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davekat-sucks · 1 year ago

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Here is a summary of what I believe the ending of Homestuck 2 will be. Feel free to correct any part of what I say here. Please note that I am unsure of what the Homestuck's teams plans are for the story or what direction they are even trying to go in. I am not focused on that, only what makes sense for the story with what is already written. I'm adding in what I assume they are working off of from the original story as well. To start, Dirk is doing this so as to create the original universe. The one that came right before the Beforus's troll's. Moving on. Rose was already somewhat in tuned with fortune telling. Early within the story, Dave reads something Rose had written, Complacency of the Learned. Within it Rose writes of twelve selected children surprisingly turning. In the end; The four beta kids, four alpha kids, Karkat, Kanaya and Terezi make it to the end, along with Calliope. This makes twelve characters. (Ignore Jane's dad, he is not a child.)

Within Act 6, Complacency of the Learned is referenced again. Calmasis, a character who is referred to with both she and he pronouns, plays the role of the antagonist. This is clearly Ultimate Calliope. Calliope also hosts Lord English's soul inside of her body now that she has consumed him. This is where the androgyny comes in.

Within Complacency of the Learned Roxy's mother wrote all twelve characters are killed, all but Zazzerpan. I think this is going to be referenced within Homestuck 2 as a prophecy for events to come. Everyone in meat will be killed before Dirk.

Calliope had consumed Lord English, took in his soul. Part of LE's make up was Auto-Responder. A part of Dirk's soul. I'm certain she will have to die in order to kill off Dirk. (Think Voldemort here.)

I am certain Jake will have to die in order to kill of Dirk as well, seeing that Brain Ghost Dirk even referred to himself as a splinter who is in tuned to Dirk. Not unless Jake can get rid of this manifestation he's created. It is likely everyone in Candy will die during these events, unsure about the Omega kids. (Davebot might also be an exception.) Ultimate Dirk will, in the end, be killed by Dave. By the same sword that is capable of harming Lord English, Caledfwlch. Ultimate Dirk is gladly going to allow himself to die by his hand. (Who is to say that Dave will be willing to kill him...) DIRK: I’d never kill Dave, no matter what I felt the stakes were. I’d never hurt him either Now, here is a really fun part! In Meat, all the characters will have robot bodies. Terezi will as well, once she dies on her quest bed. I suspect there will be a blood and mind player so that Karkat and Terezi will be able to do this. Space and Time are a given, Kanaya will have a quest bed as well. Everyone will become immortal. Wonderful. Yippie. Yay.

A way that things may have a happy(?) ending is that all of the character's robot bodies will be destroyed and their consciousness might go back into their original bodies. If this did happen, they would likely be horrified with the events of Meat and being used as puppets. Jake might still have to die because of what I said earlier about brain ghost Dirk. They will all be their ultimate selves as well, all be awoken. They will know the events of candy too, maybe still love their children. That or they will still die, maybe because they are now guardians to children, who knows? Homestuck's team should take the chance to make the ending at least somewhat happy. Here's where I go off the rails: Dirk refers to himself as God. (As seen in this line the literal hand of God) In the context of this story, I assume he plays that role. Not just as someone taking over the narration, but as someone with full control over everyone that exists. The race(s) he is creating contains his DNA. His Heart powers can likely extend to everyone, since they all stem from him. (This likely excludes Void players. Seeing that Scratch could not see what was happening around Equius.) This is a guess, a shot in the dark, I think when Dirk was decapitated by Dave during Collide, this is when he woke up. It makes sense, fully dying would show him the nature of reality and that his soul is everywhere, even in death. So... what happens after he creates that full loop that I mentioned. What do they do after? Does Dirk just die and that's it? Is their more? Yep. Ultimate Dirk is likely the one who placed the code for Sburb on the moon for Meenah to find. Dirk is the one who corrupted Damara. He likely went to her directly. I don't see Scratch or English or anyone else going to talk to her, though perhaps there is a way they could have been in that universe. I just assume that Damara likely sold her soul directly to him and then she would be enslaved by Lord English to fulfill her role. Dirk probably ensured more events would take place. His role is to keep everything on track. If he fails, which he will not, everyone would not exist. I have so much insane shit to say, guys!!! I have more! MORE! To say! I could make a full length YouTube video myself on this crap. I also have a much more insane theory, probably the craziest one... probably the most accurate one too. I don't know if I wanna go into depth with it. But I'll just say the gist of it and it will make me look bad, uh... worse? Dirk desperately wants to shape Dave into a hero. Dirk wants to be the villain to Dave's story to make sure that happens. He wants Dave to decapitate him. Rose throughout the story references Freud so I don't think it's a shock that Dave's sword represents a penis (It breaks all the time too, oh my god). Dirk being decapitated by Dave is wild literal symbolism!

