shopping mall, Dad Egbert stands outside a joke shop, while Nanna apparently remains inside, busying herself with a tall bookshelf, a ladder, and a rather hefty unabridged joke book.

Mom Lalonde, clutching the infant Rose and wearing a rather snazzy long Jaspersprite-pink scarf, has come to town to study the meteor impact at the request of Grandpa Harley while he explores elsewhere. Unfortunately, now is the time a meteor chooses to strike Nanna’s location, destroying the shop.

An old mother lost today, but a new son gained.

Wait for it.

Mom Lalonde flees, dropping her scarf, which Dad Egbert picks up and slightly creepily sniffs. The monitor continues tracking her, and John captures her paradox imprint too, starting the machines whirring away...

Four babies abruptly appear on the pad, already diapered and bespectacled and old enough to sit up unaided. Convenient, no?

When the kitten jumps on a green button, the slime is blended in pairs; Nanna’s and Grandpa’s, and Mom’s and Bro’s. More blinking lights ensue, and another four extremely familiar-looking babies appear.

BRIGHT: I will say this: These kids are adorable.

While babies clamber over him, John vaults up his echeladder to the rank of Ectobiolobabysitter, acquiring one million Boondollars in the process. This automatically converts itself to a Boonbuck, the weight of which smashes his Porkhollow.

Finding out just what is going on here will have to wait, as the comic takes a brief detour to a battleship navigating the Medium nearby. There’s someone very familiar at the wheel…

An old man has much to do before he returns to Earth, dies, gets stuffed by his adopted-yet-biological daughter-slash-grand-daughter, and stuck in front of a fireplace.

Also aboard the ship are Dad Egbert and Mom Lalonde. Dad returns Mom’s scarf, and the two of them hold hands as Grandpa Harley pilots the ship towards Skaia.

We return to the lab, where John has his hands full with the babies. One of them has managed to break one of the paradox slime jars from earlier, but appears uninjured. Also, CG’s trolling him again.

CHEL: CG makes mention of the ULTIMATE RIDDLE, but John is confused because CG hasn’t told him about that yet. He uses an ableist description in explaining.

CG: SEE I KIND OF PAINTED MYSELF INTO A CORNER. CG: I STARTED TROLLING YOU AT THE END, JUST BEFORE THE RIFT. CG: AND THEN JUMPED BACK A LITTLE. CG: AND NOW I GUESS I'VE BECOME RAILROADED INTO WORKING BACKWARDS HERE. CG: UNLESS I WANT TO DO THE SORT OF DUMB SCHIZOPHRENIC HOPPING AROUND LIKE THE OTHERS. CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS: 18

… why wouldn’t you just hop right back to the start and work in a linear fashion from there?

TIER: Because CG excels at making things complicated for himself and is fundamentally rather stubborn and set in his ways/actions. Like he's made his bed, he's gonna lie in it.

CHEL: Anyway, CG banters with John for a bit, and then informs him that he (John) has arrived in the Veil and created infant versions of the players and their guardians.

EB: so they are like cloned copies of us? CG: NO. CG: THEY ARE LITERALLY YOU AND YOUR GUARDIANS. CG: PARADOX CLONES.

A paradox clone, we are informed, is A CORRECTLY CLONED DUPLICATE THAT WILL INEVITABLY GO BACK IN TIME AND BECOME THE ORIGINAL TARGET THAT WAS CLONED. The game worlds contain many clues hinting at the ultimate destiny of the players to create their own selves through the game, and the only way things could possibly go involved the players creating themselves, or else the game session would never happen.

CG: WHICH IS ESPECIALLY PATHETIC SINCE PARADOX SPACE APPARENTLY WENT TO ALL THIS TROUBLE TO MAKE YOU JUST TO HAVE YOU FAIL AND DIE. CG: REALLY THERE'S NOTHING MORE TRAGIC THAN THESE NULL SESSIONS FULL OF KIDS ENTERING THE GAME AND FULFILLING SOME COSMIC DESTINY SHIT JUST TO GET WIPED OUT AND LEAVE BEHIND AN EMPTY POINTLESS INCIPISPHERE FOR ALL ETERNITY.

Tragic and completely unnecessary, when there are millions of perfectly good humans already in existence who could just as easily create winning game sessions without this aspect of it. Here we see another aspect of Homestuck which hasn’t come up quite so clearly before; an extremely weird take on determinism. I’m not sure if this is meant as a parody of Chosen One plotlines or if Hussie just thought it sounded cool, but it’s uncomfortable. As it turns out, only clones created by SBurb have a hope in hell of winning the game, and even they fail most of the time. Regular people who enter the game to save themselves from the destruction of the planet will fail and die there, which honestly is not really selling this game as a good thing, since it’s what causes the destruction of the planet in the first place. I’ve had actual, legitimate, honest-to-God nightmares about this aspect of SBurb, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

FAILURE ARTIST: I think many fans wish to play SBurb. There’s lots of fan sessions and fake GameFAQs and custom Lands. Yet in reality SBurb is not a fun time. This is cosmic horror. I think Hussie is sometimes playing it for horror and sometimes he ignores the implications.

Then again, some people want to live on the troll planet, which is straight-up dystopia.

CHEL: Again, it isn’t really clear what he’s going for. Is it supposed to be terrifying or did he just think it would be clever? Does even Hussie know what he was going for? While it’s not exactly a joke, I think it’s worth another point here:

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 17

It might be a joke. As I said, I could see it as a parody of or playing with the Chosen One narrative. In this case, literally only the chosen ones have any hope, for reasons that are not down to any merit of their own. But if it is, there isn’t really much made of it.

Of course, the reasons people want to live on the troll planet are reasonable when taken alone, but a) contradicted every alternate scene and b) not a fair trade for everything else that’s going on there. But we’ll get to that when we actually see it. And I admit, SBurb powers would be fun, but not worth the loss of my entire species.

TIER: To me at least it's fun in the same way wondering how I'd fare as a wizard during Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts, or a ninja in Naruto is. Fundamentally you'd rather want to never encounter this sorta stuff even if you get some swanky I guess powers, but the mental exercise of it is quite honestly, really fun. The game has quite a lot of interesting things to poke around with, from lands to quests to what your co-players are up to. And I'm def guilty of playing trollsona games, because the world presented is just really fascinating in its gruesome glory.

Never want to have to actually go through it, Lord knows I'd be dead within the first ten minutes if I'm super lucky, but stories about it are pretty neat.

CHEL: That’s true, but the paradox clones thing seems almost to be taunting us for having that mentality. We can pretend we’d be the super-smart strong competent ones who make it, but in this universe if we demonstrably have parents we’re doomed to die for nothing and there’s nothing we can do about it.

BRIGHT: Another fun thing about this is that it fundamentally isolates the players from the rest of humanity. If you think about it, unless they have children with a non-player, they are completely unrelated to anyone else on Earth.

CHEL: And they can’t have kids with a non-player unless something thoroughly horrible happened, because as is stated later SBurb specifically takes its players away and destroys their planet around the point of their puberty.

BRIGHT: Although I think John is actually related to Dad — as far as we’re told, Dad is in fact Nanna’s biological son, which makes him genetically John’s half-brother.

They also miss out on (going by how active the babies are) the first couple of years of life. Those two years are crucial in terms of brain development. SBURB probably controls for that, but it wouldn’t be surprising if there were negative consequences.

Oh, and if you’re a player, your existence means your civilisation is doomed. Lovely!

CHEL: And do the players ever feel any guilt or conflict over this? Do they hell. It doesn’t even occur to them, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t occur to Hussie either.

TIER: Welcome to the hell game that is SBURB; it's fundamentally pretty fucked up! It runs on a hellish scale of "things have already been predetermined" and I am Big Fear™.

CHEL: That’ll come up later, too, but there it’s obviously intentional nightmare fuel, and not at all a bad use of time travel as a story device.

CG, meanwhile, explains that he was the one to create his session’s players. With twelve of them it was a bit more complicated, but troll lineages are complicated anyway, and we’ll find out how later.

The babies are still getting all over the lab. Note that they're repeatedly referred to as "little pink monkeys". Then again, calling a non-white child a monkey really wouldn't be good.

WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 18

John’s infant self has latched onto the Sassacre book, while his infant Nanna is sitting in Dad Egbert’s old hat. Baby Bro is napping in the lap of Lil Cal; that baby’s braver than I am, I can tell you that. Baby Dave is sitting on Maplehoof, and baby Grandpa has found a pair of pistols. John does not take them away from him, or even seem to notice he has them.

HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING: 7

BRIGHT: Earlier baby Bro broke one of the paradox slime cylinders and was sitting in it. John is pretty astoundingly bad at keeping babies away from obvious hazards.

TIER: That or the equipment is probably not sturdy enough to make it past an inspection into faulty management.

CHEL: But then he’s distracted by CG trolling him again, at least this time moving forward in time from the last conversation.

CG, like GA, apparently fails to grasp sarcasm...

EB: we had this great dare going. EB: to see who could be the least helpful and informative. EB: and you totally lost, dude! EB: you were hella helpful. CG: I WAS OBVIOUSLY JUST SPITING YOUR STUPID POINTLESS HUMAN DARE. [...] CG: ANYWAY, HOW COULD WE HAVE MADE A DARE IF I'M MOVING BACKWARDS ON YOUR TIMELINE.

… which is weird because moments later he uses it himself.

EB: do you even have elves? CG: YES, LET'S COMPARE WHICH FANTASY CREATURES THAT DON'T EXIST WE BOTH DO OR DON'T NOT HAVE. CG: WHAT A GREAT FUCKING IDEA, JOHN!

Hussie seems to waver back and forth a lot on whether trolls get sarcasm or not, in general. Since he’s contradicting himself with troll worldbuilding, that’s a point.

WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 19

Banter aside, he informs John that the babies are sent to Earth via meteors during the Reckoning.

BRIGHT: How do they survive the impact? Some of those meteor strikes destroy buildings. Those are some ridiculously resilient kids.

CHEL: Cut to AR, who is still having fun on the rocketboard, until he runs into a frog temple atop a meteor. This is apparently horrifying and illegal by his standards.

You are going to throw whoever is responsible into the slammer. You always call jail the slammer when you are extra angry at crimes.

Inside, he finds an empty time capsule, like Jade’s, some complicated machinery, and a monitor screen showing a greyscale house with a very familiar bespectacled female infant and dirty old hat in it. The year depicted, says the monitor, is 1910. Enter none other than Colonel Sassacre himself.

Eight days prior, the orphan girl was taken in by an aristocratic southern colonel and legendary humorist. He recovered the young lady from a crater where a bakery once stood, operated by the man's wife, a notable baked goods baroness.

An explosion outside leads them both to a crater, where once stood the doghouse of the colonel’s pet, Halley, but before the Colonel can investigate further he’s shot through the heart.

This is exactly why babies should not be allowed to dual-wield flintlock pistols.

BRIGHT: I remain baffled as to how Baby Grandpa can even lift those things, let alone pull the triggers.

CHEL: Baby Grandpa crawls from the crater, and Halley the dog turns out to be alive.

The young boy has difficulty pronouncing the name though. Sounds more like "Harley" when he says it.

How does he know it? The colonel died before he even noticed the baby was there. Is baby Nanna speaking well enough to tell him yet? I guess he could be told later, as Sassacre wasn’t in fact their only sapient guardian...

Thirteen years later, the boy develops a taste for adventure. He and his guardian bid farewell. His sister is sad. She will be left all alone with the wicked pastry baroness. She can handle it, he tells her. He believes in her.

It isn’t clear why she didn’t go with him, or leave under her own power. They don’t seem to be imprisoned, as the panel depicts them outside on grass with no restraints or guards over them, so it’s not a matter of only one of them being able to get out. That’s a point for Nanna not trying and a point for Grandpa not bringing her:

HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING: 9

That dog is also remarkably lively, considering it, unlike Bec, is an entirely normal dog, it was an adult thirteen years previously, and it’s somehow supporting the weight of an entire teenager on its back (again, please don’t try this at home, you can break the dog’s spine that way).

FAILURE ARTIST: As we’ve said, Colonel Sassacre is a thinly-veiled Mark Twain expy. The real Mark Twain died in 1910 at the same time Halley’s Comet was in the sky. It’s a cute historical gag having him be literally killed by a comet but it does muck up the timeline. Nanna must have been a senior citizen when Dad was born. Perhaps he’s adopted?

