#calliope metas

[zan0tix]

Assorted homestucks number 72382683

[writing-for-life]

Empathy for the Other

About Selective Compassion in Fandom Spaces

I feel like I need to write about a thing that’s not new, but it came to the forefront again with the show, and how some people react to Calliope in S2: There is a pattern of selective compassion in fandom that sadly also mirrors broader societal issues around whose pain we’re willing to acknowledge. While most fans readily extend understanding to Morpheus as a grieving father who finally kills his son out of unconditional love, the same empathetic lens (or even just acknowledgement) is conspicuously absent when examining Calliope’s near parallel experience of maternal love and loss. Everyone was willing to go there after S1 because, well, “romantic feelz” that are still all about Dream in a way. And people were also willing to go there because she was the abused muse. In S2 though? Not so much, and some people are even actively starting to turn on her.

I guess that kind of selective empathy exposes not only fandom’s investment in their blorbo (he’s mine, too! But it’s not about that), but also deeper societal blind spots regarding maternal experience and the humanity of characters who exist outside the protagonist’s immediate sphere.

A Tale of Two Parents

The story of Orpheus, to me, honestly shows where fandom empathy lies. And of course I get it. Dream’s decision to kill Orpheus is an act of profound love. Fandom recognises the agony and guilt of a parent and validates Dream’s choice, even if it hurts and has consequences. Comments consistently frame this moment as evidence of Dream’s capacity for growth and unconditional love. Because it is, and it’s true.

Yet Calliope’s parallel experience receives markedly different treatment. When she warns Orpheus about the approaching Maenads but accepts, in tears, that he wants to remain on the island because he lost his will to live, she too acts from maternal love: respecting her son’s autonomy while knowing it will have devastating consequences. Like Dream, she faces an impossible choice and makes a decision that honours her son’s wishes rather than her own desire to protect him. The metaphorical eternal suffering she endures as a result, the guilt, the grief, and the loss of her son, should logically evoke the same sympathetic response that Dream’s pain does.

But it doesn’t.

The different treatment of Dream and Calliope really shines a light on what I’ll just straightforwardly call the “blorbo effect”: the tendency to extend empathy primarily to our favourite characters while remaining blind to the equally valid experiences of others. Dream’s position as the show’s protagonist grants him a kind of empathetic immunity. His pain is centered, explored, and validated. Calliope’s pain, meanwhile, is pushed to the margins, dismissed, or actively ignored.

And that becomes even worse when I see some discussions about Dream’s and Calliope’s separation. Rather than examining the complex breakdown of their relationship which so clearly predates the Orpheus tragedy (I mean, it’s a mystery to me how some people don’t seem to pick up on that. Have people truly not noticed Calliope’s expressions during the wedding? They weren’t even micro expressions; they were blatantly obvious and she didn’t try to hide them. They didn’t spend time together during the celebrations. They did NOT show up as a couple that felt in any way close), parts of fandom instead blame Calliope for “abandoning” Dream because he didn’t want to put in a word with Hades. That was the final straw, but NOT the reason their relationship failed, and Calliope even said this herself, but people maybe have selective hearing as well, not just selective empathy. The implication that she should have remained with a husband whom she had grown apart from reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of both characters’ arcs. Plus, there’s also a staggering unwillingness to consider Calliope’s perspective as equally valid.

We Just Don’t Like Mothers Very Much, Do We?

Some fans’ struggle to empathise with Calliope speaks to a broader cultural blind spot regarding maternal experience. The demographic reality that much of fandom consists of people who have not experienced motherhood likely contributes to that kind of empathy gap. Without direct experience of maternal love, some fans really seem to struggle to recognise the profound love underlying all of Calliope’s actions. They will recognise the paternal love in Dream though. Strange that…

And this blind spot extends beyond fiction into real-world attitudes towards mothers. I’m going to out myself as one, and society often expects us to be simultaneously self-sacrificing and strong, to protect our children while also preparing them for independence, to love unconditionally while also setting boundaries. When mothers make difficult decisions, they’re often viewed with suspicion rather than understanding.

Prepare Yourselves for Misplaced Blame

I honestly can’t wait to see how fandom will treat Lyta Hall in S2 V2. It could be a test for fandom’s ability to develop more nuanced empathy. Lyta’s actions in The Kindly Ones represent perhaps the most primal expression of maternal love in the whole of The Sandman. Any mother (bar very few) would fight for her child’s life; Lyta’s actions are those of a mother who has been pushed to her limits due to fear and fierce love for Daniel. And that’s not villainous; that’s human.

But I remember discussions about her during S1, and I’m near convinced we’ll get the same selective empathy that I started to notice around Calliope. Lyta’s maternal desperation is viewed through the lens of how it affects Dream rather than understood as a valid response to an impossible situation. To me, that suggests that fandom’s empathy problems extend beyond individual character preferences to a more fundamental refusal (or perhaps inability, because “refusal” would suggest it is a choice, which I fear it isn’t) to recognise the full humanity of anyone who challenges or complicates the protagonist’s narrative.

The Other and the Limits of Empathy

At this point, I always want to recommend to look into the concept of “The Other” by Levinas, which shines a light on recognising the full humanity of those who exist outside our own immediate scope of existence and identification. And Morpheus functions as the “accessible self” for many fans: complex, flawed, but ultimately sympathetic, no matter his war crimes. Calliope and Lyta represent the Other: equally complex, equally deserving of empathy, but positioned outside the comfortable boundaries of protagonist identification.

And these considerations aren’t unique to fandom spaces but reflect broader cultural patterns of empathy distribution. We consistently show more compassion for those who are like us, share our experiences, or occupy central positions we can identify with in the narratives we consume. Those relegated to supporting roles (literally or figuratively) receive far less empathy, regardless of their actual circumstances or the validity of their experiences.

And I think that recognising these patterns could be a first step towards developing more inclusive empathy. Because The Sandman has a really complex moral landscape, tons of perspectives and would therefore offer a lot of opportunity for expanding empathetic understanding beyond protagonist-centered self-identification. But unfortunately, Netflix made it harder for us by choosing to focus entirely on Dream. And yet, it’s still possible to see Calliope’s love for her son, Lyta’s protective fury over the fate of her son, and they also deserve consideration and emotional investment. All of which fans readily give Dream.