Here is what I assume Dirk's actual story is: Dirk fell in love with his guardian, who he did not personally know. He was detached from him. He idolized him. He wanted to shape Dave into what he thought Alpha Dave was. Later, when Dirk fully awoken to his ultimate self Dirk feels guilt over how he treated Dave when he was bro, and wants to die by his hand- but also wants to make it as homoerotic as possible. Oh nooo! He's in love with him! hehehe! I honestly think this story is running with this. That's why the homestuck fandom being upset about stridercest shippers is so funny to me. The stridercest fans might just be the ones with strong intuition or reading comprehension. When I realized this, it's what eventually lead me into shipping DirkDave. I didn't before but now it is too funny not to. I just don't really think Dave is into it. And I'm not going to go off again about Dave being sexually abused by Dirk openly already. It's so obvious and out in the open. It's like... is that even subtext? Dave's family member is cheerleading while Dave is about to animalstically fuck a guy, when Dirk's soul extends to engulf everything... Dirk can probably fell that. I assume Dirk can, even if he can't. Why be so eager to oversee your son fucking a guy? How is that not incestuous? I wrote a simpler version of what I am saying so it's easier for me to think this through, you all might find this too long didn't read version helpful. - During Act 7, the 12 survivors create a new universe to inhabit - During the Meat part of the epilogue, Dirk awakens Rose, kills John, forces Terezi to join him with the promise that John will be revived. - During Homestuck 2, Dirk begins the process of creating a new race and tasks Rose with making one herself. They use their Dna to do this. - Dirk's Dna is within these new people. - This universe is the first to ever exist, leading into the creation of Beforus' universe. - Dirk can look into every soul because he is a part of it. - Dirk is likely planning to have Kanaya, Karkat and Terezi die on their questbeds so they may become immortal before he places their souls inside of robots. - Perhaps because the Meat's cast's souls are hosted within robots, they will not actually die when their robot bodies are destroyed, but they will instead go back into their actual bodies.

Holy shit, this is all amazing! It would be cool if it actually leads down to this. And yeah, you could probably make a YouTube vid about this. Even make these posts on your blog itself and I'd definitely give it a share. I don't mind you sending me these kind of asks or posts. It's actually interesting to hear your thoughts about the series, the fandom, and the current project going on here.

#homestuck #hs2 #homestuck 2 #homestuck^2 #homestuck2 #hs^2 #dave strider #Dirk Strider #Rose Lalonde #Karkat Vantas #Terezi Pyrope #Homestuck Theory #Homestuck Analysis #Homestuck Beyond Canon #HSBC

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insufferable-talkstuck · 2 years ago

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Dave and Dirk ; Relationship analysis

[ Candy route ]

a post dedicated to the strider father-son brother bond as portrayed within the dubious canonical writing of the candy route

a peek into the past ๑

the candy timeline is the one in which our protagonist John egbert decides to stay on earth C and not go back to fight Lord English, this makes candy the "less relevant" and more off putting timeline. however he does have to retcon back into canon once to retrieve the fridge Gamzee dwells in, per the request of Calliope

when John retcons back we are met with the emotional scene of Dave and Dirk hugging it out on the rooftop, you really can't discredit how wholesomely this is written

CANDY CHAPTER TWO ;

` At the other end of the roof are Dirk and Dave, doing something he never thought he’d see: they’re... hugging. Not just regular, noncommittal hugging. They are emphatically hugging the shit out of each other. Dave’s face is buried in Dirk’s side, and Dirk’s got both arms around him in a way that looks like he’s never actually hugged another human being before. `

` The moment John’s palms hit the fridge, Dirk turns to look at him. His head only moves an inch. Slowly, he lowers one eyebrow and returns to his poignant and deeply personal business with Dave, as if he hasn’t observed anything worth acknowledging at all. `

END QUOTE

im not saying im *disappointed* with this hug is canon, i am just so fond of how this scene is described within the epilogues. now allow me to overthink it.

not only is this moment described more intensely and emotionally than in HS canon, but Dirk sees a boy appear out of nowhere to stroke then *steal* a fridge; and does not think it is even worth acknowledging. he quite literally does not bat an eye. dirk is so occupied with his brother he doesn't care about anything around him, he knows dave is in his arms and that's all he needs to know.

a peak into the past : end ๑

out of the past now, into the new things that took place in Candy. ==>

Candy is the timeline in which dirk takes his life. Dirk can't take becoming irrelevant and prefers his own death, ( and Reforming later on. shout out to Ult dirk ) a Just death as arranged very carefully.

Dave was looking for Dirk for advice, he needed help with his love life and he needed his brother to tell him what to do.

when Dave is met with the news of Dirks passing he is in shambles to say the least, however this does not take him over; Ultimate dirk is still semi-writting everything. he has control and wants the best of his brother he would not let him fall into a depression.

Dirks funeral was sad, a very upsetting scene [ ignore gamzee for the entirety of it ] the first day Earth C sees rain, and a rare occurrence in which Dave takes off his shades while giving a speech about dirk

[ worthy mention; Dave carries dirks head at the funeral ]

Dave knows he CAN go back in time to save Dirk but won't on purpose, he doesn't ONLY love his brother he understands him, he understands him to be a difficult guy, and wouldn't wanna worsen the situation.

the writing goes out of its way to show you just how much the striders care for each other

the Davebot situation

robots are a very common thing in homestuck, they're pretty much everywhere maybe it was a 2009 thing. But many among the fandom seem to believe a character *becoming* a robot is equal to the character dying. that is absolutely not the case especially not when DIRK is the robot maker

[ my opinions and theories incoming ]