CHEL: The other option is that Dad is a senior citizen now, but surely John would have wondered why his dad is so ridiculously old. I think it’s just that thing in mainstream comics and cartoons where adults are split into Old and Not Old, and the parents are normal ages for parents but the grandparents would have to be in their hundreds going by the gags. See how Scrooge McDuck in the DuckTales reboot is over a hundred and forty years old yet his sister’s son is still a youngish adult.

AR notes that the appearifier is centred over Halley the dog, but hears someone coming. It proves to be the Draconian Dignitary. AR hides and watches, noting that DD is carrying Rose’s notebooks and Dave’s beta envelopes. DD keeps the MEOW book, but throws away the other items. Complacency of the Learned lands on the floor, and the envelopes land in the time capsule, which sets to bloom in four hundred and thirteen million years.

Meanwhile, John talks to CG while infant Mom Lalonde pets the mutant kitten. John asks if there’s any way to delay the Reckoning, but nope; CG warns him that the smallest meteors will start going in only a few minutes.

EB: ok, well you keep saying how doomed we are and how all this bad stuff happens sooner, but you never say why! EB: what happens in our game that's different from yours that makes things go so badly? CG: JACK NOIR.

The Jack Noir from the trolls’ game session allied with them and helped them dethrone and exile the Black Queen, while the one from the humans’ session, as you may recall, killed the Black Monarchs and gained their powers, and is currently rampaging through the Incipisphere. John asks if it’s the same Jack Noir, but CG explains.

CG: SO LET'S SAY YOU PLAY YOUR BANDICOOT AND I PLAY MY BANDICOOT. CG: THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME BANDICOOT, SAME APPEARANCE AND DESIGN AND BEHAVIORS. CG: BUT THEY ARE STILL COMPLETELY SEPARATE BANDICOOTS ON SEPARATE SCREENS. CG: SO WE BOTH HAVE OUR OWN ASS BANDICOOTS TO OURSELVES, THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT. CG: OUR JACKS ARE THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT TOO. CG: SAME GUY, DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES AND OUTCOMES. CG: OUR JACK TRUMPED THE QUEEN, BUT GOT NO FURTHER. CG: YOUR JACK GOT THE BEST OF BOTH OF THEM, AND IS NOW SOMETHING HIGHER THAN A QUEEN OR A KING… EB: like an ace? CG: SURE OK.

The trolls don’t know what went so differently to cause the two Jacks to behave so differently, but CG doesn’t think it matters by now. John interrupts him, deciding to do yet another Con Air ending re-enactment.

Watch on YouTube

Recap: montage of Con Air posters and images to the tune of “How Do I Live Without You”. John hands the thoroughly disgusting Con Air bunny to the protesting baby Rose, while CG watches huffily on his monitor. Jade demands a toy too, so John hands her the bunny he received from Rose in an excessively dramatic fashion. CG frustratedly hits himself in the head. In scribbly crayon-like drawings, Casey the salamander performs a drum solo with glowing blue mushrooms for drums and the Con Air plane crashes. More Con Air imagery, John embraces baby Jade and the baby Lalondes while sobbing; GC points and laughs at him over CG’s shoulder and they have a slapfight. John imagines himself in Nic Cage’s iconic wifebeater and mullet and performs an air guitar solo.

TIER: Lemme tell ya, as someone who's only experience with this darn movie is whatever pops up courtesy of John this sequence is just a trip and a half. Possibly a higher number.

CHEL: Cut to end-of-act curtains; they open on the next page, declaring a PSYCHE; there are more pages to go.

Cut to Dave’s hands, covered in the dead Dave’s blood. I… guess he’s supposed to be staring at them in shock? It’s impossible to tell through his shades. For all I know he could be worried about the cleanup. GC trolls him and they banter creepily, with her demanding to know what his blood smells like and him taunting her about her blindness.

TG: just him and me TG: havin a see party TG: like a couple of eagle eyed bros peepin shit up into the wee hours GC: D4V3 GC: C4N 1 COM3 TO YOUR S33 P4RTY? TG: i guess but youll have to be careful not to stumble around bumping into all the gorgeous masterpieces hanging around everywhere TG: god so beautiful to look at with my perfect eyesight GC: C4N 1 L1CK TH3 P41NT1NGS? TG: yeah thats fine

Neither of them seems to take it particularly hard. If there was narrative around the dialogue, I think we’d get a better grasp of how Dave feels. Lacking much body language or punctuation, tone is a bit tricky to get.

FAILURE ARTIST: There’s a character later who gets a lot of grief for insulting her blindness but reading what John, Dave, and CG say I don’t know how that character could be worse.

CHEL: AT, meanwhile, is trolling Jade, rather politely. He even takes time to ask if she’s having a good nap. She’s worried about John’s dreamself not waking, and AT scrolls into his view of the future timeline, but can’t find John awake, nor see into his dreams. Jade, however, will wake up soon, and she thanks him for this report. Unfortunately, when Jade wakes up she will be in danger, and AT can’t see any further. He tells her CG wants to talk to her about her exploding robot. He can’t see whether it exploded or not because there are a lot of explosions, but asking future Jade shows it did, and that she declared CG to be a pretty nice guy, which surprises AT since he doesn’t think CG is particularly nice. Jade says she thinks AT is nice too, and asks why he’s the only one who talks to her while she’s asleep.

AT: bECAUSE YOU HAVE A ROBOT, tO LET YOU SAY THINGS THAT HAPPEN, oN PROSPIT, AT: aND i'M CURIOUS, AT: bECAUSE THE ONLY TIME i EVER HAD FUN PLAYING THIS GAME WAS WHEN i WAS ASLEEP, AT: bUT NOW ALL OUR DREAM SELVES ARE DEAD, AT: }:'(

AT happily remembers his own time on Prospit, and we cut back to Rose, being trolled by GA despite the fact that Rose is obviously in the middle of an epic magic battle. The conversation is understandably chilly, and GA still hasn’t figured out that “Dumb Rose” as opposed to “Smart Rose” was John rather than a bizarre roleplaying scenario.

GC continues trolling Dave. He asks her how she operates a computer without sight.

GC: 1M SORRY D4V3 TH4T YOU W1LL N3V3R 3XP3R13NC3 TH3 S3NSORY BOUQU3T TH4T 1 3NJOY 3V3RY D4Y GC: TH4T 1 3NSCONC3 MYS3LF 1N L1K3 4 W4RM 4ND COMFY B4THROB3 M4D3 OF FL4VOR 4ND M3LODY TG: oh ok TG: so the dumbest and most far fetched explanation imaginable ok got it

Yes, pretty much. This brings me to a Problematykks point; GC is supposed to be blind, but it really doesn’t seem to affect her in any way at all. Its workaround is ridiculously convenient and effective, and while I’m not blind myself, I know many people with physical disabilities hate it when fiction does this. I know I would be pissed off if a piece of fiction showed an easy and convenient way to not have autism anymore. (Horrible, horrible memories of someone back in the days of Livejournal’s Fanficrants of a fic in which autism was somehow cured by having a foursome. I don’t remember how that was supposed to work.) “She’s a space alien” only goes so far in explaining it. Why even bother making her blind if it’s not going to affect her in any way?

CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS: 19

FAILURE ARTIST: She’s the least blind blind person in media. Characters like Daredevil from Marvel Comics and Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender have a Disability Superpower but at the end of the day they still can’t do things like read printed text. GC has no disadvantages.

BRIGHT: She can apparently smell and taste photons.

Which raises the question why none of the other trolls ever show a heightened sense of smell or taste. If GC can learn to interpret smells as colours, her sense of smell must have been that strong all along, and there’s no indication in the text that she’s biologically more sensitive than her companions. Trolls must be better at following a trail than bloodhounds.

CHEL: Synaesthesia which makes one strongly associate colours with smells is a thing, and synaesthesia is generally the word the fandom uses to explain Terezi’s ability, but you still have to actually see the colours for that to work. If she was only mostly blind and was picking up blurry colour patches, I could buy it (and that is how the fandom tends to do it with human AUs), but not if she’s supposed to be completely blind, and she still wouldn’t be able to read text that way.

BRIGHT: Time for another animation, and for a hop back into the recent past.

Watch on YouTube

As the meteor locked onto Dave’s house approaches, Dave climbs up the tower to retrieve his cruxite egg from the nest his sprite made. Unfortunately the sprite attacks him, knocking him and the egg off the tower. Bro Strider appears on top of the approaching meteor and slices it in half with his katana; the two halves are diverted by the blow and strike different areas of the city. Dave’s fall is broken by a rocket board, which is presumably how Bro got up to the meteor in the first place. (How did he manage to aim it to intercept Dave’s fall? Wouldn’t it take longer to get from the meteor to Dave than it takes for Dave to fall from the top of the tower to the roof of the building? We shall never know.) The egg hatches, and Dave is transported into the Medium. There’s no sign of what happens to Bro.

CHEL: Yet more cartoon physics around the Strider bros.

BRIGHT: I don’t know if we mentioned this earlier, but although Dave and Bro live in an apartment block that presumably housed multiple people, only Dave’s apartment gets transported into the Medium. Everyone else in the complex is left to die on Earth. SBURB is sociopathic.

Elsewhere in the Medium, back in the present, Grandpa’s ship is approaching Skaia, with Mom Lalonde and Dad Egbert on board.

Down on Skaia, Jack Noir draws his sword and slaughters the army WV raised to march on the Black King. WV cowers, but Jack leaves him alive. He then uses the Black Queen’s ring to send some sort of giant red tentacle attack through Skaia, slaughtering Dersite and Prospitian forces indiscriminately.

CHEL: Are they tentacles? I always thought of them as some sort of lightning lasers.

BRIGHT: That makes a lot more sense!

In the ectobiology lab, as the clock ticks down to the Reckoning, the babies are teleported to asteroids around the lab. There must be an air supply in this asteroid belt — characters are consistently shown as being able to survive outside.

CHEL: Maybe it’s just the players’ natural badassery. Batman Can Breathe In Space.

BRIGHT: On Skaia, CD makes his way through Jack’s slaughter fest, which has now ravaged a sizeable chunk of planet, and hands him the White King’s sceptre. Jack raises the sceptre and initiates the Reckoning. The meteorites start to vanish into Skaia’s defence portals. In the frog temple, DD somehow combines the MEOW genetic code with a paradox clone of Halley, creating Jade’s guardian Bec. Bec’s creation damages the laboratory equipment in the temple.

Cut to Jade, who is snoozing peacefully while her dream self explores Prospit. She looks up at Skaia, to see Jack’s shadow passing in front of it. Jack launches his tentacle attack on Prospit, slaughtering the inhabitants, then severs the chain attaching Prospit’s moon to the planet. The moon begins falling towards Skaia.

Jack then flies to LOHAC, where he encounters Bro Strider on one of the turntable mesas. Unexpectedly, Bro is able to give Jack an even fight. After a few exchanges, he drives his katana into the mesa; some sort of golden light emanates from the crack, and Bro absconds.

Wait, how did Bro get onto LOHAC? How did he survive the meteor impacts?

TIER: The ol' "rule of cool". As long as something is sufficiently "absolutely kickass!!" the rules of reality and physics can go sit on the bleachers twiddling their thumbs for all they fucking matter. There's a reason early fandom pinned down Bro as an unorthodox but immensely cool older brother type guy for so long. Because with what little information was available before we got bludgeoned with "No actually he was the absolute fucking worst thing to happen to Dave and fucked him up for life" that was the general impression he gave off.

CHEL: This and the meteor splitting are yet more reason not to take Bro’s treatment of Dave seriously; this is a world in which ludicrous animesque badassery rules the day, and physically impossible feats of battle occur every five minutes. Forcing a child to go through extensive and excessive sword training in brutal heat in a precarious place, possibly every day, ought by rights to be normal there, and I can’t believe he was physically hurt by swordfighting when he survived a meteor collision as an infant. Besides, training that extensive quite possibly could be the only thing that would keep Dave alive in these circumstances.

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 18

BRIGHT: There’s a random Squiddles interlude, and then we return to Skaia.

John’s unconscious dream self has fallen out of Prospit’s moon as it plummets towards Skaia. Jade tries shaking him awake, and then slaps him, but to no avail. At the last moment, she throws him out of the path of the moon, and her dream self is then killed when it lands on her. Back on Earth, her dreambot overloads and explodes.

CHEL: Taking her tower room with it; Jade’s sleeping body plummets towards the earth.

BRIGHT: The moon leaves a gigantic crater in Skaia. John’s now-conscious dreamself hovers above it.

The babies vanish through the defence portals to Earth.