Empathy isn’t just a thing you have. It requires conscious and continuous effort to build. It means examining our immediate emotional responses to characters and asking whether those responses are based on the characters’ actual actions and motivations or simply on their position within the narrative hierarchy. It means considering perspectives that might be unfamiliar or uncomfortable, particularly those rooted in experiences we haven’t personally shared.

And fandom’s selective empathy towards parental love and loss reveals both the power and limitations of fan identification. While the deep emotional investment in Dream always generates discussions about trauma, growth, and redemption (and it’s all good stuff. Well, mostly 🤣), the simultaneous dismissal of Calliope’s equally valid experience is just really telling. Especially for a character that got far more positive attention in S1 because, you guessed it, romance™️ (and people will readily identify with that because they can imagine themselves as that love interest. The mother who left her husband and has no part in romantic plot points though? Not so much…)

This isn’t simply about being “fairer” to female characters (although that’s certainly part of it). It’s rather about this:

Empathy isn’t whether we can feel for those who are like us or those ones we like, but whether we can recognise the full humanity of the Other: the mother making impossible choices, the parent fighting for their child, the woman whose pain exists outside the comfortable boundaries of our identification.

And that matters, because our world is divided. And it’s also divided because of our growing inability to understand perspectives different from our own. None of this is just a fandom issue, but fandom is an extension of what’s going on outside of it.

The Sandman Overture asks us to dream of a better world. And that starts with less selective empathy…

[captainlordauditor]

The thing about Calliope's story in Sandman that you have to understand is that the darkness presented in it was kind of par the course for comics in the 80s and early 90s.

The Comics Code lost most of its power when they loosened their restrictions in 1989. Even before that, people were pushing the limits (Jim Starlin's Batman comes to mind), but this was another ballgame entirely.

I can't see that Calliope was a confession, was Gaiman telling on himself, when Alan Moore had written The Killing Joke a few years prior, and he has since deeply regretted it and said he believes his editors should have reined him in.

Like, you can write deeply dark, fucked up shit, and then go on and become a monster of a human being. Or you can write deeply dark, fucked up shit and then say "okay, that was a little bit too much."

Or, like Suzanne Collins, you can write deeply dark, fucked up shit, and be so angry at how the world misses the point that you write an entire other book to drive your message home.

[nekropsii]

What a about Caliborn makes him so cool in your opinion?

Go keep track of his progression as an artist alongside his development as a character and think about how these are intrinsically linked. Ponder the fact that he is both at his most obnoxious and at his most amateur when trying to ignore his unique style explicitly brought on by his canonical learning disability and mimic others rather than truly be himself. Consider how his explorations of art are genuinely cool, not a bad thing, and how we get some really neat multimedia stuff out of it.

Caliborn may be a shitty little teenage wretch but the way he is portrayed as an artist and as a disabled person is both really good and very real. It comes from a place of love. His learning disability is handled with a degree of gentle care that you would not really expect from Hussie. The place Caliborn's art style ends up in is so fucking sick and I actually unironically love it. The technique he uses is really interesting. It's intentionally reminiscent of an Etch-a-Sketch, and I'm a little obsessed with it.

This is so fucking good. I mean this seriously. He's right - that is some Pure Art Skill.

I just love the way art is employed as a necessary component of his character arc. It's so neat. You don't see visual cues that intricate too often. Usually it's just in character design, but watching his entire art style and even his medium of choice change several times over is fascinating. You can really tell Hussie had a lot of fun with him. He's also just really, really fucking funny. Just about every sentence that comes out of his mouth is Grade A Absolute Fucking Gold, and I'm honestly obsessed with his dynamic with Dirk. This may get me thrown to the wolves, but I personally think Dirk and Caliborn have way more chemistry than Dirk and Jake. Maybe that's because we actually see Dirk and Caliborn interact on screen... Lmao.

Necessary Topic: I don't know why people hate him so much. Like, I understand hating his misogyny and fatphobia, sure, but those are deliberate character points and not just Hussie-isms. I see people act like Caliborn is indicative of Hussie, as if Homestuck-era Hussie wasn't, like, famously really fucking good at writing female characters and absolutely not a misogynist. Caliborn's a parody of Homestuck Anti-Fans - which is a term we really ought to bring back, god, anti-fans are absolutely still a thing and good lord they're everywhere - who really were just shitty little bigoted haters. Calliope, the opposite side of his coin, was representative of, essentially, "the best kind of Homestuck fan" - an ultimately sweet young teen girl who willingly dedicates almost all of her time to this piece of fiction she loves so, so much, who draws a lot of fan art for the joy of it all, has OCs that don't fit any of the design conventions in Homestuck whom she pairs with the characters in it for innocent fun. Someone who has a lot of theories and analyses, writes a lot of fanfic, and is genuinely just having a lot of fun. Everyone loves Calliope. Even the characters in Homestuck love Calliope. They just think she's the cutest, sweetest little thing they ever did see. Caliborn was the worst kind. He sucks on purpose. No one likes him. He is a total nuisance to characters he is by all means trying to impress. I love them both.

It's also just funny that he's a canonical Intersex Transmasc who is probably Gay and this has, like, no relevance to anything about him, really. So no one really talks about it. Gender Hilarious, Gender Nefarious.

[borzoilover69]

I have a headcanon on how these guys style themselves postgame and you WILL hear me out.

Kanaya, Roxy, and Jade are self explanatory. They know how they want to present themselves. They know how to go forward with that. They’ve got colour combos and layering and fashion choices suited to their particular style IN THE BAG. Loud, prominent, they know whats up.

Jake, Calliope, and Jane get nudged into giving a fuck about fashion by anyone named above, or rather their own desire to dress up…Jake moreso because as a celebrity he gives too much of a fuck about his image to be anything less. Callie of course is affectionate enough with jade and roxy that they teach her how to style and i think she would like lolita and more daintier feminine stuff than roxy, but she does tend to sometimes switch over to suits. Jane is pure butch energy she dresses like a guy but as a girl with fashion sense. Like strict lesbian style. I dont know how else to fucking put it she would dress like how a butch lesbian would.

Jane and Jake stylewise would be similiar to some retro callback summer movie where everyones on a roadtrip in a yellow van or something except jake is more prone to extravagancy because he gives more of a fuck. Also one of them is wearing dresses and its NOT Jane.

Dirk and Rose.. fashion disasters. Dirk doesnt know fashion weight for a while and tries too hard id even suspect that he would try and mimic daves fashion style for a while until john or someone else blatantly calls him out in an offhand comment and jake and the rest of his friends start getting on his fucking case about being so bland with his fashion takes (all primaries, little to no patterns, basic, no layering.) that he caves and starts taking it like a personal challenge to style well.