Dirk does not view robots as "less than" humans, he grew up around them they were his only company so much so he prefers them to humans in many instances, i think the REASON he made Davebot happen ( we all know it was the prince's doing. ) was to keep him somewhat relevant, Dirk cares about the Meat timeline cause he believes it to be more important, but he wouldn't want his brother thrown into irrelevance! he cares about him, ergo turning him into a robot, it's the best he can do for his poor sonbro doomed to being "forgotten" [ dirk makes his robots with care especially when housing family. he puts a lot of work into them and it shows just how important they are to him. Davebot is shown to be strong as shit, slicing fruit thrown at him with his katana like he's playing fruit ninja, meat!Dave wouldn't do this by choice, its dirk trying to make him stronger. I won't even touch of how RAD rosebot is. just look at what she can do and TELL me becoming a robot is equal to death. ]

๑ end ๑

if i were to cover dave and dirks ENTIRE relationship in both timelines and HS^2 I would reach a character limit or my phone would explode. i have so many thoughts on it all and they're so precious, anyway in sum; Candy!Dave and Dirk should have hugged more. oh and deeply care for each other

#homestuck #the epilogues #[ candy route 🍭 ]#dave strider #dirk strider #striders #relationship analysis

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doomsdaydicecascader · 2 years ago

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@phreias

this is also the case! another way to frame it would be that death is a character being handed off to the fandom. a lot of the stuff regarding the ghost army and the author figure, lord english, is purposefully evocative of the crowds of homestuck cosplayers, ministrife is a gesture at these ideas too, weird aus like sailor moon damara and little prince kurloz show up and are totally willing to participate.

hell, i used a photo of cosplayers at a convention in a page background to represent the ghost army and nobody raised an eyebrow at it. dreambubbles exist to facilitate all the weird shit you can get up to when you're doing whatever the fuck you want. this is a level of freedom that is not available to homestuck characters who have to be written by the story.

but undeniably, this also means those characters stagnate - hsbc is still doing the "dave is destined to be a hero" arc as we speak with davebot, people insist on characterizations like "vriska is a heinous extravagant bitch who's never actually felt anything in her life" well after the story has moved on from pretending like that was a sincere expression of her character, people still take rose being put-together, thoughtful and eloquent, and not self-destructive and impulsive at all, at face value

and also, i think meenah/vriska is totallythought out properly, it's just not something that's pleasant to think about, like. andrew hussie knows what grooming is, doc scratch's narration outright says as much that he is doing that to damara, and meenah is even given this visual treatment as she literally rebuilds vriska in her own image

like, it's a lot of faith to put in your audience to have them look at this, something obviously wrong and damaging, and think "this is doing something, there's a there there" and it seems like it was trust misplaced, because basically nobody is willing to take it as such because the common rhetoric is "oh yeah hussie just forgot, wasnt thought through very well" even though vriska was dealing with weird pedos in her dms from moment one

and its complex to try and unravel, but it's not inauthentic, people getting groomed can and do often have a lot of affection for the person they're getting run over by, that doesn't even really make what's going on there good. it's just like, a real depiction of a person getting groomed by an older person, and that sucks to watch

but sucking to watch doesnt mean its inauthentic or not worth portraying or whatever

homestuck hitting that "death is synonymous with freedom" note over and over and yet every day people ask why did andrew hussie kill my favorite character what a dickhead

#ignoring the epilogues is a whole other thing i dont want to get into on this post but it does genuinely continue on there #what with the dreambubbles emptying out into the candy timeline and such

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oldstriderbot9000 · 5 years ago

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HS^2/Epilogues accidentally did Ult Dirk kind of right.

This is gonna be a long one.

So I figure I will make this, whether it gets shared around or not. I need to get it out of my system and on Tumblr.

Lets look at what an Ultimate self is, in essence.

An Ultimate self is not the combination of every possible version of a person. So humanstuck Dirks aren’t going to be part of the Ultimate Dirk we are seeing in the comic.

An Ultimate self is the combination of every possible version of a person in a certain universe. Ultimate Dirk is both a special case due to how Homestuck had 4 universes linked together, but also because of how his aspect includes all splinters of himself. For normal Ultimate selves I will use Rose and Dave rather than Dirk.

You have a start point, the origin point of the alpha timeline you could say, and every moment there are new branches of timelines and possibilities. From there, you have successful timelines and doomed timeline. An ultimate self will combine all of these. All version of Dave will include all timelines from that base universe. Rose as well, all versions from that base universe.

Perhaps there are timelines that diverge from the alpha with, say, a less abusive Bro, or a non alcoholic Mom Lalonde. It will also include timelines that maybe Rose was alcoholic before the game began, or even one’s where Dave may have had an even worse childhood. They all are diverging timelines from the same base. So Davebot and Rosebot both have all of those possible timelines in their heads and memories.

Luckily due to their non organic makeup, it is easier for them to sort through all of it, without the biological aspect of emotions to get in the way. If they did have biological bodies, I have no doubt the process would leave them split and having very intense internal struggles. I know Dave’s who diverged from canon because they went apeshit and killed Bro. Davebot has those timelines in his head supposedly.

It is a internal war of all kinds of morals and stand points. Most Dave’s are pretty straightforward, but there are too many possibilities.