CHEL: Each takes an item with them. John takes the Sassacre book, Rose the first Con Air bunny, Dave rides Maplehoof, Jade takes the bunny Rose gave to John (which is in fact the Con Air bunny plus several years and repairs), Nanna sits inside Dad’s old hat, Mom takes the mutant kitten, Bro sleeps in the lap of Li’l Cal, and Grandpa dual wields the flintlock pistols he should not be allowed.

BRIGHT: Dave and Rose reach the Gates above their houses and set out to explore their Lands. We close on an eerie shot of Bec outside the frog temple on Jade’s island at night.

CHEL: Jade’s tower room is blown to bits, and a truly enormous meteor hovers over the scene.

Curtains close. End of Act 4. Before Act 5, we receive a message from Rose, via her GameFAQ.

[ZZZZ] Rose: Egress. This is my final entry. My co-players and I have made every earnest attempt, with occasional relapse, to play this game the right way.

Really? You haven’t been in the game for more than a couple of hours and Jade still isn’t in at all! Maybe consider that the fact that not all your players are in the game yet when you wonder why it isn’t working?

I have been meticulous in documenting the process to help our peers and successors through the trials should we fail. In my hubris I believed these classes were relegated to the Earth-bound, but in even this quaint supposition I was in error. Our otherworldly antagonists have assured us of our inevitable failure repeatedly, while the gods whisper corroboration in my sleep. I believe them now. I just blew up my first gate. I’m not sure why I did it, really. I am not playing by the rules anymore. I will fly around this candy-coated rock and comb the white sand until I find answers. No one can tell me our fate can’t be repaired. We’ve come too far. I jumped out of the way of a burning fucking tree, for God’s sake.

I can see her point. The game is horrible and should be stopped. On the other hand, I’d at least attempt to spend more than one day investigating it before trying to break it. Randomly destroying shit is more likely to make things much worse than anything else.

I have used a spell to rip this walkthrough from Earth’s decaying network, and sealed it in one of the servers floating in the Furthest Ring. The gods may disperse the signal throughout the cosmos as they wish. Perhaps it will be of use to past or future species who like us have been ensnared by Skaia’s malevolent tendrils. In case it wasn’t clear, magic is real. Pardon my egress. You’re on your own now.

This note is signed with a glowing multicoloured “RL” and revealed to be emitted from a purple box with an aerial, floating in space. It seems that’s how their internet’s still working.

FAILURE ARTIST: The internet seems to be a magical dimension in Homestuck and not something that’s part of physical infrastructure.

CHEL: Hours in the future, WV lands in the desert remains of Earth, wrapped up in John’s old ghost-patterned bedsheet, which is still white. A villein becomes a vagabond. In his memory, he tears up an effigy of Jack Noir… where’d he get it? Did the game create it for some reason? Anyway, John’s blanket falls on him from the sky as Prospit plummets; WV calls it a RAG OF SOULS. Adorably melodramatic.

John’s awoken dreamself gazes sadly at Jade’s deceased one, which for some reason isn’t actually under the rubble of Prospit and appears to still be three-dimensional. There’s no excessive blood splatter like with the dead Dave, which is good, not too over the top. He retrieves the Queen’s ring from her hand. Was he told at any point that it’s important? Because if he doesn’t know, I’m not sure robbing the dead is very heroic. He sees an image of himself flying over the battlefield in a large cloud above him; in the vision he’s near a castle, so he goes to seek it out.

On Earth, PM wraps herself up in an old Prospit banner. A mistress becomes a mendicant. In her memories, she has beheaded the Hegemonic Brute and is arranging a meeting with Jack Noir. He arrives and she presents the crowns; smirking evilly, he honours their bargain, and the Courtyard Droll brings her the green parcel. She brings it to the castle from John’s vision as he arrives there, hands over the box, and angrily walks away.

FAILURE ARTIST: She’s Honor Before Reason (maybe she’s programmed that way) but she has the right reaction. This is a lot to go through to deliver a package.

CHEL: Inside the box is a letter from Jade’s unknown pen pal, who writes in dark green and a distinctive jolly-hockey-sticks dialect, with a tendency to ramble off on tangents about movies and wrestling.

Anyway you should listen to jade from here on out john because she sure seems to know whats best for you. Whatever your adventure throws at you im sure shell tell you you can handle it. She believes in you.

And another letter from Jade.

even though its super late and you probably went through a lot of trouble to get it, i really hope this present cheers you up! you looked so sad while you were reading my letter. um... which is to say, the one you are reading now.

She explains that in her dreams she goes to Prospit and John’s sleeping dream self is there, and that’s where she gets her visions. She hopes he likes his present, and says her penpal is fun…

john i am REALLY looking forward to seeing you when you wake up!!!!! its been nice playing with my prospitian friends and all, but also kind of lonely knowing you were in the other tower sleeping and having lousy dreams. :( im not sure where i am when you are reading this but im sure ill make it down to where you are soon! (jeez how did you get down there??? oh well ill find out) i cant wait to fly around the moon with you and show you all my favorite places. itll be so much fun!!!!!!!!! :D <3 jade

Ow. I think this is the only time John cries in the entire comic.

A Single Tear(™) is a bit of an understated reaction to the death of one of your best friends who you just recently learned is also your twin sister, but to be fair, John isn’t left with very much time to react, as next panel Jack Noir’s sword is pointed at his face.

BRIGHT: John knows about dream selves and waking selves by now, I think?

CHEL: He knows they’re a thing but I don’t think he knows they count as backup lives. AT told Jade dream selves can die separately from regular selves but I don’t think anyone told John.

FAILURE ARTIST: Jack Noir wants the ring, but then he’s stopped by Jade’s gift: a robotic bunny wielding multiple weapons.

They line up for a fight.

Hours in the future, on a destroyed planet, AR wraps police tape around himself and becomes a Aimless Renegade. Before the disaster, he went to the Veil, where he found a sleeping John. He saves John by putting him on a rocket board.

Back to the robotic bunny. Jack Noir flies away from the fight. Grandpa’s battleship lands and Grandpa takes away Jade’s body. Mom and Dad disembark the ship and wave goodbye as it leaves. Grandpa cries a Single Tear as he transports Jade’s already taxidermed body. Did he have a machine?

CHEL: For that matter, why isn’t he helping anyone who’s actually still alive while he’s there?

HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING: 10

FAILURE ARTIST: Nope, transporting a dead body is more important.

Again going back, White Queen leaves Prospit. On landing, she becomes Windswept Questant and wanders the Earth. We go forward years later. She repairs the laboratory and meets up with AR, WV, and PM. WV’s homemade spear hides the ring.

John watches this scene through the clouds of Skaia. He looks at the ring in his hand. In another cloud, there’s Jade’s laboratory. We close in on it and inside is The Fourth Wall. It isn’t turned on, but we are still lead to Andrew Hussie, banging away on a computer keyboard as he recaps the plot for a second time.

CHEL: Which we shall do as well when we’re done with this section, because it’s insanely hard to keep track of everything.

FAILURE ARTIST: Andrew Hussie says Nanna’s comet landed 99 years before John’s “birth” so he has some clue about the age but still doesn’t see it odd that a woman that age has a son who is probably only in his thirties.

CHEL: As I said, it’s also possible Dad was really old too, but that’s never really suggested. Not to mention, since they were brought into existence as toddlers, shouldn’t the kids be noticeably older than the ages given for them? John should be biologically fourteen to fifteen by now and at that age that can make a visible difference. I know the art style doesn’t really give clues, but no one I’ve seen has ever pointed that out in fanfic either.

FAILURE ARTIST: Newborns aren’t distinctive looking and can’t really do the cute things toddlers do. People in TV and movies regularly give birth to six month old infants so it’s not strange.

CHEL: True, but this isn’t TV, it’s a comic, and they don’t have to use an actual infant as a prop here.

BRIGHT: Possibly it’s intentional. Among other things, we see the newly-created players survive short trips through vacuum, crash-land on Earth without even minor injuries, and handle weapons they shouldn’t be able to lift for another four or five years. This could work if players have superhuman abilities (that is, beyond the classpect system). If that was the intent then it really should be made more explicit, though.

Of course, what it really boils down to is that Homestuck runs off Rule of Cool and Rule of Funny, and occasionally breaks down on examination as a result.

On the whole this is a solid Act, I think! We have a lot of new stuff happening, more characters get introduced, and we find out some more about the trolls. It’s much less rambling than Act 1.

COUNTS ALL THE LUCK: 0 ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 18 CALL CPA PLEASE: 8 CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS: 19 GET ON WITH IT!: 18 GORE GALORE: 10 HOW NOT TO WRITE A WEBCOMIC: 15 HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING: 10 IN HATE WITH MY CREATION: 0 RELATIONSHIP GOALS?: 1 SEND THEM TO THE SLAMMER: 1 SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS: 0 WHAT IS HAPPENING??: 9 WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 19 TOTAL: 127

[darkestwolfx]

Touch and Go - Re-Review #24

Touch and Go is definitely an appropriate episode title... damn, what else could they have called it? Downing of the Planes, Let’s Play CATCH or something terrible like that.

Anyhow, let’s get going!

A high paced chase across the ice is exactly what we all want to see at the start of an episode, lets be honest.

Apparently it’s also the only images google know how to relate to this episode.

“Kayo, you were just supposed to shadow him.”

“We did a little shadowboxing.”

Yeah and she was definitely the winner of that round. Scott, on the other hand, doesn’t go down so easily.

“Scott, do not tell me how to do my job.”

“It’s not that we don’t appreciate your excellent work, Kayo, it’s just that this is not what we do.

“Why not?”

“Because we’re not the police! We leave the law enforcement up to the GDF. Our priority is people. Our job is help rescue and clean up during International disasters, not chasing after bad guys!”

“Scott, we can’t always wait for catastrophe to strike!”

In fairness, she does have a valid point there.

“We have a situation developing.”

“This discussion isn’t over.”

“I’m sure.”

I feel like these two might clash more than we see.

“That means there’s over two thousand (2000) planes stuck in the air with no way of landing safely.”

See this is why I think need to be reducing our flight travel! At the moment, pollution levels have cut by half... it is worth thinking about before anything like this happens, or there aren’t parts of the world left to fly to.

Poor Virgil and Grandma though... just stuck sitting there whilst this ‘discussion’ raged.

Anyway, EOS is here! At last. What’s it? 13 episodes since her last appearance?

“EOS?”

“Yes John?”

“Until we can get CATCH back online, looks like you and I are going to be playing Air Traffic Control.”

“Understood.”

“Calculate every aircraft’s course and minimum safe distances. Let me know the second any of them get too close.”

“Affirmative.”

“Think we can do it?”

“We don’t have a choice, do we?”

Great motivational speech EOS... I can see you’ve learnt how do that in your absence. John’s having a really human moment of doubt and that is your grand reply! Hello, someone please let me write EOS some more character development. It was such an EOS thing to say though.

“Dead-eye Vigil strikes again.”

“Oh, so now you’re suddenly a good shot?”

“Hey! I have to take every small victory I can get.”

Loving this reference back to ‘Ring of Fire’.

“Can you remotely access the planes on board computer and unlock it?”

“Hacking the on board computer of a plane in flight is a violation of-

“Consider it done.”

Still very helpful EOS - she is right though let’s give her that! And we’re presuming she was meant to have learnt something about rules. John is bloody quick at hacking though! Heck none of us would be safe if he was here in real life (not to mention if Thunderbird Five was as well).

How comes Scott always ends up meeting the women? Just a question that came to me.

“You’re not out of the woods yet, Scott.”

Someone tell me when Scott learnt to drive a fork lift? I mean really, it’s not your everyday vehicle and it requires a special licence.

“International Rescue, everything’s gonna be fine.”

Scott, please, please, please stop jinxing things! Someone offer these boys a course in careful word choice!

“Or maybe not.”

I mean like, ASAP.

“It’s crumbling like one of Grandma’s cakes. We need to get out of here fast.”

“Any ideas?”

“I’m open to suggestions.”

“I’m Scott by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Scott. Captain Jane Carter.”

Seriously though, why is it always Scott who ends up ‘hanging’ with the women?

Shadow appearing with the moon behind was an awesome scene with some beautiful cinematography.

“It’s The Hood. He’s shut down CATCH and has no plans to reboot it.”

Yes I think the evil laugh rather gave that away!

“Keep CATCH shut down for another hour and that should be a good enough diversion.”

Oh... so you were saying Kayo? That sounds like a plan to reboot it to me... writer’s contradiction! One of the first in this show I think, actually.

“Kayo, please respond.”

“I know how you feel.”

Yeah, I’m sure you do John.

“No funny stuff.” “Don’t worry, you won’t be laughing.”

Yeah... don’t mess with Kayo.

“Your nagging will not improve my efficiency.”