At some point he has a revelation and realises he can get piercings and starts leaning into that and punk / gothish fashion. Black with complimentary colours recommended by friends.

Rose is sort of a fashion trainwreck like for all of kanayas nudging she doesnt really give a fuck and kanaya starts dictating her outfits and then of course she also gets the "someone makes an offhand comment that makes them mald really hard about it and go into a snooty onesided competition to prove they GET IT actually and that you were TOTALLY wrong about them not GETTING IT." Its the only way Dirk and Rose start caring.

Terezi and John get nudged around by their respective compadres about fashion sense and style, but they generally dont give a damn and have their own thing going for them. Theyve got their own vibe and style that feels well on them and especially terezi wise i think she would lean into the fashion disaster for fun. As long as the colours taste well together, who gives a damn about layering etc etc. throw in some crocs with a suit. An oversized shirt with a tapered skirt. Who cares. John is more tried and true but he styles out ENOUGH so he doesnt end up in the last (deorgatory) category.

Dave and Karkat are the real stubborn contendors of the friendgroup fashionwise. Baggy on baggy outfitwear. WILL get on your case if you point out had it not been for their respective colour choices they basically dress the exact same. Same mix of cargo pants, sweatpants, tracksuit pants, hoodies, and tshirts to keep them going for the lifetime. There js nothing else. Whats layering. Accessories? Well except for a watch hard pass. Patterned clothing? No way. Basic colours ONLY. Maybe Dave would dig long shorts ive always seen him as a longshorts kind of guy but its never anything noteworthy. Type of guys to choose what theyre wearing with their eyes closed thats how basic their closet is.

Anyways thats my style and fashion thoughts. Let me know what you think. Discuss and all that. Also tag yourself on which one youre closest to stylewise. Im jake. Obviously.

[gnarly-websurfer]

Oh my fucking god I just had a fucking revelation about the parallels between roxy/calliope and Dirk/Caliborn

Calliope and Caliborn are both explicitly textually trans with Callie having observed and identified with human conceptions of femininity to which Caliborn defined himself in opposition to by identifying extremely intensely with manhood. And it is these two extremely trans characters that parallel Roxy and Dirk, because of course having grown up post apocalypse they are a self-made girl and a self-made boy respectively who adopted this identity partially through emulation of their biological predecessor and both pairs reflect different aspects of the gender binary in similar yet contradictory ways ughhhhhhhg

[cringefail-clown]

hear me out, but i dont think alt!calliope is that much concerned about canonicity of the story all that much. theres some deeper motive going on here

when john defeats lord english (and gets promptly unsubscribed from life, since his narrative purpose is completed) and davepeta hurls him into the black hole, on the other side in candyverse alt!calliope waits for him to appear and, when he does, devours him to gain the power-up needed to escape the timeline and goes on a hunt for ult dirk to stop him from starting another sburb session

and this is where lord english storyline should be put to rest, but its not as simple as that. this dudes like a cockroach, you just cant get rid of him, he just doesnt disappear, hes always there no matter what, looming over the narrative. and, now thats he was absorbed into alt!calliope, whats left of him? his masterpiece self now residing inside ult dirk

and dirk always had a close connection to caliborn - cal liked dirk the most from all the alpha kids, chatting with him regularly, hal - dirks splinter - became a part of cal and also doc scratch, who was also the host that brough lord english into the universe after beta kids created the green sun (which he also manipulated them into)

basically what im trying to say, dirk wanting to start another sburb session isnt really about maintaining their connection to canon, but it also is about it. caliborn lords over the alpha timeline, and is intrinsically tied to the canon. hes always there, hes already there, and he will always come back. and dirk is narratively tied to the one guy that was responsible with brining him into the story. excellent host, you might say

the point of starting another session is ultimately to bring caliborn back to life, and this is the goal of ult dirk, as the one whos carrying the last splinter of his soul. and thats why alt!calliope is so focused on stopping him. its all about the powerstruggle between the two cherubs, once again

(would also like to point out that rose got fooled twice into bringing lord english into the narrative - once through doc scratch manipulating her into believing deploying the tumor would destroy the green sun, and now through dirk manipulating her into believing starting another session will stop the timeline from deteriorating. girl cannot catch a break jesus)

tldr ult dirk is acting as another doc scratch, and the goal is to revive lord english

but tHATS JUST A THEORY-

[inastarlesssky]

More Dreamuse thoughts because I had some realizations I came to. This scene is living rent-free in my head and I've just had some thoughts so have this is in mind, k?

Dream: The last time I saw you, you said you would never speak to me again. Calliope: I'm sorry, I had I did not know where else to turn. Dream: You misunderstand me. [steps ever so slightly closer to her] When I heard you call to me, even after all this time...let me help you. Please.

So because of a recent fixation upon The Sandman Netflix series, and after watching the series all the way through, I've started thinking about Dream of the Endless and turning over in my head the little details one can pick up on while watching the episodes. Just personally, I tend to think (a little too much probably) on things but when something catches my attention, well, all the more so.

That being said, in the first few episodes, I observed that Dream's reactions or emotional responses weren't...hm very strong, per se. Or rather, he might not always have shown on his face the emotion you can clearly hear in his voice. I thought that was really interesting because, well, as human beings, if someone's angry/sad/hurt, you will more often than not see that in a facial expression (granted, of course, people are different, and some are more expressive than others....I'm not trying to make a universal statement here, just making comparisons). Note that Dream of the Endless is not human. He is an anthropomorphic entity that according to Tom Sturridge is basically (damnit I can't remember how Tom said it in the interview) the collective unconsciousness of the world--dreams and dreaming and all that.

He's not human. Which means he will, accordingly, react to and perceive and experience things in ways different to us human beings. Keep that in mind.

It seemed to me a little subtle reminder to me of exactly that, he's not human. He's distant in a way. He definitely does still feel things, very strongly sometimes even. But his way of expression is different. Anyway, I digress.

So on a lovely server I just joined, I posed this question and the folks there pointed out that it's true, Dream doesn't necessarily vocalize an emotional response, but if it's very strong or boils over, then yes. Now I take 'vocalize an emotional response' in two ways:

saying "I feel [angry/sad/frustrated/insert whatever emotion]"

Showing in a change of the tone of voice or making some sort of comment that will give insight related to said emotional response

I've never seen him do the first and we shouldn't, because that doesn't make for very good storytelling. The showing is more frequently better than the telling, I believe. But I want to draw your attention to the second point, and most specifically to that scene when he's talking to Calliope shortly before he ruins Arthur Madoc's life.