The same can be said of Rose.

However, if we look at Dirk, he is a special case.

I am not going to diagnose Dirk any mental ilnesses. But I will pull from both people I know and my own research/experience.

Ultimate Dirk is the combination of not only all of his possible timelines from the base alpha timeline, but also all of his Splinters. One such splinter affects one of his main Splinters, and leads to severe issues.

I am talking about Lil Cal. Yes, he counts as a splinter. ARquiusprite, Caliborn, and a portion of Gamzee were all put into the Lil Cal puppet. And considering how Caliborn has experience eating the soul/dominating the soul of others who inhabit the same body, I have no doubt he did as such in Lil Cal. But it was a mix then. And Lil Cal went on to affect Bro, manipulating his mind and making him even more fucked up. Instilling extremely Toxic Masculinity, Misogynistic behavior, etc into Bro over the years. Caliborn’s influence is big here, considering his own misogyny and toxic masculinity ideology.

Therefore, all Bro’s that were affected by Lil Cal are included in Ult Dirk, but so are all those Lil Cals.

So now we have an idea as to why he may behave so… well. Shitily. It isn’t an excuse, but a possible explanation. His behavior is vile. So now we look at Dirk in canon that we have seen.

Dirk was so lonely he created a copy of his own mind, and it just spat his deepest fears in his face. I think Hal actually had a hand in Dirk’s self loathing, what with “being the same person.” Dirk already hates himself, and he hates his splinters as well. But he doesn’t hate himself for “internalized homophobia”. Nope. He is very accepting of who he is, and accepts it. The only thing is, he knows who he is and accepts it, and he hates who he is. Or rather who he sees himself as.

So you put someone who hates himself, and combine him with all of his worse selves who also have a core of self loathing, and you get someone who truly loathes himself, and has an internal battle, with biology adding onto it, against himself. Because for all the bad versions, there are just as many good ones. But part of Dirk is self loathing. It’s almost at the core of who he is. Not to say he can’t heal and grow, I know he can.

But we know Dirk wants the best for his friends, his idea of how to give that to them is somewhat flawed already when he is a kid, and he trie to move past it as an adult, but a lot of who he is is the puppet master.

I believe the Homestuck^2 and Epilogue writers didn’t fully grasp this, in fact I think they accidentally portrayed him somewhat correct. Ultimate Dirk is an idiot who makes himself the bad guy to ensure his friends have a chance to be happy. Yes, he treated Jake and the others horribly. No doubt. That’s where they were wrong with him. See, it should be about a 50/50 balance of “bad” and “good”. He would still have left Jake, but perhaps a bit softer, with the idea of protecting everyone from who he is now. Because Dirk is fucking stupid and like that™.

But yes, he is a piece of fucking shit in the epilogues and HS^2, so they fucked up there. But they kind of accidentally showed him properly. Ultimate selves are also really fucking messy.

Pretty sure Hussie also just wanted another way to go further than God Tier too. So. Meh.

If you read all of this, thanks. I know it’s somewhat scattered, but I have a lot of thoughts on it as a whole. Not to mention that as someone who struggles with a God Complex, and with friends who suffer from Bipolar, BPD, and others who identify really strongly with Dirk and Ult Dirk, he just both frustrates me because I know he isn’t quite right, and also validates how I feel. But I have the brain to not go apeshit like him.

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luminescentlyricist · 5 years ago

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🧡 Autophobia 🧡

AUTOPHOBIA - NOUN - An irrational fear of oneself ; an intense self-fear that is groundless.

Dirk had never been all that emotional, but this was the last straw. He was breaking day by day, teetering on the edge of snapping the carefully constructed mask of apathy he'd worked so hard to maintain. Even before Derse had exploded, there were days where he couldn't slip away into the dream planet. Then, whenever he could - without Roxy there, without having her snoring company - the whispers of the horrorterrors seemed loud enough to deafen him. He'd never told anyone about it. Not even Dave. There were truly no words appropriate for the situation, and it muddled up his thoughts with stupid emotional biases to consider.

He sat in his living room, a hunched-over gargoyle, unmoving and unwilling to move. The larger-than-necessary television screen in front of him blared music, but his own brother's sick beats weren't enough to shake him from his literal and metaphorical slump. For all he knew, it was midnight, but he felt detached enough that he'd disregard the ebbs and flows of tiredness until he blanked out and crashed. Sometimes, his mind and body alike couldn't handle the strain. This was one of those times. Dirk's muscles ached in protest of the awkward position he'd decided to rest into, and as his neck craned downwards - being physically unable to keep his head up any longer - the iconic triangular shades he always wore slipped from his nose.

He made no move to retrieve them. Despite feeling disproportionately vulnerable without them, the Strider barely cared. All of his windows were covered by thick black curtains anyway, the otherwise invigorating sunlight nonexistent.Nobody wanted to visit, anyway, as Dirk was sure they were all sick of each other's company after so long. He was all too used to being alone and looking after himself, so the group's self-imposed isolation period shook him a lot less than it did his peers. He noted that he had been invited to a group board on Trollian - his chat client of choice, as it turned out not to be exclusive to the trolls - but, once again, made no effort to raise himself from his slump.