Haha, do I know that feeling! Anyone else?

“Why do you let them treat you like a minion, Kayo.”

My thoughts exactly Hood.

Look, there’s even five of them! Perfect numerical workings.

Alsterene! Flashback to ‘Danger at Ocean Deep’ here. I’d be careful with stuff... it’s highly combustible.

“My engines are out.”

“Kayo, eject.”

“Ejection controls aren’t responding.”

Did anyone else think for a split second that maybe TAG was going to be one of the first Universal rated TV shows to kill off a lead character? I’ll admit I did, considering what they’d already down this series.

“I’m taking back what’s mine!”

The fuel tanks, right?

Wrong, they exploded the moment they hit the ground. I did say a couple sentences back to be careful, did I not?

That moment of near Hood-Kayo eye contact was priceless. They might be enemies but they are also family.

“The Hood could have just as easily saved those tanks,but he saved you. Why?”

Suspicious Scott... I mean he did see The Hood save Kayo. I’m surprised he didn’t put two and two together before Kayo told them. I mean he is smart.

“I’m just glad you’re ok.”

Family affection right there. After all those arguments - sorry discussions - they still love each other deep down.

“Looks like Brains has his work cut out for him. I think you might have fried the motor.”

“It’s for the best. We wouldn’t want Brains to have nothing to do.”

“I heard that!”

He’s like Grandma! Ears everywhere! And for one, I think Brains already has enough to do. Give the man a break, people.”

[melodiouswhite]

Classic literature vine compilation - others, pt. 02

Victor Frankenstein: I'm not going to conversate with you. I'm not going to invest time-

Frankenstein's Creature: I think it's "converse".

Victor: Huh?

Creature: Just say "talk".

---

Victor Frankenstein: Everytime I go out there, I feel I do my best, but they don't!

Dr. Henry Jekyll: Let me ask you a very fair question: What do you do successfully?

Dr. Jekyll: Quickly.

Victor: …

---

Dr. Faust: Boys, what do you want to eat?

Edward Hyde: ThE SoUlS oF tHe InNoCeNt.

Frankenstein's Creature: A bagel.

Hyde: NO!!!

Creature: Two bagels.

---

Victor Frankenstein: Dr. Jekyll, are you talking to yourself?

Dr. Henry Jekyll: *sighs* Yes, it's the only way I can have an intelligent conversation.

Victor: … :(

---

Dr. Henry Jekyll: You overrated twink!

Victor Frankenstein: I'm not a twink! I'm a twunk!

Dr. Faust: *off-screen* OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS, DID YOU HEAR THAT?! THE SQUIRT THINKS HE'S A TWUNK!!!

*laughter in the background*

Dr. Jekyll: *grins* You were saying?

Victor: … I hate you all.

---

Victor Frankenstein: I did a bad thing.

Dr. Faust: Does it affect me in any way?

Victor: … No?

Dr. Faust: ThEn SuFfEr In SiLeNcE.

---

*Victor Frankenstein, Edward Hyde and Dr. Faust, in prison for alleged male prostitution.*

Victor: Nicolas! Thank God, you're here!

Nicolas Flamel: Arrested for male prostitution, I can't believe it!

Dr. Faust: Nicolas, we're innocent!

Nicolas Flamel: I know that, I can't believe those dumb Bobbies would think anyone would pay money to sleep with you!

Hyde: Oh, actually-

Victor & Dr. Faust: *cover his mouth* Shhhh!

---

Dr. Faust in 1541: So I succeeded in making myself immortal, but I can't let anyone know, because they're already hunting me down like a heretic, so I'll blow up a hotel and fake my death.

People, after finding a grievously mutilated flesh Dummie, following the explosion: Oh, the Devil finally collected him!

Dr. Faust, from a hidden spot: … Well, it worked. -_-

---

Dr. Faust, after watching Goethe's play about him: Wtf did I just watch?! This is so wildly inaccurate, I can't even-

---

Dr. Faust: I'll have you know, that I'm a sweet treat!

Nicolas & Perenelle Flamel: …

Dr. Faust: I'm a fucking delight to be around, okay?!

---

Dr. Faust: He, Victor!

Victor Frankenstein: Yeah?

Dr. Faust: Just a teeny question!

Victor: Sure, what is it?

Dr. Faust: I need an assistant. Someone who's intelligent, has a modicum of pragmatism and ISN'T Nicolas.

Victor: *excited* Oh, I'd be happy to-

Dr. Faust: Can I have that homunculus of yours?

Victor: *crestfallen* Oh … sure.

Dr. Faust: YES!!!

---

Frankenstein's Creature: *tells Dr. Faust his story*

Dr. Faust: *inhales slowly*

Dr. Faust, to Victor Frankenstein: Victor … you're one piece of shit.

Victor: Wut.

---

Dr. Faust, to Dr. Henry Jekyll: So you actually finished school and have several doctorates and other degrees in many different fields?

Dr. Jekyll: Yes?

Dr. Faust: You're a rigorous note-taker?

Dr. Jekyll: Yes.

Dr. Faust: And you don't shy away from risks to self to obtain greater knowledge?

Dr. Jekyll: No!

Dr. Faust, to Victor Frankenstein: You're dead to me, kid. Dr. Jekyll is my new scientific partner.

Victor: D:<

Dr. Jekyll: … *overwhelmed* Thank you.

---

Dr. Faust: Bro!

Frankenstein's Creature: *waving a handless arm* Yo!

Dr. Faust: What the fuck?

Frankenstein's Creature: Oh, I didn't tell you, I lost a hand!

Dr. Faust: What do you mean, you just lost a hand?!

---

Victor Frankenstein: Hey, Johann!

Dr. Faust: Hm?

Victor: You seem to be very fascinated in my creature-

Dr. Faust: Well, duh! He's an artificially created human, of course I'm fascinated! Every alchemist would be thrilled to have a real homunculus around!

Victor: But since you like mine so much … why did you never make one yourself?

Dr. Faust: *considers* ... Well, I have thought about it, but the only valid reason for me to make one would be the wish to have a companion, or a friend.

Victor: But you have friends.

Dr. Faust: Exactly. Besides *glares at Victor* Why would I create an artificial life, when I can just adopt a child?

Victor: … You're still sour about what he told you, aren't you?

Dr. Faust: Yes, actually. What exactly did you expect someone composed of rotting flesh, body parts and even muscles taken from different people to look like?!

---

Dr. Faust: *reads his way through Dr. Henry Jekyll's notes* Hmm … interesting. Not bad, I'm impressed.

Dr. Jekyll: *excited* Really?!

Dr. Faust: Really. Your notes are very detailed and make it easy for me to understand what exactly you do. You got a some things wrong about human nature, though.

Dr. Jekyll: *awkwardly* I know … those old notes embarrass me, actually.

Dr. Faust: Well, you know how the saying goes: errare humanum est. And taking notes helps to self-reflect. Besides *grins* you're only fifty years old and you're not Luise either.

Dr. Jekyll: …

Dr. Faust: … I did it again, didn't I?

Dr. Jekyll: Did what?

Dr. Faust: Be condescending. Sorry, I didn't mean to. It just happens sometimes.

Dr. Jekyll: It's fine. ^^

---

Dr. Faust: Okay, so I am Dr. Faust himself, but what about it? I'm not that great, Frankenstein should have realised that by now! So why is he always in my face?!

Perenelle Flamel: Victor? He loves you!

Dr. Faust: Wut.

Perenelle: *sighs* Jean … he has a crush on you.

Dr. Faust: Okay, wtf, wtf, wtf, hell to the no!

Perenelle: What's wrong-

Dr. Faust: Apart from the fact that I'm incapable of being in love? I don't like that kid at all! I've never even treated him well, what the heck!

Perenelle: Jean, calm down!

Dr. Faust: I do not like this! Hm. Looks like I have to be more of an arsehole to him to get rid of his puppy love-

Perenelle: *picks up a broom* I DON'T THINK SO!!!

---

Frankenstein's Creature: Verily I say unto thee: lay thine eyes upon the field in which my fucks are grown. And behold that it is barren. Mood 24/7.

---

Evil scientists: We did some scientific research with this girl-

Victor Frankenstein: You screwed up a perfectly good child, that's what you did! Look at her, she's crippled and traumatised for life!

10yo Luise: Q_Q

---

Dr. Faust: For the first time in my life, I feel over 200!

Nicolas Flamel: You know why that is, mon chér?

Dr. Faust: Why?

Nicolas: *deadpan* Because you're over 400.

---

Victor Frankenstein: Johann, can I borrow your golden-framed glasses, your gold watch and your golden chain?

Dr. Faust: *suspiciously* Are you planning to come back?

---

Dr. Faust, about Victor Frankenstein: Why did I agree to take that brat as my apprentice?

Perenelle Flamel: Because you two 'ad a one-night-stand.

Dr. Faust: …

The Flamels: …

Dr. Faust: *sighs* Why did I ever let that happen?

Nicolas Flamel: Because you two got drunk.

Dr. Faust: Why am I even discussing this with you two?!

The Flamels: *shrug* Beats the 'ell out of us.

---

Victor Frankenstein: I was never once robbed or murdered, when I lived with Elizabeth!

Dr. Faust: … Look, you could just as easily have been murdered, living with Elizabeth!

Frankenstein's Creature: I'm surprised he wasn't murdered BY Elizabeth!

Victor, the Flamels and Dr. Faust: …

---

Victor Frankenstein, to Nicolas Flamel and Dr. Faust: What do you think goes better with my waistcoat? The watch or the chain?

Dr. Faust: The watch.

Nicolas: *shakes his head* An amateur's mistake. Can't you see that the chain of the watch accentuates 'is emaciated posture?

Dr. Faust: Well, that may be, but the silver chain draws attention to his nonexistent shoulders!

Nicolas: Yes, but the watch leads the eye even lower - to that 'uge spare tire! Jutting out over those broad birthing 'ips!

Victor: *deadpan* Why don't I just wear a sign that says: "Too ugly to live"?

Nicolas: Fine. But what are you going to 'ang it from, the chain or the watch?

Victor: NEITHER, I'M GOING TO SPRAY-PAINT IT ON MY HUMP!

---

Victor Frankenstein, to the Flamels: Tell me, why do you have no children?

Nicolas & Perenelle Flamel: *burst into tears*

Dr. Faust: *death-glares at Victor*

Victor: Oh crap, I'm sorry!

---

Dr. Faust: Ooo, they make me so mad, I'm gonna fly to Antarctica and shoot a penguin! *runs off* They're so stupid, they're so stupid!

Victor Frankenstein: *silently contemplates wtf Johann was drinking earlier*

---

Victor Frankenstein: *first time drunk* Hey, betcha I can hit this note? Ü

Frankenstein's Creature: Nonono, please don't-

Victor: *shrieks badly*

Perenelle Flamel's wine glass: *shatters*

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

My thoughts on Dark Forest

First, I like the Warrior Cats books. I think it is the modern Ginga Nagareboshi Gin/Silver Fang. An animal story with epic fights and gore that has a wider world to explore than the story delves into.

However, I dislike how bland the ‘bad guys’ were and how thoughtless their lore was.

First, just the basic lack of motives. Brokenstar trained and put underage kits in danger because? Child soldiers in real life serve as both a psychological and a physical factor. You don’t want to harm a child, but that brainwashed child wants to kill you. Brokenstar’s training alone took a lot of his forces out. Nevermind that cats sure as heck don’t seem to mind killing a kit in Warriors.

But Brokenstar isn’t my main issue in Warriors, Tigerstar is. Aside from him getting to be a -star in the first place, he wanted to conquer all clans. Because? Other than power hungriness, he has only his hate for those who are outsiders or half-clan. Fair enough.

Tigerstar in the first arc is no problem. Tigerstar in the following stories? He very much is.

To explain why I have such strong dislike of the Dark Forest, let me explain a related trope of fiction to it. When you have hell ravage the Earth how it may, but heaven doesn’t help the living outside hints and stat buffs. When the very force of good in the setting trusts people to defeat the forces of evil, rather than fighting them themselves. It creates a sense of weakness for the ‘good’ faction. It is especially bad if Satan itself pops up and tries to convert/harm people, but God trusts that angels or mere mortals can stop it.

Basically, the evil faction has great leeway while the good faction watches from the sidelines. They often give the motive for this as not wanting to get involved with the living or influencing the lives of mortals. The only problem to this is, that the evil faction has none of that care and they often almost revel in their freedom.

Inaction is a choice and when that choice means you let people suffer, it is not a noble one.