She tells him about her plight, and he responds by saying he'll take care of everything she's asked him to, basically. She frowns at this and asks him, "Why? Because I was once yours?" He answers with a quiet, "Because he hurt you" and then continues with the quote I put at the beginning of this spiel.

"The last time I saw you, you said you would never speak to me again." - Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm imagining things. But I could have sworn I noticed a little, almost imperceptible change in his tone when he delivered this line. Without knowing any of the history they had (I know a little bit more now than I did then... but in that moment, no), I could tell that this was something painful for him. Something he'd been hurt by. (I know that it's all just 'poor Morpheus', they both suffered, and they were both hurt, and I could go off on a whole 'nother thing for that)

But my point is that, he's hurt. He mentions this to her, not directly telling her that, but reminding her of what she'd said to him so many years ago. Something that wounded him. Despite that, he has willingly and most readily come to her assistance when she called him.

That's it. Just offering that up for consideration.

[seldomdrawncherubs]

How would a Prince of Mind or a Prince of Life work?

(out of character: please send classpects separately if you have two! Otherwise, I will only do one or the other)

(since I have multiple prince of mind asks, I will answer prince of life.)

uu: NOW WE ARE COOKING. WITH FIRE.

uu: THE LIFE ASPECT IS LAME AS HELL. HAVE YOu SEEN JANE? SHE IS STuPID.

uu: "OH I CAN HEAL" BITCH WE ARE TRYING TO KILL PEOPLE. WHY WOuLD YOu HEAL?

uu: IT IS THE GAME'S WAY OF SAYING. YOu ARE DuMB AND COuLD NEVER SuRVIVE WITHOuT THE CHEAT CODE. OF AN EXTRA LIFE.

uu: I SuPPOSE IT COuLD BE uSEFuL. FOR MANIPuLATION. OR IF YOu THOuGHT YOu COuLD HELP SOMEONE. YOu WERE PARTICuLARLY ATTACHED TO.

uu: BuT A PRINCE? THAT NEGATES THE WEAKNESSES OF LIFE. AND RETAINS ONLY THE ADVANTAGES.

uu: VITALITY. ENERGY. DIRECTING GROWTH TO OVERWELM AND CHOKE OuT YOuR ENEMIES INSTEAD OF RESuRECTING PEOPLE WHO DO NOT DESERVE IT.

uu: TRY NOT TO DESTROY YOuRSELF. PRINCES KEEP DOING THAT. YOu COuLD MAKE YOuRSELF SICK. OR DIE. AND THAT WOuLD MAKE YOu AS uSELESS. AS ANY OTHER LIFE PLAYER.

***

UU: yoU are fUll of potential, prince of life!

UU: of coUrse, it's not withoUt danger. always remember to take care of yoUrself. if yoU play with a prince, always check in with them, becaUse the class centers on the destrUction of yoUrself.

UU: this may be particUlarly troUbling with life. life relates to healing, to play, to growth, and to, well, life.

UU: a prince of life whose role is to destroy these coUld be in mUch danger!

UU: if yoU catch yoUrself in a pattern like this, perhaps yoU coUld mitigate it with the help of a therapist! rose has spoken to me before aboUt what hUmans do when they become self destrUctive.

UU: please consider it. althoUgh, if yoU are like dirk, yoU might disregard this advice...

UU: I am sure I do not need to tell yoU that yoUr powers are the opposite of a sylph or maid of life

UU: yoU woUld not resulUrrect the dead

UU: instead, yoU coUld destroy as someone's life.

UU: this coUld be literal at the god tier. dirk's powers are a sight to behold, and yoUrs will be as well.

UU: it coUld also mean destroying someone's life as they know it, throUgh destroying friendships or reasons to keep going, or their statUs qUo

UU: it might also be possible to leave them listless...

UU: wield this power responsibly.

UU: and please, go to therapy instead of joining my brother's army...

[derseprinceoftbd]

So weird looking back at all those like pre-Epilogue @bladekindeyewear et al longposts grappling with like Gnosticism and shit and how English is the Conductor because he has a lot of Will and the story is about Will and Ultimate Riddles and shit and Rose was wrong and SBURB is neutral at worst and literally Good itself at best and characters are tools you can literally make whatever point with and you don't have to resolve any of them (and even they never defend Jane and Jake's endings)

and then you look at @thelifetimechannel and @clonerightsagenda and @geejaysmith and how they said "Alt-Calliope is the Conductor, the story is about rebelling against these cosmic forces, Rose was right, SBURB is obviously incredibly evil, the *story* is the enemy, characters should have good endings because it's Not That Subjective' and it's like I Don't Know Which One Of You Actually Understood The Themes Of Homestuck Less But By G-d What These Two Have Made Is *Better* Than What Hussie Ever Would Have.

Edit:

Like I'm sorry who gives a fuck about Kids and their journeys it *kills planets*.

[moldsporr]

Thinking about how in a story where anything and anyone that doesn't have narrative relevance is killed off and shoved to the side for the sake of the villain coming to fruition, Calliope- someone who is wholly unnecessary in the grand scheme of things, who's timeline is doomed if she wins over Caliborn

She still gets to live and be happy with her friends. She doesn't need to do anything she doesn't need to be relevant she still gets a happy ending. And I just. Oughghg. She doesn't need to be useful she can just live for the first time. And then putting it into context with who Calliope represents. Your aus and fan trolls and ships aren't canon and they're not "relevant" in the story but they still matter and they should be able to live, just like Calliope gets to. Like. Hhejrgrjrgeje.