John had also messaged him, but they had barely spoken. All he knew was that the 'windy boy' was one of his brother's friends.

Dirk's uniquely-coloured eyes slipped closed after a while of vacant staring. He no longer heard the music loud enough to shake the walls. The only thing that met his ears was the low, steady thrumming of his own heartbeat. It was disorienting, yes, having everything fade away, but he was adjusted to solitary ventures and feeling so alone that darkness felt more comforting than seeing.

He'd been wondering whether or not to give Hal a more physical form because he'd been able to salvage the AI from the 'corpse' of ARquiusprite. It felt somehow immoral - even by Dirk's largely skewed moralities - to keep the shades locked away, even though it was to prevent them from tormenting him or driving him to increasingly long periods of sleeplessness. The truth was that Dirk held an emotionless facade as his brother did, though his lack of understanding was left exposed and unmasked in contrast. But he was fragile, as prone to breaking as anyone else was. Hal was an enigmatic being, more than enough to shake him up.

It was haunting, realising just how strangely he had acted when he was younger. How stupidly, how naively. Taken away by his emotions, loud and brash. Was that just how thirteen-year-olds were supposed to be? As detestable as the robot was, he was a reflection of who Dirk had been and who he never wanted to be again. A reminder.

Finally standing, a small groan escaping his lips at the pain of his now-stiff body, the Strider thought. He didn't really know what to do, but never bothered to engage with his friends despite the annoyance of the notification light blinking. Travelling to the fridge with habitually light, wary footsteps, Dirk opened the door and took out a can of Orange Crush. He consumed so much of the stuff it was a wonder his teeth weren't stained. The cold drink seemed like snow - not that he personally knew what it felt like - in the way its coolness slowly spread through his hands. He needed the sugar to snap out of his daze, as strange as it seemed.

The tab of the lid scratched abrasively against his fingers when he attempted to open it, and he cursed aloud, hearing his own voice for the first time in what seemed like an aeon. The surfaces of his fingertips had been caught, and pinpricks of red bubbled up to obscure their swirling prints. Licking the blood away without a second thought, he tried again, ears pricking to the satisfying hiss the carbonated drink made when the metallic seal was broken. Taking a swig, Dirk disregarded the bubbles that seemed to burn his tongue. As much as he hated it, he felt too lonely now, The taste of the drink was familiar and comforting.

Slamming the fridge door with a little more force than was necessary, the young man flinched. His shoulders were raised in a defensive, tight position, so he forced himself to relax. He'd engineered a situation for himself that hindered his emotional and physical growth, the battle bots being the very reason why he was so prone to startling when no one else was watching to protect him. But the one flaw that Dirk seemed to so vehemently disagree with was perhaps his most prominent: He'd largely formulated and fuelled his own misfortune.

Moving back to the couch, he sat, staring at the rotating disc emblem on the screen. It was up at full brightness, as he refused to take off his shades even though he was completely alone. He knew that he should have at least contacted his brother. If he was craving contact so badly, Dave would be the best person to tell about his troubles. They had been raised similarly, after all, regardless of any family ties they might have had. But. for the most part. he felt disruptive.

Watching the rapid spinning of the disc animation, his stomach felt compelled to follow suit. Swallowing another mouthful of Orange Crush, relief washed through his whole body and quelled his nausea to a degree. His thoughts were only becoming louder and harder to ignore, though, so he muted and switched off the television. His ears continued to ring obnoxiously, so he tilted his head back, placed down the can and plugged them with his fingers.

Dirk was procrastinating, denying the need to fidget and tinker in his workshop purely to quieten his Hal-based thoughts, which were beginning to come overwhelming despite his efforts. He just wanted to prevent them from growing.

He still wondered about his Brobots. The boy wasn't one to get sentimental, and he wasn't about to. He'd simply put so much effort into them that it seemed a shame to dismantle them for a cause he didn't truly support. It was one hell of a choice to make, and the self-imposed delays were only hindering his prospects. Surely he was stronger than his thoughts? For someone who'd sat alone with them for so long, something like Hal shouldn't have moved him.

With another few slow swallows of his drink, he forced himself to stand and look towards a corridor. That was exactly where he didn't want to go. The darkness surrounding the area - though purely owing to his laziness, having not installed a lightbulb - was disorienting and even frightening. He'd never liked having his vision taken away because of how heavily he relied on it.

Descending the small staircase, he glanced downwards to check if his boots - normally steel-toed in case he dropped anything onto them by accident, despite outward claims of his own composure - were properly laced. Finding that one was undone, he bent down and carefully double-knotted it, wincing as the normally non-irritating fabric connected with the raw skin on his fingertips. He'd expected such a small thing to heal rapidly, but all it was doing quickly was becoming both a metaphorical and physical pain. Straightening, he pushed open the door to his workshop and stepped inside.

The space no longer seemed as welcoming and relaxing as his memory told him it would be. There was a certain fogginess about it, the windows dark and air colder than Dirk had ever anticipated. The layout was similar to that of Equius', though the benches and worktables were distinctly neater, and various swords and weapons lined the wall. Their metal glinted dully in the waning moonlight. As opposed to bloodied parts of completed and smashed battle bots, Dirk's hosted husks and unfinished or dismantled robots in varying degrees of completeness.