Add to this the fact that The Place With No Stars used to be a lonely place where you had no prey and couldn’t meet other cats no matter how hard you tried. Or that the cats who end up there and not Starclan seem arbitrary. Why wasn’t Ashfur in the Dark Forest, when Darkstripe is? Why was Hawkfrost there and not Yellowfang or Bluestar?

The writing is very inconsistent on what makes an evil enough cat, flooding the forest with past antagonists for the sake of it. That isn’t a good world-building, not giving us a sense of what sins are worth hell and what is not. Even the Warrior Code seems irrelevant, as many breakers of it or those who reject it still end up in Starclan.

Also, consider that Scourge, a very good candidate to be in the Dark Forest, isn’t there because he didn’t believe in it. His soul just died with him. Why couldn’t this be the fate of the evil cats in general? Just because they -thought- they were following Starclan, doesn’t mean they actually did.

All of this is compounded by Tigerstar being the leader of the Dark Forest crew. While his stories possibly helped with it, there could still be other more interesting ancient evil cats to lead the group. Tigerstar might be a manipulator and a brute, but he has no long term goal outside killing Firestar or destroying the Code. These are very surface-level goals for someone who rose to lead the entire Dark Forest. Not helped by the reality that the Code is what keeps cats coming to the Dark Forest.

Having someone more ancient and far darker than Broken or Tiger start as the Dark Forest leader would have worked better. Then we see Tigerstar get corrupted into a worse thing than he was in life and take over. Since, if you wish to depict a form of hell, you need to consider how it will affect the soul of the cat.

Characters like Hawkfrost or Darkstripe who are just evil because of their association with Tigerstar also are rather bland. Darkstripe especially could have been expanded on more, he literally ended up in hell because he was loyal to the cat he loved. What does ending up in literal cat hell for his loyalty alone make him feel? Is he angry at Starclan for judging him evil for following his leader?

Instead of looking at the cats stuck in cat hell, the story instead glosses over all that was established to make these cats train clan cats. To destroy what created them in the first place.

To use another Christian trope as an example, the Dark Forest is hell as a threat and not as a punitive place. The dead cats there aren’t suffering under its forces, they are running it. While the concept of there being no demons or angels to run the place might work, here it is almost hand waved away for further plots. Instead of running into tortured souls who scream and plead for your aid, the Dark Forest cats can influence the living however they want to.

One of the things that makes this harder to buy, is also that we don’t know the rules how the Dark Forest cats function and who might be in danger of becoming one. It cannot be just ‘train in the Dark Forest’, because then corrupting cats to Dark Forest is dirt easy. Just get them to train in the Dark Forest and that’s it. It cannot be the threat of murder, because Ashfur did try to kill Firestar, Squirrelflight and the trio and Hollyleaf killed him. It cannot be the rejection of the Warrior Code, because Bluestar and Pinestar aren’t there.

Evil is a nebulous term, especially in a setting where the characters are -not- meant to be humans. While Brokenstar, Tigerstar and Mapleshade certainly were dark and cruel enough to deserve hell, none of their actions were stated as the reason.

Then there is the issue of Thistleclaw. Now, I have to be honest, if we ignore Spottedleaf's Heart, I think Thistleclaw in Starclan would have made more sense. Ashfur being in cat heaven is bad because he schemed and very much rejected his clan for selfish reasons. Thistleclaw for me seemed much more of a darker creature that still lived under the Warrior Code. Rather than the Dark Forest being literally the place where villains just go to, it would have been more interesting to see more variety in cats who ended up in damnation versus paradise.

Or, rather, showcase with clearer internal rules why Starclan is not all good and why Dark Forest can be an unfair fate for a noble cat. Currently, Starclan and the Dark Forest function as representations of heaven and hell as I have noted earlier in this article. This makes the shades of gray world of Warrior Cats be in conflict with its afterlife.

If we are going to stick with both Starclan and Dark Forest, I think a better method would be to showcase how a cat who does wrong by the code but right by the clan is destined for the Dark Forest and accepts it grimly. While a cat who is loyal to the code but less to their clan gets to join their warrior ancestors. In a lot of ways, focusing on how fate doesn't mean that a cat cannot do good while alive.

In a lot of ways, I feel the Dark Forest made the setting of Warriors worse. By its inclusion as an opposing force to Starclan, the setting turned from an animistic ancestor worshipping culture into a pseudo-Christian one.

I hope this essay has been informative if nothing else. Please feel free to leave comments or arguments against it in my askbox.

[badlydrawndrawnings]

Semi-formal critique/rant about a lack of  P1/P5 comparisons

When the first Persona 5 PV came out, there was a general agreed consensus that Persona 5 was going to be the Persona 2 duology (with Innocent Sin being the most compared Persona 2 game) of the modern games. This consensus grew more and more as more playable characters were introduced, character info was released, and certain gameplay elements were introduced, like demon negotiation and GUNS as a secondary ranged weapon.

That last one is more of a Persona 1/SMT gameplay element but whatever.

By the time of the game’s release, and with more people playing the game/watching let’s play and walkthroughs (and the anime, and the seemingly slow release of the official manga I can only occasionally find ~not Mementos Missions btw~), this consensus was and is still around. It’s not as strong as before, but it’s there. There are also some people that like to say the two games were handle the same way (with Innocent Sin once again being the most compared Persona 2 game) via characters and certain plot points. I actually made an old post about it, right here.

With the Japanese Release of Persona 5 Royal, these claims exponentially rose again to strong levels to where I literally wanted to go into Tim Barry’s Royal Stream chat and type ‘please stop talking about persona 2 and nyary please stop talking about persona 2 and nyary.’ Why? Because after watching much of Royal to the best of my ability, I come to the realize that, Persona 5 Royal at least, is trying to be the Persona 1 of the modern games. And fair warning, I will go into major spoilers for Royal in depths, based off what is known.

We have Reiji Kido and Goro Akechi, bastard children who revenge over their father is their main goal. Yet due to one factor being present (or absent), they show the different outcomes of their fates, one being able to move on after his revenge for thirst and live a normal life with his own family, while the other who fate is unknown (in Original Persona 5; Royal will be touch upon under the read more) as his revenge possibly costed his life.

We have Masao ‘Mark’ Inaba and Ryuji Sakamoto, two good teenagers who are momma’s boys and delinquents at their school. Yet the title of delinquent is either truthfully earn because of actual delinquent-like behavior that will lead to a future career, or a title gradually earned after an accident that costed a possible future career had it never happened at all.

We have Eriko ‘Elly’ Kirishima and Ann(e) Takamaki, both who are in fact one-fourth American models. Yet given how they appear so differently, it must have factor into how are treated by other student, with one looking more of the typical Japanese person she is deem odd mostly due to her ‘eccentricities’, the other appearing more foreign with blonde hair and blue eyes due to a chance of genetics she is treated unfairly due to rumors and enforcing negative stereotypes.

Once you get into the Royal Third Semester, the comparisons grow into new levels that took me by surprise.

For one, we have Kasumi Yoshizawa. Kasumi can be best describe as the love child/clone of Maki (with that red ribbon and some parts of her personality) and Naoya (P1′s Manga Protag’s background of sorts). For you see, Kasumi is not Kasumi. She is Sumire Yoshizawa, twin of Kasumi Yoshizawa. Sumire loves the real Kasumi, but the poor girl is envious of her older and much more talented sister. It grew and grew until Sumire is full with such negativity and hate with her life as how it is and how she is, Sumire couldn’t handle it anymore and decides to go into traffic to possibility kill herself.

And the real Kasumi dies trying to save her younger. Needing counselling for her depression and guilt of what happened, Sumire’s cognitive of herself change into her believing (with someone’s help, who I will discuss) she is Kasumi and lives her life as Kasumi. It’s only until the Third Semester does Sumire remembers the truth. It took awhile, but Sumire was able to overcome everything and awaken fully, with what appears to be Kasumi herself -that’s right a dead person- becoming Cendrillon. 

So one is wondering who the heck made Sumire believe she is Kasumi? It’s none other than Takuto Maruki! Everyone figured this man shouldn’t be trust, but oh boy. We weren’t expecting any of this sorts! For one, Takuto is a Persona User. Now, adult Persona Users are canon since the first game with Takahisa Kandori, but it’s Kandori we ought to focus on (and only Kandori in Persona 1).

Kandori is nothing like Takuto. Kandori is a business man through and through, being the head president of the Sebec Branch in Mikage-Cho. Both men believe it or not, have the same goal of sorts of imposing their ideal version of the world over reality with their own means, Takuto with his Persona Powers that sort became supercharge after Yabadadoo’s defeat by the PT, Kandori with the Deva System Sebec build.

Takuto honestly has good intentions, wanting a world where people can be happy without heartache and pain, which started when his former girlfriend had to go to the hospital after her parents died (in what I think was a burglary gone wrong). In fact, Takuto’s status as an antagonist is interesting. He knows the PT and has a Co-op/Confidant with Joker. While exploiting them for his research, he does so in his belief he is going to help them and everyone else because his way is the best. In fact, Takuto believes himself so much, he wants to make sure his ideal world will happen by trying stop Joker from sending a calling call by using Goro as one weird last resort.

Because according to Takuto, the real Goro is dead. The real Goro was taken hostage on Shido’s ship, but the destruction of the Palace pretty much doom Goro to a watery grave. Because of Joker’s unknowing wish to see Goro again (if you pick the right option), Takuto was able to use his powers to start the Third Semester on 12/24, the day where Joker canonically has to turn himself in. The Goro here is in effect, Dream!Goro who is eerily just like the real Goro. When Joker decides to listen to Dream!Goro of not accept the dream world and to accept reality as it is, that’s when Takuto takes out the big guns (aka, use his Persona). After losing to the PT via Personas, Takuto makes another go at it by almost became GOD by fusing with his Persona. When he goes back to his human self, Takuto fucking fights Joker in a fist fight and you pretty much ask yourself:  how many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man? But at the end, Takuto accepts it, and is given a second chance at life.

Kandori is just a selfish prick who only cares for himself. How much of a selfish prick? When the Deva System got attached to Maki’s subconscious and her Ideal World, Kandori decides to exploits Maki’s powers (via Aki, aka, Girl in Black) as a mean to his own end of becoming GOD. He also couldn’t give a shit about the P1 crew, hating them all and likes taunting them. Kandori couldn’t care less about his half bastard brother’s revenge goal, but comments Reiji does have that Kandori blood lol. 

And believe or not, Kandori is one of the few Persona villains to win. He actually achieves his dream of being God of a new world...and feels unfilled by it. By the time the Persona 1 crew confronts him, the man is particularly wishing for death because he has nothing else to live for since who knows how long his world can last. Kandori would have probably at surrender to them if Nanjo didn’t push Kandori into one last fight. Like Takuto, Kandori fuses with his Persona (though it’s not like he planned it), but he dies in this battle, pretty much as a empty man and as a possible warning of a wrong future.

Though Kandori gets the last word by revealing to the P1 crew that he isn’t the real person they should be focusing on. That goes to the real Maki, who is still sick in her bed (as it turns out, the Maki everyone is with is the Ideal Maki of real Maki’s dream, who is nothing like her).

(I forgot to mention it, but there’s also a brief moment on 12/31 when Joker dreams of an empty and dark Shujin Academy. It’s really similar to St. Hermelin during the parts the P1 crew have get lost travel through the school.)

With that being said about Royal, one can see what Persona 1 elements show up, how it works in both the original based game and Royal re-released, and the understand how Royal is trying to be the Persona 1 of modern Persona games. Yet people are still only taking about Persona 5 and how it’s like the Persona 2 duology (mainly Persona 2 Innocent Sin; I seen way too many people discuss in the Tim Barry chat how getting posses by your Persona came from IS but it was there since the first game).

And so I finally has to ask the question I thought I would never ask:  Why do Persona fans tend to not make P1/P5 comparisons? 

Is there something about Persona 1 that makes it easy to not make these comparisons? Like, I know the earlier games aren’t easy to play (especially one; I actually can’t play in First Person games in general because I get headaches from the format after half an hour or so of gameplay). That’s why the option to watch a let play walkthrough, reading the manga, listening to the audio drama, or do a combination of all the above exist. 

But is there’s something in Persona 1 in all of its materials, that makes it unworthy of talk like Persona 2 to be worthy of a comparison to Persona 5? I am in no means bashing the Persona 2 duology at all but I genuine want to know, without the need to cause discourse.We already have enough as it is. 