[writing-for-life]

The Narrative Whiplash of Sandman S2.V2

When Trying to Do It Right By Everyone Near Breaks a Story

I’m going to precede this with:

There was a lot about S2 I liked. Cinematography, acting, some inspired changes that I thought were an improvement on the source material. People who know me will also know that I was never one who wanted a different ending, and they did give us the core tragedy (well, sorta, more about that later): Those of us who feel so inclined can still see and feel Morpheus’ existential tiredness, and I personally always thought that was important because we tend to forget that he is not human. We relate to him that way because we are. But it’s sometimes also good to remember that for him, “keep going” does not extend to the comparably short span of a mortal life. He has been around for billions of years. He has to keep going for (potentially) billions of years still. I think it’s hard to wrap our heads around what it would mean to live in emotional pain for so long (we honestly can’t, and I think therein lies the problem). He wanted out for so long (at least since The Tempest, but if you read the comics, you can’t help but think it must have been so much longer than that—the first signs were even there during The Heart of a Star, and that was ~four billion years ago)… There were moments in all the sanitising of major story beats that made me think they might pivot away from the comics ending, and I’m personally glad they didn’t (and I also totally get if people aren’t). And I loved seeing Daniel!Dream and thought Jacob Anderson was inspired casting. But I also thought that the show somewhat undermined its narrative integrity by trying to have its cake and eat it, too. And I’d like to sum it up as the “Maybe There’s Another Way”-problem…

I’m fairly certain the writers were pretty clear that there was no way around Morpheus’ comics ending. And Morpheus’ last scene and the transition as such, they nailed: It was heartbreaking, beautifully acted, and somewhat true to (what I perceive as) the core message. BUT throughout the whole of V2, they also kept inserting moments of hope that somewhat contradicted the sense of inevitability that made the comics IMHO far more powerful. Or at least, if you don’t want to call it “powerful”: more narratively coherent.

We got scene after scene of characters suggesting there might be “another way”. It’s like the writers were constantly winking at us, saying “Don’t worry, maybe he won’t actually have to die!”

Playing to Both Sides

I get it. The show has attracted fans who never read the comics, and even to fans of the comics, Morpheus’ death was devastating. The “suicide in slow motion”-interpretation (there are others obviously, and again: I somewhat use suicide as a shorthand here because Morpheus is not human. Dream can’t die, he can only transform) has always been controversial, even among fans of the first hour. But to me, it felt that by neither committing to a truly faithful adaptation nor a meaningful departure, the writers tried to thread an impossible needle.

They tried to satisfy comics fans with the original ending while at the same time attempting to comfort tragedy-adverse fans by suggesting it might not happen. But can/should you really constantly try to soften the blow by adding hope for an escape?

In the comics, there’s a clear sense that Morpheus is existentially tired and walks knowingly towards his fate, that this is the only way things can end given who he is and what he’s done. But the show feels like he’s fighting it at times, looking for a way out despite accepting that what he has done might lead to his death sooner or later. We (as in: not me, but the audience in general) are given hope at every turn. Show!Morpheus already is what Daniel is supposed to stand for, and they hammered that message home at every corner. And by removing the last shreds of comics!Morpheus’ more problematic nature (e.g. NOT forgiving Alex himself), it all felt a bit… contrived? As if they were waving a big signpost at us constantly that read: “He’s a good one, you know?”

Edit: And to make this very clear because I think some people are misunderstanding what I’m saying here or just skim-reading (it helps to read the whole post until the end, even if it’s long): This is NOT about Morpheus’ interiority, or about thinking “he’s worse in the comics and therefore had it coming”, or about his “not being existentially tired/suicidal in the show”, because I don’t think any of these things—neither about the comics, nor about the show. It’s about how the writers treat the audience. If you’re in any doubt how I generally think about this story, please read my past meta, like this one and especially this quite recent one, before you have a knee-jerk reaction to something I’ve never said but you somehow manage to read between the lines.

Maybe they had this idea that by giving the casual audience more hope, they would feel the loss more acutely (sometimes that is a thing writers do), and they certainly succeeded in that. Because they essentially spent four episodes going “but maybe…”, only to then pull the rug.

I just wish the show had trusted its audience with the reality of what was happening instead of trying to cushion every blow and also removing every bit about Morpheus that made him less “palatable”. I’m still seething about Allan Heinberg’s comment that they changed Morpheus so audiences would “love him and root for him.” (Honestly, we managed to “love him and root for him” for 30+ years without being treated like we can’t get subtext, and despite his being more problematic in parts). Because in light of how S2 went, I can only call it out for what it is:

The writers didn’t trust in the actual story being enough (or rather: too much?). They were worried modern audiences might not take to certain tones about it, so they had to add constant meta-commentary about “finding another way” that was never going to pay off—and they knew it wouldn’t. It made the genuine moments of beauty and tragedy feel a bit… cheap? Like it was written by committee, trying to please everyone and ultimately serving no one.

Having said all of this, I do think, as I already said, that the show is beautiful. Tom Sturridge’s performance as Morpheus is probably career-defining. The visual storytelling is stunning. But I can’t shake the feeling that this could have been so much better if they’d just picked a lane, any lane, and stayed in it.

Or maybe they thought more casual fans needed those moments of hope to make the ending bearable, but I think it just made it worse for everyone who either didn’t know what to expect or always had a problem with the comics (again, I’m not one of them). It felt like the show neither trusted the source material nor its audience, and I honestly believe the story suffered for it. And there was other stuff that felt disappointing to me…

Justice for Matthew

Perhaps the most glaring omission is basically completely cutting Matthew’s speech from The Wake. In the comics, Matthew’s speech about his relationship with Morpheus is one of the most emotionally devastating moments. A simple, honest and incredibly raw eulogy from someone who genuinely cared about his friend. More importantly, Matthew was always a stand-in for us, the audience. He struggled to accept Daniel as the new Dream like many of us initially did. Giving him a few half-sentences instead… I don’t know, it just felt off. I also missed Matthew’s buddy cop dynamic with the Corinthian in The Kindly Ones. I get they might not have been able to do this with real ravens and it would have turned into a massive CGI fest, but I still missed them. Which brings me to the next point:

Jo x Cori

I loved Jenna Coleman’s Johanna Constantine. I loved Boyd Holbrook’s Corinthian. I honestly loved their dynamic, their chemistry, and they were a lot of fun. Without any further background, I can totally get behind them, and my recent joke in the community that if Morpheus can’t have her, Cori should obviously came back to bite me in the arse big time 🤣 BUT the fun aspect aside: The writers turned the Corinthian into someone he simply isn’t in the comics, at least not to that degree. This is long enough as it is, so I won’t elaborate on this point too much, but I’ve written tons of meta about Cori 1.0 and Cori 2.0, and why understanding him is also integral to understanding Dream. And it felt like… the writers didn’t understand him at all? Instead, they gave us a bi romance that felt a bit forced (at least to me). And to say this very clearly: I’m bi. I lived in a civil partnership with a woman for years and I’m married to a man now. I love good bi representation and I think we need more of it—especially the one that is “straight-presenting”. Because I honestly hate that every time a bi relationship presents as m/m or f/f, people on here will go, “Slay!”, but that every bi m/f relationship gets called “straight” and “heteronormative”. It’s honestly insulting. But this wasn’t it in my view, the reason being the weird undertones it created. The Corinthian was recreated to be a better version of Cori 1.0 (that’s not equivalent to “puppy dog”—he’s still a nightmare and he’s still very much Dream’s Shadow with a capital S). And I know they already said he was pan in S1, but to me, he honestly didn’t present as such just because he had the ability to be “charming with the ladies”. Comics!Corinthian was clearly gay, and for very specific reasons based on what I would call fairly recent history. And while we maybe didn’t need those reasons anymore, I still think show!Cori 1.0 presented gay. If he was pan, he had at least a clear preference for men, and together with the fact who and what Cori 2.0 represents, that does make where they took him… a bit homophobic? It just felt strange in more than one way. But even if we put all discussions about his sexuality aside: The most glaring problem for me was that they turned the Corinthian a bit into an “idiot in love.” I don’t know, man…

Where TF was Calliope?

It was so disappointing to me that none of Dream’s lovers got a voice at The Wake. I understand the show wasn’t quite the same, but not even Calliope? The mother of his son who suffered beyond comprehension as well? She honestly deserved that moment, and I think they could have given it to her without going into the nitty gritty of their sex life like in the comics 🙈🤣 Maybe just parts of it, like this:

But they IMHO did Calliope dirty throughout the whole of S2, and I’m still not okay about it (and I wrote about how this affected fandom empathy as well, and jeez was I right about how people tear into Lyta)…

The Pacing Was Still Shot to Bits & They Missed Opportunities

Volume two suffers from the same tonal inconsistencies that have plagued volume one. The show sometimes rushes through crucial emotional beats while lingering on IMHO less essential moments. I get that it had to be extremely condensed, that they had to tackle the impossible task of cramming so much into one season. And maybe it’s just me, but I think the weight of Morpheus’ death wasn’t given any time to breathe in the same way as in the comics. And the biggest mistake, for me, was that they rushed through the last three issues, with maybe the exception of Sunday Mourning. My take on this might be controversial, but Sunday Mourning was never about what becomes of Morpheus to me (and it’s okay if people see it differently), but rather about closure for Hob and driving the point home that those we love live on in memory and story (and we can reasonably assume the dream was gifted to him by Daniel). So as long as Hob is still alive, there will be someone who remembers Morpheus. And the story angle is central to Exiles and The Tempest, too (I wrote about this before). Especially Exiles would have tied up so many loose ends, and while I get that the story in its entirety would have been hard to incorporate, I think at least its message would have helped a lot of people who don’t know the comics with processing. Omnia mutantur, nihil interit—Everything changes, nothing is truly lost. How they didn’t build on that much more than in the split second that no one who doesn’t know the comics would even recognise, and not even saying those words, is quite frankly beyond me when they spent so much time on stuff that was far more inconsequential or even a bit off. I mean, what were those added lines in Gilbert’s speech? Love or hate Gilbert’s decision not to come back, but in the comics, it made sense for him. It was a decision I could respect because of who he was. It had integrity, and I could totally understand why. To extend it in a weirdly patronising [to the audience] way and add those lines about bringing back Morpheus THAT WEREN’T EVEN IN THE COMICS was honestly a big mistake in my view. These lines were not just “opinionated”, but absolutely nonsensical (“You’re a different Dream already. Morpheus never apologised,” he says, while we’ve seen Morpheus apologising several times. And even Gilbert himself had commented on how much he had changed 🙈).

There’s much more, both in the critical and positive sense, but I think this will get far too long if I keep going at this point, so maybe I’ll write about other stuff separately.

It’s a, “I like it as a standalone for many reasons, but it’s neither a faithful adaptation, nor is it always narratively tight,” for me. All in all, they brought Morpheus’ story to a close, and I’m supremely grateful we got that. While the execution isn’t perfect and many decisions feel like genuine missteps, it’s over and done (bar one remaining episode). Those of us who love the comics will always have those. Those who don’t will move on or learn to take the show for what it is: Extremely flawed in some parts and beautiful in others. And on a meta-level, maybe there’s something to be taken from that, too…

[davekat-sucks]

In order: Character problem, could be fixed with just a guillotine. Character problem, Alt!Callie is not a cosmic force, she is a loser with no friends who is also very bad at her job. Character problem and/or society problem, depending on if you want to blame capitalism or put the players in a guillotine. And as you said, thats a meta thing, not a cosmic instory force. Them being a collective dickhead does not a cosmic horror make. There is no creme to this oreo.

Alt Calliope is somewhat cosmic in that she had control in some narrative in Epilogues and in HS2/Beyond Canon. Taking over Jade's body and still monologuing her own thoughts. Doesn't help she is a Cherub like Caliborn. If Caliborn was able to reach to OP status via Lord English, I'm not surprise Alt Calliope is this for her. It's just people were too late too see Calliope's toxic positivity because she supposedly represents the good fandom. Meta is also part of theme within Homestuck too. It's been like that even in base webcomic. From commands, Gigapause, John's retcons, all of it had been important to the story. It is no different for Epilogues when Dirk killed himself if he couldn't control over a narrative and HS2/Beyond Canon where Ult Dirk seems to have control not only narrative, but people's emotions as well like he tried to do to Rose before realizing her feelings were of her own accord, not through manipulating her thoughts within the story. Some could say meta narrative is necessary for Homestuck to be Homestuck.

[nekropsii]

Atomic Ask Bomb... 2!!

Hello, all! We are back in the mines immediately, because you all love me and my inbox so much. I still have 200+ more asks to sort through after this and that is not hyperbole!! Oops!!

Content Warning: Long, and Cronus is There.

You can be both. I am both. I think Terezi's easily in the Top 3 of Best Written Homestuck Characters, no competition. AND she compels me.

Mituna Fans and Terezi Fans flocking together like how Gays and Lesbians are supposed to.

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He doesn't have a Recuperacoon. He doesn't NEED a Recuperacoon. Who needs a Recuperacoon when you have a bathtub? You pile a bunch of slime in there, and then you can pop the drain open in the morning and take a shower right there where you just got up. It's convenient. And not at all sad. It's not sad guys.

Let's pretend for a moment that either Vantas would have regular bathing habits for the sake of this joke.