An entire table was strewn with circuits and other electrical components. Dave had once suggested he contact a troll named Sollux to help with those. He hadn't bothered to enquire who that was, but it seemed a little more believable since he'd confirmed that trolls were not just internet idiots but also a bona fide alien race. Some had cool powers, according to his brother, and this 'Sollux' was one of them. He reportedly possessed psionics and eye lasers, though the tech savviness was far more relevant to Dirk's quests.

Checking around for his welding mask, the young man decided to distract himself by turning to the 'wrong' bot entirely. Squarewave and Sawtooth still existed, after all, and his mind was wandering to that uncertain place. He needed a distraction. He didn't want to face that. He was, for all intents and purposes, a complete and utter coward, even more so because he didn't want to admit it. His calloused fingers tightened against the personalised welding mask, so much so that it rubbed against the drink-tab wound, the same one that was so insistent on not healing.

This bot was a loose model, a sort of forgotten 'Davebot', one which he had since decided to abandon the building of. He thought it selfish to construct a model bot of someone who was still very much alive and deserving attention. By this token, he knew that he had broken this unspoken principle by virtue of the bot he had made Jake, though he considered that a separate situation. Dirk wasn't taking any attention away from his original self, and he could also argue that he didn't deserve it at all.

The boy let out a short sigh, rubbing his hands across his face and grabbing a pair of thick black gloves from a hook on the wall. This allowed a streak of red to smear across his nose from the newly reopened finger-prick wound. Although it was a bad idea due to the blatant infection potential, he didn't bother leaving the workshop to get a bandaid for it.

The Dave-esque robot's bright red eye lenses bored into his own with an unnerving glint, appearing far too alive for his liking. Dirk exhaled shakily, reaching out to touch the bot's soothingly cold exterior. Silvery alloy, fused with tight welding and ungodly amounts of heat so that there were no unseemly bolts and such to mess up the appearance of the face. Although he found it unnervingly difficult to display his affections, the care with which he had assembled his brother's likeness was telling enough.

Drumming on the shining lenses with unclipped fingernails, Dirk realised that he had subconsciously removed his gloves while fidgeting. He scanned the room, huffing and looking down at his fingers so that he had a concrete image of himself putting them back on in his head. Without that reminder, the boy was so stuck in his own swirling thoughts he would have forgotten again. He stepped back from the Davebot, wrinkling his nose in disgust - or perhaps a sudden burst of jealousy - despite his prior, awkwardly-expressed affections towards it. He took a nearby cloth, throwing it over the bot if only to obscure its confronting gaze.

The last thing he wanted to do was face Hal, even though it was just like going back in time. He never asked to face himself, no matter the iteration. Dirk knew he was better than that. The flaws that he once had were all locked away tightly, or so he thought. And yet, he had given their metallic prison a name. There was something so disarming about Hal; the stagnancy in growth was awful alone, but seeing himself - or a projection, a perception - so raw and unfiltered was going to break him apart. It just wasn't natural.

As Dirk felt himself spiral into such a distressing pattern of thought, a rare frown took his lips downwards. He picked up a stray piece of scrap metal, turning it over and over in his fingers until he found some peace in the constant action. Placing it into a pocket, he decided to keep it out of the way but nonetheless close by for further 'use'. He also needed something physical to do rather than resulting to his self-jeopardy and facing Hal when he was in such a fragile state of mind.

The tremors that were rippling through his body begun to intensify, and Dirk realised just how useless it was waiting for himself to calm down. There wasn't a whole lot he could do to procrastinate unless he dragged his friends out of the comfort of isolation. Besides, he had a feeling seeing Jake in person wouldn't put him in the best mood. Running a hand distractedly through his hair, the Strider braced himself against a worktable and groaned aloud. Nothing was helping his emotional turmoil, much less the headache pounding behind his eyes.

He'd spent too many sleepless nights wondering about this particular moral dilemma to keep it inside, but that was simply what he had adjusted himself to. Dirk Strider was a bomb, but he was convinced that he could explode if and when he wanted to. But each and every issue he refused to face was only shortening his resolve. What kind of Strider allowed himself to cry? Not him, that was for sure.

Sweat dripped down his forehead, slipping beneath his welding mask and making him his in irritation. Everything, no matter how small, seemed like it was against him. And to someone feeling as sensitive as Dirk was at that moment, it might as well have been the truth. The buzz in his fingers from touching the abrasive metal - despite the gloves - was gradually spreading, vicious pins and needles that were such a rapid sensation every movement was causing him pain or discomfort.

With a shaking hand, he removed his phone from one of his many pockets and opened Trollian. There, in bright red letters, sat the exact help he was so sure he didn't need. Dave would've been able to soothe him, at the very least, but what he really wanted was for someone to just... listen. Dirk hadn't let himself rely on others in the past, and he wasn't about to. Letting the screen fade to black, the young man let out a breath he had no idea he had held in so tightly. The phone fell from his lax fingers and back into his pocket, the dull weight sparking more pain in his midsection that he couldn't ignore.