[shikai-the-storyteller]

*HEAVY BREATHING* CYBERVERSE S2 EPISODE 11  AND 12  WATCH

I GOT SPOILED BY THE THUMBNAIL, I THINK MY BOY SKYFIRE IS FINALLY GOING TO SHOW UP!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“This Seeker Seeker” Wheeljack you DORK

Teletron X: We are under attack! :D

IM LOSING IT, OPTIMUS SAID “STARSCREAM” IN THE SAME ANNOYED / HARASSED TONE THAT MEGATRON ALWAYS USES WHEN HE SAYS “STARSCREAM”, THAT”S KILLING ME

LMAO MEGATRON LITERALLY YELLS “STARSCREAM” IN THE NEXT SCENE, MAN I LOVE THIS SHOW

JETFIRE!!!!!!

HES FRICKIN BRITISH

I MEAN HE’S NOT BRITISH-BRITISH, BUT HE”S LIKE A KNIGHT DORK

THE JETFIRE AND SIRFETCH’D REVEAL HAPPENED IN THE SAME WEEK...AND THEY’RE BOTH DORKY KNIGHTS... *illuminati symbols while X-files theme plays*

 SKYBITE?!?

IM GLAD THE INTRO IS PLAYING RN SO I HAVE A MINUTE TO COMPOSE MYSELF

DORKY KNIGHT JETFIRE...I DONT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THIS

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SWEET NERDY SCIENTIST BOY

Hot Rod: Oh no, not him! I thought he died in that supernova! I love how casually Hot Rod says “aw man, not this dude, he’s so annoying :( I really thought he was dead :((((” lmao

OH OK SKYBITE IS A FRICKIN SHARKTICON, THAT’S WHY I KNEW HIS NAME

Gosh I really hope Starscream and Jetfire were old friends in the Cyberverse universe now because I want to know how the hell Starscream put up with him Talking Like That

lmao I love Grimlock’s commentary 

Jetfire: Who landed this thing? Hot Rod? Me: *nearly squirts water out of my nose because that unexpectedly made me laugh* ALSO HEARING OPTIMUS LAUGH AT THAT WAS SWEET....I DON’T THINK I’VE HEARD HIM LAUGH BEFORE....:’)

lmao I love that Jetfire reuniting with the Autobots was so casual meanwhile Skybite frickin plowed into Megatron and Megatron’s just like “YO Skybite!!!”

IT’S SO CUTE HEARING MEGATRON LAUGH NON-MALICIOUSLY TOO, THANK YOU CYBERVERSE

SWEET GENTLE-LOOKING BOY......

I love how when I first saw an image of Jetfire I was like “SWEET BOY??? SWEET BOY??? NICE KIND BOY???” but the second he opened his mouth I was like “NO”

Not that I’m saying I don’t like Jetfire, it’s just that I got frickin whiplash from the expectation vs. reality thing, lmao. He’s still a dork, just not the kind of dork I was expecting. Not really my thing, but I’m interested in seeing how they take his character regardless. Who knows! I’ll keep an open mind, even if this character trope isn’t one I’m typically interested in.

OH SHOOT HE JUST BIT JETFIRE’S WING, BRO U GOOD?????

THUNDERCRACKER!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

“Jetfire, my old friend” AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I KNOW THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO WAY THIS WILL GO HOW I EXPECT IT TO GO BUT THAT STILL GOT ME FEELIN SO TENDER

Jetfire: Our friendship ended long ago, Starscream Starscream, slowly retracting his hand and turning his back: No matter Me, bawling my eyes out: HE WENT DOWN ON ONE KNEE AND OFFERED YOU HIS HAND JETFIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE HE’D DO THAT FOR!!!!!!!!!

JETFIRE YOU’RE SUCH A MORON

Starscream: My old friend! Jetfire: I don’t want to play with you! Starscream: No wait look, I’ve got a cool toy that’ll help you beat up your new boyfri---I mean, enemy Jetfire: OH????

Starscream what are you playing at. I mean obviously it’s nothing good but

OH SHOOT THEY TOOK OUT EACH OTHER’S TEAM LEADERS

Megatron goes from surprised to concerned in .2 seconds and BOY DOES THAT SURE KILL ME

AND THE WAY HE SAYS “OPTIMUS”, WAILS!!!!!!

Also I can’t believe they can casually call each other up like this, like it’s no big deal. Idiot ex boyfriends who never got around to deleting each other’s numbers, smh

OH MY GOSH IS THAT THE ARENA!!!!!!!!!!!! OK I KNOW THAT’S NOT KAON’S ARENA BUT AHHHHHH

Man the Allspark upgrade is a great narrative way for Cyberverse to get around Hasbro’s “Hey we need a new dorky armor design for this character so we can make new toys of them” requests

OH NO MEGATRON AND OPTIMUS

oh pfft they’re fine, it’s Jetfire and Skybite who fell

OH NO JETFIRE

lmao get rekt Skybite

OPTIMUS NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man for half a second I seriously thought Megatron was going to reach out and grab him, that would’ve been awesome

LMAO JETFIRE DOESN’T EVEN TURN AROUND TO CHECK TO SEE IF OPTIMUS IS OK, THANKS A LOT JETFIRE

JETFIRE GO HELP OPTIMUS YOU BIG LOSER

OK THANK GOODNESS JEEZ, IT’S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE HELPS THIS OLD MAN UP

ok but for real Starscream, did you power these two dudes up just so they’d kill each other or did you have some other motivation

OH SHOOT EPISODE 12 IS UP TOO??? ALRIGHT HERE WE GO: EPISODE 12

Starscream’s up to no good, as usual

Starscream: *obviously doing something shady, up to no good, grinning that grin of his* Me, fondly: That’s my boy

I love that Acid Storm is the tech person of the group, that’s so fun

also this episode title ‘’I Am The Allspark’’ has me so worried

OHHHH STARSCREAM BUDDY THAT DOESN’T SEEM SMART but dang if that doesn’t look cool

Starscream: Now I have the power to return everyone to the Allspark! Beginning with YOU! Seekers: *act genuinely surprised as though Starscream hasn’t been talking about killing everyone since day one* LIKE, DO YOU GUYS ACTUALLY ONLY SHARE ONE BRAINCELL, HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE A SURPRISE TO YOU

I’m still betting on Slipstream popping up and screwing up his plan since she’s part of the Allspark now too

Aw Jetfire’s part of the team now

BUT WHERE IS ARCEE

MEGATRON!!!!!!!!

“Optimus Prime...always one step ahead. Makes it easier to shoot you in the back!” Gosh I love Megatron, what a dork

YEAH GUYS YOU SERIOUSLY HAVE BIGGER PROBLEMS, PLEASE FOCUS

THAT’S SUCH A GOOD LOOK!!!!!

*goes absolutely nuts every time Megatron and Optimus work together / do anything in synch*

KICK HIS BUTT WINDBLADE oh shoot JETFIRE WENT UP THERE TOO LMAO

I’d love to see Jetfire and Windblade become friends just so they can complain about Starscream together

Case in point

Oh shoot this ain’t looking good gang

 AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS IS THE MEGATRON AND STARSCREAM INTERACTION I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL SEADSON

That legitimately scared me for half a second HE ZOOMED UP IN HIS FACE SO FAST, I LOVE IT

GOSH I love the expressions in Cyberverse, Starscream went from “blind fury” to “oh you poor pathetic mortal” in 2 seconds and it’s delicious.

“You’re welcome” OH SNAP

I LEGITIMATELY KEEP HAVING TO PAUSE AND REMIND MYSELF TO BREATHE, AHHHHHHHHHHHH THEY’RE BOTH SO AWFUL, THIS IS SUCH GREAT DIALOGUE

“Why should I? You’re Starscream. You always have failed, and you always will” HOLY HECK THAT’S BELOW THE BELT MEGATRON!!!!!!!!!!!

Meanwhile Shadow Striker’s in the background like “BRO STFU, YOU’RE DUMB MOUTH IS GOING TO GET US ALL KILLED”

COME ON CHEETOR, KEEP IT TOGETHER

Man Starscream’s got such a massive inferiority complex (courtesy of Megatron, among other things) that he had to literally merge with the Allspark to try and feel like he was worth something, o o f....

Bruh we really need Rung in this series, this boy needs therapy

COME ON OPTIMUS DO SOMETHING

NOICE

WAY TO CUT IT CLOSE OPTIMUS

OH NO IS HE OK

CYBERVERSE PLEASE DON’T KILL OPTIMUS AGAIN

Megatron: Who could ask for anything more? Except for your spark Optimus, weakly: Are you proposing?  Bumblebee: THIS REALLY ISN’T THE TIME TO BE FLIRTING

This is such a good screencap but IM HURTIN SO BAD

LMAO THE SCRAPLETS ARE GOING WILD

DO IT WINDBLADE, GET THE ALLSPARK, REVIVE YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!!

Shockwave: I now have 50 more children Grimlock: NO FAIR

SHADOW STRIKER PLS (but boy if I don’t love seeing the gals going at it)

BEE PLS PROTECT OPTIMUS

Wow they really aren’t holding back showing the Scraplet deaths

HECK YEAH, WINDBLADE GOT TO SAY THE THING!!! SHE SAID AUTOBOT ROLL OUT

CHEETOR PLEASE BE CAREFUL LITTLE KITTY CAT

MEGATRON COME ON

OH NO WHERE IS BEE

OH SNAP HE GOT STARSCREAM!?!? lmao and he’s dragging him by the foot, thanks Bee

WAIT THAT’S IT!? NO, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT EPISODE, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I LOVE CYBERVERSE SO MUCH!!! PLS DONT KILL MY BOY OPTIMUS

[lightshielded]

spoilers and very VERY long, so below cut. 

tl;dr - jarv is a character going through a lot of emotional turmoil caused by the lose of trust in close friends, lose of his family to the very magic they were working to promote ( suggesting to him it was the wrong idea to promote it ), having little healthy support network, and around him is a game of politics where those older and more experienced on the council are influencing him heavily in his altered state of mind. however, he is still a character who cares for his people, wanting to protect his people from future catastrophes cause by magic but also knowing they aren’t all bad so is also shown tentatively reaching out to foreign advisers of allied nations which have advised his father in the past on the subject of magic and is trying to do his best despite being king far younger than anyone should and thrown into the position in a truly horrific way.

important - all is subject to change as we are provided more info, this is just a pouring out of my first impressions and my attempt to understand and rationalise everything under the current state and info provided. also important to note, this includes mentions of suicidal tendencies, depression, ptsd and other like matters. please read with caution.

so as you may know ( or don’t and do not care about spoilers ) our dear prince, or rather king now, has had a very bad day. like he was almost made to eat a rat, and marvel didn’t want to draw him in his actual armour and did in the ceremonial / ig armour instead so i got big cucked out of my hopes and dreams, he got hit with a morg ult when trying to gank mid lane . . . oh and the mid laner killed his dad. what a wonderful day for our dear prince, i mean king.

so a couple things that are unrelated to what i am about to talk about but things that are true in my mind. riot removed jarv’s capture and torture by noxus just so they could have sy/las say he has no idea what he has experienced. just saying. 8 years of basically the exact same lore only to have one of his key points removed at the addition of the character? who then mocks him for it? just saying it’s true. tho i personally still go by that he was capture on my own blog and all, but i have cracked riot’s code.

also like where was shy? i think jarv kinda mentions her but like she is his bodyguard. that’s her whole thing. where is she? i get she tries to lay low but she is meant to be on jarv’s personal guard, but she wasn’t there. now i have a short theory on this. for those who don’t know, shyv is genetically a dragon, her real magic is the fire rune inside her. but otherwise she is a dragon that some how fucked up and became a human ( prior to sy/las it was caused by magic so the magic is technically making her human not a human becoming a dragon and after sy/las the shitty lore we don’t like is that it is the weather ). 

so my theory is, since her dragon - ness isn’t magic but is like genetics, she would just eat him and he actually can’t use it against her so they had to remove her. some how. cause plot. and jarv is mopey that she isn’t around, for a reason they wont say :///// that or riot doesn’t care about her or forgot she existed :)))))))

so the actual things i wanted to talk about, jarv’s very harsh language and actions in the comic and short story. they seem so violent from what we know of the prince of the past. and while that might be true i would like to point out a couple things about jarv as a whole before we begin:

jarv was never brought up to fear or dislike mages - ( though would have heard stories i imagine ) which is evident in his father’s own opinions and his lore. this makes his point of view here seem obscure, he seems to hate very strongly despite not doing so before. this is true, but i believe i can provide some enlightenment on this. something similar to this has happened in his lore before. his first conflict with noxus he was introduced the harshest realities of war, it is the innocents that die first. in both new canon lores ( prior and post syl/as changes ) it is stated there were only a handful of survivors out of dozens of towns. it is said what he saw deeply affected him. the carnage there so deeply troubled him and he could not forget the faces of the dead. the atrocities he witnessed were far greater than he had anticipated and it left him very shaken and unable to correctly reason. this caused him to ignore all rational plotting and sense, pushing away all his advisers’ ideas, wanting nothing more the avenge those who died. and this ends badly for him. like jarv really, really loves his people and would do anything to keep them safe. in fact, it is known from other stories jarv doesn’t ask of his soldiers to do anything dangerous he himself isn’t doing. if they must face the risk of death he will do so too. and he has earned himself a lot of respect for that. so we know, jarv is deeply affected by his people’s deaths and is not unknown to react mindlessly out of rage when they are hurt, and thinking the ‘villain’ need to be punished.