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Even if that's the case, it really doesn't change anything. Insecurity doesn't justify literal actual sexual harassment and sexual assault. What?

People will do anything to excuse random shitty men for being shitty. Sympathy is the favorite weapon in Fandom Misogyny's arsenal. So often will fans pull some random bullshit out of their ass just to say that it's fine that a male character is abusive, especially if it's to women, because "He's Sad", so he should never face criticism or punishment for his actions.

We should all start putting people in blenders. We've let these arguments go on long enough. People are far too bold in their abuse apologia. We need to kill them.

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Yeah. Like, he interests me a lot, he's one of the characters I take the most interest in out of all of the Alpha Trolls. I literally write sov!Cronus. I hate his guts, though. It really is just that easy to be a fan of a character and also fucking hate them. Not once have I ever made an excuse for him. The goal Hussie set out for when writing him was making him inexcusable and irredeemable, down to Cronus literally knowing what he's doing is bad and hurts people, and simply just not caring.

Cronus is genuinely fucking evil. That's the whole point. If you make him misunderstood, if you make him mean well, if you make him lack self awareness, if you make him sympathetic, if you give him any redeeming qualities at all... You are missing the point completely. If you want a sympathetic asshole character, you want Vriska. The point of Cronus is that he's The Worst Character In Homestuck, and that he has zero redeeming qualities and trying to fix him or redeem him is a Hopeless venture. He is beyond saving. Don't you dare even think about trying - to try to make him palatable is to erase Violent Bigotry, Incest, and Child Sexual Abuse. Just don't. Enjoy him as he is, do NOT defang him.

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He truly is the worst! I think we should explode all depictions of fanon!Cronus. Forever.

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Yeah, there's a huge reason why I do not say I'm a fan of Cronus or call him a favorite character of mine or anything. It projects a certain... Image. The wrong one. There's just such a strong precedent for anyone saying they're a Cronus Fan or calling him their Favorite Character being a person who just completely fucking ignores everything about him, or even pardons it, saying it's fine, actually, because He's Sad, or that it's Not That Bad, actually. I can't stand it.

I'm aware there are Cronus Fans who are totally normal, but I cannot help but immediately be wary of them, or flinch for a moment even when they offer the reassurance that they know better. It's a natural response, having been here for around a decade and having been a Mituna Fan the whole time.

Liking characters who are terrible people is fine. Based, even, in some cases. But... It's truly difficult with Cronus, because so much of that fanbase relies on excusing/minimizing/condoning abuse and bigotry. I don't have any qualms with people liking characters that suck, but when a fanbase for a character is so heavily focused on pretending that character isn't a horrible, terrible, awful person who abuses people - even children, even people they're related to, even children that they're related to - for nothing but their own sexual gain... I start having issues. That sets a pretty dangerous precedent, to me.

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It's crazy to me how so much of the apologism is because he's hot. Because he literally isn't. You all have terrible taste.

Let's all appreciate for a moment just how fucking ugly he is. The fan art is lying so bad. He needs a haircut. His shirt doesn't fit him, and honestly looks like women's clothes - you know those women's shirts that have the sleeves that stop halfway down the damn shoulder? He looks like a 16 year old. He's so skinny, and his shoulders are so... rounded and small - which are fine traits to have, but literally every piece of fanart portrays him as broad-shouldered and ripped when the literal opposite is true. You just know he has too much product in his hair. His actual sprite is even worse.

The way his fly doesn't even go all the way up. The way his hair clips into his face. The way he's slightly yellow for literally no reason. The shitty belt. This fucking sucks. He's so ugly. He isn't even hot.

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Mituna having Memory Loss as a result of his TBI is literally a myth invented by Cronus to emotionally manipulate Mituna and perpetuated by Cronus Fans. I think if they were friends in the past, Cronus's actions would be worse, actually.

Could you imagine getting sad that your friend doesn't remember you because of a Traumatic Brain Injury, and your response to this sadness is to abuse and sexually assault them on the regular? What, is that Just Bro Things now? Cronus literally says he targets Mituna because he thinks he can get away with it due to his struggles with communication. The thing about them being buddies in the past was one of his trademark Lies. Because he is known to do that, specifically to manipulate people. Because he is known to manipulate people. Emotionally. Because he is abusive. And terrible. And not redeemable. This isn't rocket science! It isn't rocket science to say that pushing the fault of Mituna's abuse onto Mituna is Victim-Blaming!

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Positively fucking ridiculous that so many people did not recognize their romance within the comic. If they were boys, there'd be no god damn question about it. It'd be up there in everyone's OTP list alongside DaveKat.

I think they're adorable. They're one of my favorite pairings.

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It's great in the source comic, especially during earlier phases of its existence, but the quality deprecates drastically the further you get from that point. I hate it in Fanon and in Dub/Post-Canon.

It's a great off-screen pairing for a lot of lore reasons - namely it being great to let Dave slowly allow himself to love and be loved in private, with no fear of eyes on him. He's never really been able to have privacy before, with all the cameras and eyes on him all the time, and he's never been able to really let his guard down and be vulnerable. He's never been able to love and be loved, safely. I ultimately think they should've kept their relationship mostly private, even after Dave's recovered quite a bit, because sometimes having something just for yourself without that need to perform it is healing in itself. Mental health maintenance.

In Fanon, it seems like pretty standard yaoi, though. Boring. Tired. Literally everywhere. Voyeuristic as always.

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Thank you! My Inbox generally really isn't that bad at all, honestly! Most people are pretty cordial! Anon Hate for me is pretty rare. Thankfully, the Delete Ask button exists, so I don't have to worry about those Anons for very long, lol.

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I hate to say this, but back in my day, plenty of people actually did do that. In fact, people only knowing Homestuck through fan material and then still calling themselves a fan is a big reason why old Homestuck fanon was so bad and so far off the mark!

I have a name for those kinds of fans, because it was such a frequent occurrence it begged for a title. I call them Secondaries. Like "Secondary Source"!

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World's most based triad, I think. Should be real. It's real to me.

7H15 15 MY 91RLFR13NF, L47UL4. 4DN 7H51 15 7UL45 9R1LFR13ND, P0RR1M.

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I think everyone should start watching actual horror movies. I think these people should watch Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator. I think this would fix the fandom, because a lot of people are just posting about horror movies without realizing they're posting about horror movies. Go watch a horror movie. They even have more and, frankly, more interesting gay representation than... Whatever Dirk and Jake have going on. Sorry.