Teeth harshly grinding against each other, he took one last glance towards the covered Davebot and rounded a corner, pushing back a thin and vaguely dusty curtain that separated one bot from the rest. Exhaling slowly and steeling himself, he stepped inside. Attempting to disregard his various aches and pains. his gaze flickered to a small drawer. It looked as if it were gouged at to try and remove the handle. He had done that, but it had been so long since that he'd forgotten.

Walking slowly towards it, Dirk produced a key from a chain around his neck. His friends had often enquired as to what the chain was for, but he'd never felt the need to answer them truthfully. He unlocked the drawer, closing his eyes for a moment to silently process what he was doing. It was terrifying, as much as he wouldn't admit it. The only thing that scared Dirk enough to break his facade was himself. Facing his own flaws. Hal made everything ten times worse. Nonetheless, he had completed the body, even if it was crafted in a far less personal manner when compared to the Davebot.

Sweat continued to bead at his forehead and drip downwards, irritating Dirk enough that he removed the welding mask entirely to wipe it away as much as possible. Taking a spare pair of shades - which he always had somewhere on his person - out of his protective apron and slipping them back on, a little bit of the tension melted out of his shoulders. It felt more natural to have the shades on, and he had no need for the welding mask. He didn't intend to see to the bot's adjustments just yet.

Although he regretted building Hal a body, all things said and done, it was the only chance he had to try and quash the nightmares and nausea that followed him everywhere he went. There was no logic to the fear, this he knew, but he just wished it'd stop, despite his giving up hope on it a while ago.

His heartbeat pounded in his ears, so he retrieved his phone and headphones. They were a special pair that Dave had once painted for him, sleek, black and noise-cancelling with the added bonus of his hat logo emblazoned on each ear. Again, his thoughts drifted towards getting the help of his brother, but there was no time for any of that. He was too entrenched in his personal problem to think about pushing it onto anyone else. Once again, he put Dave's beats on, but this time they were too close to ignore. The headphones were wireless, luckily, because there was no chance he could have untangled them with his uncooperative hands. They weren't going to stop trembling any time soon.

Dirk's hand rested on the drawer, fingers drumming against the fading, once-burnished wood. He looked down to the contents of the drawer and grimaced, taking a small step away from it. He rethought the last hour's efforts, captured all in the single hesitation. He knew it was necessary, but there was something freezing him in place while his head and stomach spun. The boy curled his fingers so tightly around the handle that his knuckles turned white and it started splintering beneath his grip.

He reached into the drawer, placing his fingers one-by-one on the black lenses within and unsteadily picking them up. As the light caught on them - the workshop lacking curtains as the only room safe and secluded enough - he winced, but it was unclear why until he set them back down and rubbed his eyes vigorously. Dirk had seen the red lenses behind the shades, and thought that he was hallucinating for a moment. He hadn't seen them distinctly prior because he just hadn't processed it. He'd developed a habit of blocking things out physically and mentally when he didn't want to see them.

Sighing to the empty room, Dirk fumbled around in his many pockets for his phone, sending a short message devoid of context to his brother.

~ TimaeusTestified [TT] Began Trolling TurntechGodhead [TG] ~

TT: This is it.

~ TimaeusTestified [TT] Ceased Trolling TurntechGodhead [TG] ~

Returning it to his pocket, he made sure it was on Do Not Disturb mode. There was no way in or out of Hell he'd be shaken from his concentration, and no event more important than it to justify that. It also had to be kept a secret for exactly that reason. Picking the shades back up, he glowered down at them. He hated them - and even more, the AI that they contained - beyond expression. But there was no time, and thusly no back-pedalling that he could afford to be doing. He'd procrastinated enough.

Hesitating despite the reassurance that there was no time to waste, Dirk took off his shades one more time. Removing another welding mask from a hook at the wall - this one plain black unlike the one in the main area that he had taken the time and effort to customise - and replacing it with his own pair of shades, a shudder worked its way up his spine again. This time, the associated tension in his shoulders stayed, giving him none of the prior relief. He never expected it to, really. The Striders were a family who were all capable of working with, around or against their obstacles if needed. Highly adaptable. In reality, nothing much was a hindrance to Dirk because of his learned - and perhaps forced - stoicism.

With a stiff and uncertain movement, the young man drew the shades up to his facE, staring into the crimson lenses as if in a trance. They were lifeless and cold, just as he'd trained himself to be. But he knew, deep in his mind where the bad thoughts - or those he personally considered bad, anyway - rested, that it wouldn't be for long. He barely caught himself fidgeting with the scrap metal restlessly for a moment within his pocket. He begun to prepare the final wirings, those that would spiral out from his folly's chest and centre console.

The one advantage of his fear-based procrastination was having ample enough time to hone his craft. He was able put more careful handiwork into Hal's final form than he ever would have been able to give to the Davebot, which was cause for shame on his part. The wires, all of which he constructed himself, were built to be see-through but contained small lights that would change from blue to red according to the artificial rise and fall of Hal's chest, and the 'beating' of the console. It was a small detail, easily missed, but it made him feel all the more unsettling and real.

He hummed along to the beats still thrumming in his ears, a habit he only displayed when entirely alone.