our now king is younger than you all probably think - if you take demacia’s lore and the dates / ages we are given, he is quite young. low 20s with a max of about 25 but even that is generous. it is noted he doesn’t know what to do, his mood fluctuating like rising and falling flames, his lore says he needs to be ready but not that he is. this is not to say he is incompetent or emotional because of he age, but with age comes experience that he has not had the chance to garner yet. he is not ready yet in his own opinion and i would agree as well.

jarv loves his family, a lot - and his only family was his father and xin. i think it is important to note, jarv has a lot of love for his family for they are the only people that really see him as a person. his closest friend even had to be reminded to call him by name. so to lose the closest people to you hurts man. his dad just died. okay.

jarv’s part in turmoil - there is actually a story which occurs after the time frame of the lu/x comic ( unless they are going to say the events of the last volume cover a full month? ) which has some interesting links and i’ll summarise all that with my conclusions at the end.

so. onto the main part. why has our fair king turned from someone who sees ‘ the true strength of the Demacian people—standing together as one in defense of their homeland, no matter their differences or misgivings. ’ to ‘ Mages? . . . We should have executed them all. ’ it is shocking. even xin is shocked by how much he has seemingly flipped noting, ‘ Indeed, he knew the prince had always been troubled by Demacia’s treatment of its mages. But that was before. ’ note, xin is saying he was troubled once and these anti - magic outbursts are new. though, i will like to point out, i don’t think the outbursts in the short story or the comic are particularly anti - magic as they are anti - syl/as and anti - murderous rebellion. so from now on, i am going to work through the sections of the comic and then the short story and kind of evaluate jarv’s thoughts and feelings and what i think is happening with him. wow, i hope you like your posts long. ( oh, and i recommend turning the pages along with me since i will not be posting pictures unless it is very important to save on length )

so to begin, we first see jarv at a meeting with a mage - seeker, some council members and his father, reacting to what happened several hours ago. honestly here he is as normal, he is thinking first and foremost for the people and with a very strategical focus to his thoughts. he is trying to both reassure his own father while working to capture the murderers. truly nothing remarkable other than him being a little taken aback by his father chiding him. i can talk a long time how jarv was brought up with very zealot ideas despite the king’s best intentions but that is not for now.

next page is mostly focused on the riots outside but does show jarv’s priorities. protect my father, fight for my people. heck this is even brought up in his ( now very outdated ) voice lines ‘ for my father, the king. ’ ‘ protect the faithful. ’ also cue me getting excited they would show jarv’s actual combat armour since they have the guards all in that good shit but nah they didn’t and i am big sad. i get they set all the demacian champs to their in game stuff ( and for jarv that’s the for show / ceremonial armour ) rather than their lore stuff for accessibility but still i am sad.

and now we get to the fun stuff. wow look at jarv straight beating the shit out of people. legit knocking several people down, making someone into a kebab. the come at me stance. that face he makes when sy/las calls him princeling. so many people call him that in lore. is it even a unique insult at this point? get new material you chain gremlin you.

in the next page we do see him angry tho, at first he is controlled and stoic with his speak, not too many emotions showing on his face. but it is when he puts a threat on his father do we see his brows furrow and leave him quite angry in the last panel of this page. tho, while obvious mad at the threat on the king he is actually keeping his cool. rational thought based on what he knows of the magic syl/as has. but he is a bit ticked off. ( OH ALSO THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART DON’T @ ME BUT JARV IS TALLER THAN SY/LAS WHILE BENDING DOWN AND IN A FIGHTING STANCE AND SY/LAS IS UPRIGHT BY LIKE AN INCH. HE IS PROBABLY SEVERAL INCHES TALLER UPRIGHT. I STAN THIS TALL MAN. )

so the next page is very interesting, we see syl/as talk of ancient and powerful struggles then conjure fire from the pillars. so as far as i am aware this is meant to be a reference to our favourite angels but i am trying to work out when this would have been. i thought they fought in a small town which was all but destroyed and not in the capital city. it is possible that the petricite keystones were at the town and those keystones moved to where the capital would be considering their reverence of kay/le and stuff but idk. super cool tho! it might be explained in the future, or not but i think what i have there is the most rational ( or maybe they mean like various conflicts involving them but not them against each other ??). anyway, we also see jarv getting madder obvious from the last page and then the language he uses, gone from the neutral ‘ mage ‘ to negative terms such as ‘ thugs ’. so the fire heavily wounds or kills the guards and jarv jumps head long into the flames.

the next page continues with their fight which is frankly brutal but they really skimped on detail here. it is shown that jarv cut syl/as in the chest and stuff but 1) no blood and 2) it is no where to be seen later in the comic which is unfortunate. would have been cool. other things which is cool, jarv pinwheeling kay/le’s fire away. i love the dumb ways jarv is shown to use his lance in various media, just spectacular. but yeah, syl/as going for blows in calling him ignorant about the heritage he loves. cause we know how much our man loves demacia. but i think he is trying to goad him. like i said before, jarv wears his heart on his sleeve a lot. he is an emotional man, but emotions can make you sloppy.

so on the next page, we see morg’s magic and again i love this touch but who really knows how it is there. so jarv is taken down by that which is interesting because it affected him a lot more than kay/le’s? i have theories about the magics and how they affect people based on their judgements but again that’s for discussion for another post. so with the guards taken down and then their prince, syl/as finds himself victorious.

so skipping through gar/en’s bit, we next see jarv tied up and being walked ahead of some of the mages. notably he isn’t wearing his crown helm. but also, he is very calm. jarv doesn’t really fear his own death much, he has faced dying before and to him it is simply a risk a soldier faces. so he is rather calm on the walk while syl/as threatens him. though, likely also subdued by the magic from before. but he is also talking a lot of sense, this does end badly, really sy/las doesn’t get what he wants out of this venture, not really. sylas however thinks this funny and mocks him about eating rats ( which honestly i question what he actually ate because 1) idk about you but i didn’t see rats in these panels of his cell and 2) he looks very fit and healthy for a man who eats rats. personally i think they feed the prisoners but since their magic is being sapped constantly by the petricite that they likely get hungrier faster, like they are constantly exercising, and so he ate rats. but also again, lets be real, they removed jarv being tortured so he couldn’t reply ‘ well no, but i survived being tortured by noxus. i have eaten much worse. ’ ( also syl/as uses incorrect style of address here which is either an accident or an interesting hint to the next page - majesty is for kings, highness for princes ) anyway, he drags the prone jarv to the door and...

surprise. the king is already dead by the time they get there. now jarv is obviously shocked and horrified and sy/las is too but i think that is because someone is stealing his thunder and hello his plans aren’t going to plan. this is when things start going down hill for jarv’s mental state. before he was mad but controlled, jarv’s expression on this page are wild eyed. and very much lacking of any confidence he had prior. for once, the prince looks as young as he actually is, rather than acting a stoic faced prince.

now the next page is actually the one i think the artists drew the best for jarv. i really love his eyes in the first panel. jarv’s hunched posture, the looking over his shoulder and upwards, got to say i love the composition. also i didn’t mention it yet but jarv and syl/as’hair almost look the same and idk if that is intentional but i like the idea that it might have been cause it makes our fair prince look very rugged and references his position as a prisoner. anyway. but just jarv’s silence in the last panel, before he was confident and speaking and now his words are trailing off and he has nothing to say. he lost his family and the idea of mages being monsters comes to his mind here. ( also note, while i have cut this out of the image, when syl/as is asking about who killed the king the mages say it wasn’t them but possibly another mage that came with them. this is probably true since it is anarchy at the moment but also there is no blood so unlikely to have been caused by a weapon and poison doesn’t make sense since the guards were dead too. )

but that isn’t the end of it, that is for sure. syl/as lost the king to his own anarchy so he needs a new star of his show. and so jarv continues to have a bad time. he is dragged from his grieving and through the citadel ( and past some really fucked up and burnt bodies wow trying to give jarv flash backs are you? ) and here jarv is starting to have doubts about his father and his own views. ‘ my father was wrong about your kind. he thought he could make peace with you. and you murdered him. ’ jarv puts the barrier between his people and mages at this point, condemning any thought which would have allowed this as wrong. now syl/as then insists that the king could have changed this at any time but we also know the council of demacia is quite powerful itself and the king leaves it to a more democratic style of coming to decisions together and actually regrets letting them have so much power. and jarv is marched outside to be made an example of and executed.

passing over ‘lu/x being a bad ass part one’, we return to jarv being cuffed to this really fancy chair. i like it, but also how extra can you be sy/las. anyway, as this page goes on we can really see the prince’s loss of confidence and despairing states. he starts strong when syl/as claims he has been complacent on things ( finally confirmation that he hasn’t cause riot wont tell me anything !!!! ) and he denies that neither he or his father have, and syl/as knows nothing about either of them. but his words trail off, he is stuttering through his words, head bowed, skin clammy. 

what he is talking about is 1) his backstory where he fought noxian invaders of demacia’s outer borders and allied lands, 2) meeting with exiles and we know in demacia their exiles tend to be mages as magic use is given imprisonment or exile - this quite happily aligns with my own head canons that he meets with them to help provide safe passage and resources similar to j3 to the noxians in his and xin’s story - 3) now we can assume he is talking about the same person from before in the earlier comic but he is really dodging around a name. i’m inclined to think shyv right now based on the ‘not so different’ so implying similar but not mage but magical creature. but really we don’t know. though that’s cute. but syl/as simply laughs this off, deeming any effort they have made and mocking his relationship. anyway, jarv just looks really sad and upset man.

and so the next page goes on and sy/las is calling for the crowds opinion on if he should be executed. some ( likely the rebels ) say yes and some ( likely town folk ) say no and beg for someone to save him. syl/as of course listens to his own people only and takes execute as the option, and starts firing up the mages on that. some call for him to be bled ( oh i see this is where they wanted to put the noxian blood letting torture. they got rid of it to be put here i see. ) and another to behead him. and up until the end, jarv simply seems like he is simply given in, accepted his death. eyes closed and almost willing it over. he has already had to deal with one drawn out (near) death before, he doesn’t particularly want another. he only seems perturbed when syl/as tries to force him to eat a rat before he dies. again he is wide eyed, and very disgusted by the prospect. 

he is already in a state where his father has been murdered, he has been pulled away from him and forced to march past the magic warped remains of his people both soldiers, councillors and innocents, his death is being made into a sceptical and now he is also being humiliated. also important to note is that he is alone in all of this, his uncle is nowhere to be found, his father is dead, when forced into an arranged marriage with someone he considered a trusted friend he was given no answer but abandonment, and his two friends are no where to be seen. that mixed with the people he loves so dearly gathered to watch him die and some even calling for his death. he is hurting really badly, and if he didn’t want to be sick at the sight of burnt bodies he now wants to be sick at the thought of eating a live rat. 

and now we have ‘lu/x being bad ass part two’ and ga/ren rushes in to save them both. the comic doesn’t say and what exactly happens next is likely a flash back at the start of the next comic as i believe the next comic occurs after the short story, as it was released now and not then. but i imagine two things occur in jarv’s mind during this event of him being saved ( which he know he is ). 1) gar/en is right. he can always trust ga/ren. we know his friend is vocal in his dislike of magic and belief in the laws in place, so jarv after these events probably takes to leaning on this view point as it comes from on of the only people he has left and feels safe with him after all he has gone through. 