If you're a gay man, get some hair on your chest and watch a bunch of horror movies. There's more in this life than anime twinks and skinny white pixel men. There's BlackRom Old Man Pet Play (The Lighthouse, 2019), there's Tormented Huge Dirty Bear (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, 2006), there's The Bisexual Psychological Torture + Betrayal Chamber (Saw, 2004), there's Dysfunctional Gay Marriage Disputes (Re-Animator, 1985, Bride of Re-Animator, 1990). And way more other ones than I can really list. Expand your horizons.

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Not much. It's a bit mysterious. Here's what Aranea had to say about Mituna in general, which gives us most of the crumbs we have:

The Heir of Doom was once a powerful psionic. He had much to say when it came to warning us a8out the path of doom and destruction we were all headed for, 8ut no one took him very seriously. 8ut one day he lost all those abilities when he 8adly overexerted himself. It's hard to get any specifics from him, 8ut indications are that he applied every last 8it of energy he had toward some great act of heroism, saving us all from some looming threat. Not only did his exertion permanently 8urn out his psychic a8ilities, 8ut it left him somewhat... er. Incoherent. The entire incident is shrouded in mystery. From his limited and scattered accounts of what happened, it seems very likely that Kurloz was with him at the time, as the only eye witness. And of course it's impossi8le to get any relia8le information out of him. I guess we may never know, sadly.

This does say quite a lot, but not really anything specific. We've got some stuff about how he's the session's Cassandra, the fact that the GAoH was NOT an accident (this is the misconception that pisses me off the most, I think - I hate when people call it an accident), the fact that he was protecting everyone from something... The fact that he DOES remember it, the fact that Kurloz was there, as the only eye witness, and refuses to talk about it.

It leaves plenty of room for speculation. A little too much room for me, honestly, but that's fine, I'm not really pressed about it.

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[thatlittledandere]

Also not only are they parodies of different online personalities, but they are also based on how some fanfics would miss characteize the different trolls

FANFIC MISCHARACTERIZATION?? HUSSIE KNOWS ENOUGH ABOUT FANFIC TO KNOW HOW HIS CHARACTERS ARE BUTCHERED?? Christ I had heard that the dancestors parodies of internet types but fanfic as well??

[angstandhappiness]

Interesting

I love these panels so much, I’m never getting over them not only because of how beautiful they are, but also due to their meaning and how it perfectly shows the characters' feelings.

It’s the part where Penelope tells Callisto she doesn’t love him and his face crumbles, he’s so taken aback by it but for all the wrong reasons, let me elaborate;

(contains some novel spoilers!!)

From the beginning, Callisto knew that Penelope’s confession about how she fell in love with him at first sight was bullshit.

He knows she lied to him on multiple occasions but doesn’t mind at all; it’s stated later on in his pov that despite all the rumors and her deception, Callisto too found it surprising how he didn't get angry.

They also had this conversation in the cave and many other occasions when he teased her about it and she kept on saying that she wasn’t in love with him anymore.

However each time Penelope claimed to not be in love with him, Callisto was either amused or grumbled about it playfully.

It’s the setting that changes things. Back then it was all teasing and her getting fed up with him and his successful attempts at eliciting some sort of reaction out of her.

As the story progresses, their interactions become more tense due to the friction and tension being products of their feelings for one another.

We can see the first signs of Callisto ‘wavering’ during his birthday banquet as Penelope is about to reject him.

He looked crestfallen when she brought up love because he still can’t make sense of it, convinced that his feelings of fondness can’t be related to love—or more like, he’s trying to convince himself it’s like that.

Knowing what is about to come, he shushed her, while admitting to the fact that he knew she was going to reject him, hence why he told her to give him an answer on her coming of age.

It’s all because Callisto hoped she would change her mind and her answer would be the one he hoped for, basically her accepting.

Then in the greenhouse things become more serious. The talk about Penelope’s condition had an impact on the build-up of it.

Penelope is completely serious and firm about her rejection, she is more apathetic due to the impending deadline of hard mode’s ending and things falling apart continuously.

She doesn’t have any control of the things happening around her and it makes her grow more and more anxious, to the point where it all becomes too much and it leads her to resign to her fate.

Callisto’s reaction to it is so strong not only because Penelope kept on pushing him towards another woman (which he doesn’t even know) when all he wanted was to be with her, but because she disregarded his feelings in the process as well.

Penelope goes on to say that she doesn’t love him, and that’s the real nail in the coffin, Callisto is actually in love with her but fails to realize it, but his subconscious seems to be aware of it given his reaction.

It’s a “…she doesn’t love me?” slap in the face realization.

I’m saying this because later in the novel, Callisto reveals that he hid his desire to be with Penelope behind the guise of an arranged marriage because he was afraid to admit being in love with her due to what happened to his parents. You could say he has always loved her from the moment they first met.

➺ chapter. 201 from the novel:

Anyhow, Penelope talks about her circumstances and past, saying how while wanting love she also needs and wants someone to take her out of the hell she’s in.

She tells Callisto he’s not that person and he’s absolutely devastated by that statement. He even gets described as dazed in the novel when this scene happens.

It’s a point of no return for Callisto because he still refuses to acknowledge his feelings as love for Penelope.

He can’t have her unless he admits to loving her, but he’s afraid to do so due to his past, he's convinced that if he confesses then she would end up like his mother.

Callisto needs a push, and that push is the fear of losing her forever which comes in the form of Penelope’s poisoning on her coming of age ceremony.

It all boils down to “don’t make any assumptions about my feelings” and “you don’t know what/how I feel” but we don’t get that since Callisto is suppressing it.

He’s angry and rightfully so and Penelope’s earlier apparent indifference doesn’t help either.

But yes, Penelope’s rejection hurt him so much because loves her.

Callisto is conflicted and in denial. It’s like he’s already having an inner battle about his feelings and then Penelope comes and deals the final blow, stomping all over his heart while pushing him away.

"I chose you, Penelope Eckhart. Not your household." and “Does my proposal mean so little to you?” are so telling because it’s clear that he’s been strongly impacted by all of this.

Callisto genuinely wants to be with Penelope and get her to the safety of the palace but went about it the wrong way.

They’re so miscommunication, it will be so long before they get to talk properly about their feeling and we get that love confession I’m not okay T_T

Thinking about all the things that will happen before that is making my head hurt, I’m going back to reading my comfort fanfics…see y’all tomorrow when the beginning of the end begins with more yearning and angst as Callisto will come back :,)