2) can lu/x really be trusted? jarv isn’t blind nor deaf. he heard syl/as and lux talk about them used to being friends, and that he used her to kill people. he doesn’t know about her magic i don’t think, but could clue it out from that maybe, and it is unsure if he knows her involvement with syl/as but he now knows she wouldn’t even deny the proposed arranged marriage to his face and she was apparently friends at one point with the one who lead to his father’s death. this cuts him a bit. ( also i see again, the trying to insert jarv lore into here? with gar/en saving him? interesting but not nearly as emotion jerking as gar/en finding his armour blood soaked and empty next to an executioners post with the pin signifying them as the closest shit in each other’s lives in the bloody mud c’: )

now, we do not know much until the events of the aftermath short story. this story, told through xin’s point of view, is honestly very depressing and provides a lot more focus on jarv’s collapsing mental state. while in the comic he is hurt and distressed, struggling with the idea of his own views on the matter and then the significant pain cause to him by magic and the possible danger it could cause his people, aftermath shows us a prince who has been stewing on it for the night. occurring the day after, it is told to us he does not look like he has slept and his emotions are raw at the surface. i suggest reading the full story but i will only be talking about jarv’s mentions in this.

so our encounter with jarv in this short story occurs with xin finding him at the training fields. he is described as already breathing with exertion and drenched with sweat, a suggestion that he has been doing this for some time now, and his emotions wild and clear. he is also attacking wildly at the dummy, very much venting but also showing us he isn’t poised or in control of himself. yet when he speaks, calling xin uncle, it seems uncertain. i surely read it with a tired and tentative voice in mind. yet, after a pause, his emotions re-flare and he becomes angry again (something which happens several times over the course of the short story). he speaks coldly, harsh, trying to find someone to take the blame for the events, shifting rapidly from seeing xin as family to seeing him as a simple bodyguard ( something from the previous flash backs show the later of being untrue, and that xin is extremely close to jarv ). i also see this as him struggling with his own thoughts and passions, a war of heart and mind - xin being family vs xin being his father’s bodyguard, in extension we have seen mages murdered my father vs not all mages are guilty, i hate them vs i hate them all.

the prince then decides the best way to interrogate xin is by also trying to vent his frustrations with sparing. in jarv’s short story ‘ ebony, ivory, jasper ‘ we see him as a very level headed tactician which is controlled and ultimately able to see the right plays and choices in things where others can not. this is not that jarv. he is literally striking first, thoughts and questions later. xin mentions he is also not taking his strikes lightly, that he is swinging hard enough to break bone, something one wouldn’t do unarmoured or with someone you care about. he is pacing like a stressed animal, gripping his weapon like it is only lifeline, and forcing xin to fight him like it is his only reprise. another point made which shows jarv’s very altered state of mind is how xin also notes his form is sloppy, jarv is a good fighter, one of the kingdoms best, yet he observes there to be ‘ little finesse to the strikes ’ and that ‘ at any other time he would have berated the prince for his poor form—he was thinking only of attack, and leaving himself open for ripostes and counter-strikes ’. now since we know xin trained him and considers this poor form for him, it is likely jarv is definitely not of these traits normally, something further confirmed when he notes these are something he wouldn’t do now or take advantage because he sees them as caused by his justified anger.

skipping past the first flash back, jarv continues to press xin and eventually just tosses his weapon away when he doesn’t get an answer he wants. the frustration and anger is palpable. the prince isn’t the kind of person to discard something so carelessly, to be so disrespectful as to throw something of his to the ground. jarv has been raised to have the ideas of honour and respect and personal value and virtue as being very important, and the disrespect of tossing one of his weapons, staring at it while someone else picks it up, isn’t something jarv in his stable mind would do. yet he does such and grabs his lance - a sharp and deadly weapon in comparison to his blunted sword - and xin protests using them because jarv is unarmoured. now i have not heard anyone cover this exact fact but i want to talk about it for a bit, xin is armoured but jarv is not. jarv is attacking and not caring about his defence. and now he is making xin fight him with their actual sharpened weapons while only xin is armoured. either of these weapons could kill him, even his own by his own hand if he isn’t careful as noted by xin. and just, he doesn’t care if he gets hurt.

i think this exemplifies one fact about jarv, the first fact i mentioned above. he experiences a great amounts of survivor guilt in the time he failed his troops as a youth and now he sees himself as failing his people and his father by not saving them. he couldn’t even beat syl/as. and now he has to live with that fact, and very alone with it now. he is both trying to find someone else to blame to share in his own self torment or at least have someone either take him out of his misery or give him a punishment that jarv thinks is fitting for his failure. and i think perhaps, while not explicitly noted, xin acknowledges it ‘ “You are not armored,” . . .   “I don’t care,” . . . Reluctantly, his heart heavy, he retrieved his spear and moved back out into the open area in the center of the hall. ’ after all, it was xin in jarv’s earliest lore which remarked on the prince’s altered mental state as one of the people that knew him best, i would say that perhaps this is our new lore equivalent. and perhaps bring another down with him. ( jarv has always had a slight discard for his own life - see his quotes and his colour story - but this is quite excessive. the others can be seen as brave, this is different )

one more flash back later, they are fighting and we know jarv is not holding back. none of the fighting right now is casual, he is serious and very angry. this is contrasted with memories of xin with jarv and how jarv once idolised heros and here he is wielding the weapon in a very non-hero-like way. and yet drakebane itself moves in conjunction with his own actions like a perfect extension of his body. we are told that drakebane ( as obvious by its name ) was forged by the great weapon smith orlon, the same who made pop/py’s hammer, in order to combat a powerful frostdrake named maelstrom and her brood. perhaps digging into it too much, but i do see in essence that while the sword was not working for him yet his lance remains faithful is by his conviction in its original purpose. this lance was created to slay great beings of magic, to kill dragons, for the great kings of demacia to wield against the mages of the runewars. and this fits the mindset this king currently has.

another flashback passed we come back to a xin who is facing a new set of concerns, before he was worried about fighting the prince with dangerous weapons while jarv are unarmoured and now he is concerned that maybe the prince getting horribly wounded is not the only issue. here we see another drastic flip in jarv, he would never hurt someone he cared about, he is especially known to put himself in harms way before anyone else. and yet. he cut xin and xin is reasonably concerned but also unafraid. while it is only explicitly stated that xin thinks there is balance in dying here but it surely seems jarv also has this opinion. they both seem to think death is what they deserve. yet ( as angry as jarv is ) he doesn’t to want kill xin as much as xin wishes not to harm him. he stops as the blade ghosts xin’s skin, begging xin for answers but upon receiving it ( if not by xin’s confession but by his own reasoning ) he just deflates. he works out xin was sent away and so he is left as the only one at fault for ‘failing’. xin was fulfilling his duty, while he failed in his.

instead, jarv is just remains tired, tired and grieving and alone. through the next two flashbacks and jarv’s reaction to them we learn the late king was a stubborn man about what he believed in and that he often put his work ahead of himself and his family despite his love for his son. and just as quickly did jarv sober did his temper re-flare, upon hearing about the rebellion again he declares that they should have killed all the mage prisoners instead of imprisoning them. xin is shocked by this for he remarks that once jarv used to be concerned with the treatment of mages in demacia like his father but acknowledges that this was before what they did to him and that his anger in the moment is justified. but he still reminds him that his father wouldn’t agree with that, as he wouldn’t have once agreed with that. here it is key to see one of the great hurts in him right now is he feels both a failure and he feels betrayed, he snaps back ‘ and they killed him. ’ the lightshields had been working towards making things better for mages and in jarv’s angry thoughts and he feels betrayed by the ones they were working to help, he feels as if his good nature was taken advantage of and hurt by those he cared about. ( also note, canonically, execution is a murderer’s punishment. killing another is punishable by death and this is shown in some stories. )

just as quickly as this outburst begins does it end however, his fire dies and he sheds any mask of princely facade and anger, revealing he is simply lost, scared, sad and confused again. he grips feebly to support, and weeps. likely not the first time given his earlier description, but likely the first true time where he might realise the full emotion and weight of the situation. and he tries to hold strongly to it, he doesn’t have confidence or stability so he is all but begging xin to be it for him. when he is told that xin sees his life as forfeit, jarv grips at strings to keep xin with him. while desperate it is still very controlled though, controlled and thought out. begging wouldn’t work, but xin’s sense of duty would. and once xin starts to relent, he asks formally, appealing to the formal requirements. and once that digs at him, he appeals to the side that is his uncle, for he needs him as much as his kingdom. strategic in all things but it also shows his reliance on xin emotionally in this point. i strongly believe, if xin denied him he would crumple and things would be a lot worse. even if xin thinks he looks more composed after his breakdown.

and the short story ends with xin accompanying jarv to a council meeting. xin remarks at how controlled jarv is compared to his outburst, likely due to two things: 1) he had his outburst and is now not bottling up his emotions as much and is able to control himself better, and 2) jarv is required to look regal. xin notes that demacia needs a strong leader right now and jarv likely knows that just as well ( which will play a part in his next actions ) and so is portraying himself in such a way regardless of how his emotions might still be. i think this is shown well when he asks to see the note xin was to deliver, the contents of which anger him. it is a reminder of his older self, of his old ambitions and everything that he lost. and so he wrings its neck like he has to his old self and what he wishes to do to those that caused this. this shocks and disturbs xin and he is concerned. it is also important to note that the mageseekers are trained to combat magic so keeping them with greater powers, he increases arrests while the note wished to limit them, is advantageous to his wants.

after this point lu/x 5 will fill but we don’t know much of it so we shall skip over it for now. lastly, we have turmoil, a short story i really suggest reading which takes place one month after these events. as not much is relevant other than a few details and the laws of stone i will summarise. in turmoil, it follows a group of demacian soldiers as they are sent to escort a foreign dignitary to the capital, a mage from arbormark called arjen. the soldiers are uneasy with this and some wish that they could be out hunting the rebellions in the woods instead. two mageseekers accompany them as is now required by the laws. as they escort the mage they run into trouble. fearing the villages of the town wish to hurt the mage they are escorting, the soldiers form a tight perimeter and try to escape through a passage and a building. however, it is revealed the mob is not mad about the mage but one of the mageseekers with them. this mageseeker, under the new laws of stone was made to remove a young girl who he had been working with prior, he laments he didn’t want to remove her for she was innocent and he wouldn’t have required to prior but the laws have changed to become stricter and so all mages are considered guilty. the mother of the young mage tries to kill him but she is talked down but the crossbow still fires in a shot which would have killed one of the more vocal mage hating soldiers but arjen carefully uses his magic to deflect the bullet with only that soldier and the main character noticing. the mage hating soldier is conflicted and says nothing, implied to be having a turn of heart. the mother tells the mob to disperse and the envoy continues to the capital.

now from this we learn a couple things: 1) is is now illegal to BE a mage. prior to sy/las it was only illegal to USE magic and so benign mages were actually educated on how to control themselves at times and we treated more of a sickness at other. but now you’re life is a crime. 2) some of the mageseekers themselves are uncomfortable with this. while mageseekers have often been portrayed as horrific people, it is shown in this story as being more a magic focused police service which holds some corruption in higher ranks but also employs people who simply want demacia kept safe and don’t agree that magic is bad but rather bad mages are bad people. 3) that demacia has a lot of allies due to their defence of realms beyond their boarders and also that they understand demacia’s place and don’t condemn them for it. they understand the position of demacia based on its history. 4) these allies are sending who they think will help advise the new king of demacia best including mages and jarv is NOT denying them entry, which shows a willingness to listen which is a step beyond his much more aggressive stance one month earlier. 5) the punishment for being a mage is exile or imprisonment. currently the prisons in demacia are overloaded and there are prison camps in the outskirts. also exile is seen as one of the worst punishments in demacia. and 6) the rebellion is being hunted by the demacian army.

so, after all this, what can be conclude? it is obvious jarv is GREATLY affected by the barrage of death around him. his pre-existing survivor’s guilt is further exasperated by the failure to protect his father and those he swore to and he feels greatly betrayed by many people in his life ( lu/x for claiming to be a friend of the one who killed all these people, the mages he was trying to help striking when he is most vulnerable ). he is greatly alone with losing many friends and family and others being seemingly absent from the events, giving him only those with views which would increase his own anti-mage sentiment if he listens to them. he is lost in his grief and his depression and his anger, his empathetic nature stretched to its breaking point and he has no respite. in the end, jarv is doing what he thinks will protect his people, note he likely does not think mages among his people anymore, and will do anything for their safety. but he is also trying to be reasonable by reaching out to his allied nations as a new king and accepting the advise of mages on these topics. he isn’t murderous, but he is hurt and alone and his actions in his hurt are making him more alone. it’s a vicious cycle demacia has always been in, and now our dear newly crowned king has fallen into it.

a little extra: i do think there is a bit of jarv’s lore MISSING given the situation with shyv. i hope this will shed light on what he was doing and how that also affected him before this happened. i also hope they eventually show us jarv being redeemed for this is FAR from the jarv that the bio shows us on his page and i think that is his true self. just, if i can recall, someone i know once said at your lowest you become your opposite and i think this is true here.