Dirk inserted the chest-piece along with the console, which was neatly connected and hidden behind) into its proper place, the shaking that had once plagued him long overshadowed and disguised under false confidence. Something was telling him to stop. To leave Hal to rust and his careful wirings to rot. But Dirk's stubbornness and characteristically destructive nature caused him to dismiss all judgements, no matter how logical. No matter how much the dismissals would hurt him.

Clearing his throat, the boy's eyes flickered upwards to the lens that was missing in the facial pieces. Realistically, he could have simply foregone the eye-lenses in their entirety because of the shades he'd put on, but it would have felt unnatural. Regardless of the bot-husks scattered across the workshop and the image they conveyed, their creator was highly committed and dedicated to his craft. Under the right circumstances, yes, but dedicated nonetheless.

Straying from the bot, Dirk re-entered the main sector of his workshop and located a box full of perfectly maintained, crystalline lenses. Picking it up, he made his way back into the smaller room and set it down onto a makeshift workbench, sifting through them in quiet. He had somehow listened to the majority of his brother's discography, even though the intensity of his concentration caused him to block out all else but his work. As such, he hadn't properly realised the magnitude of either achievements, disregarding the bot-related work as well.

Soon, Dirk found the lenses he was searching for, holding them up to the windows and discovering there was no light left to shine through them. Another thing that he'd let slip unwillingly under the radar was just how long he'd been working for at that point. Nonetheless, he knew well enough that their colouration was a near-exact match to his own eyes. They were chosen in stark contrast to the red and black dominating Hal's outfit.

Stepping backwards from the bot in question, the Strider dug the toes of his boots into the floor and started to count silently. He was grounding himself in both a mental and physical manner. He needed to prepare himself for what he was about to finish. For any normal person, the task wouldn't have been so daunting. For him, on the other hand, it was facing his fears. Regardless of his own wants or desires, Dirk both pressed and stepped forwards. He placed the lens in the appropriate eyepiece, and realised that he no longer had to fake his confidence. He was sure of himself.

Slowly soldering the wires with his welding mask pulled down against the embers and sparks, he steadied his once-erratic breathing as much as he could. Upon completing this, he took off the mask and let himself observe Hal, a slight frown turning the otherwise neutral expression he'd maintained. Checking that the kill switch was working - and, despite his loathing, hoping that he'd never have cause to use it - for a moment's distraction, he retrieved the iconic shades.

Connecting them to the bot, he reached down to the centre console and pressed in a final panel. Looking back towards Hal, Dirk realised what he was truly seeing.

These were the eyes of someone more human than he was.

#luminescent lyricist writes #dirk #dirk strider #hal #hal strider #dirk homestuck #hal homestuck #if you tag this as stridercest I'll kick you in the nads #🏠 stuck at home 🏠

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pokkop15 · 5 years ago

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(Ok so I was a fool and had had a lot of this meta written up yesterday and instead of saving it as a draft while I watched critical role, I, like a fool, just left all the tabs open and then went to bed after the episode. Then firefox crashed in the night and everything was lost. Press F to pay respects I guess cause here I go again.)

First off, Aradia is best girl and I am so happy she's RELEVANT again. I had a whole preamble the last time I wrote this post, but I can't remember what it said other than mentioning that this is gonna be a long post beneath the cut and that I have other metas that will kind of overlap with what I'm saying in this one so I will try to keep my discussion of the narrative styles of the The Prince and The Muse to only what is relevant to this post and to what is RELEVANT. Also previous metas should be reblogged directly before I post this to make it easier to check them out before hand or to reference them more easily.

The main points of focus will be: The differences between how the two Time gods interact with The Muse and her narrative, as well as the general level of metatextual awareness of characters within Candy. | The juxtaposition of the Knight and the Maid. | The possible suppression of the Ultimate nature of The Knight, and by extension The Seer. | The Muse's unique state of power and presumed Awakening | I swear there was more but I flat out don't remember what they were.

One last thing. I am a rambly motherfucker so if you haven't read my previous metas, here's your warning to expect a very long and very chaotic mess of a post beneath the cut. Also for anyone confused anytime I emphasize someone as 'The Class' it's referring to their actions as a potential narrator and as an Ultimate Self. For example, the difference between The Muse and the Muse is that 'the Muse' would be for character moments like when the dead cherub possessing Jade's corpse in Candy is just talking with Davebot and Aradia, while 'The Muse' is for when talking about her influence over the narrative. (There's a lot of different ways I put emphasis on words or phrases, but “The Class” was the one I felt really might need clarification)

I find it interesting how Davebot acknowledges and shows distaste for The Muse interjecting her narration and thus inhibiting his ability to live in the moment. I find this interesting because as an Awakened god of Time, he is simultaneously living in every moment but as a Knight, and as The Knight, he is also intrinsically separate from those moments as he is the Ultimate One who Wields Time. Aradia on the other hand is the Maid of Time, who while almost assuredly having reached the pinnacle of her god tier after the hundreds of years we now know her to have lived, is not ascended to her Ultimate Self. As a Maid, Aradia literally embodies her aspect. As such she doesn't worry about living in the moment because she is the moment. Because of this Aradia is more prone to just accept, agree, and repeat the sentiments The Muse dictates in her constant exposition. However, despite acknowledging the narration, Davebot still ends up being incredibly passive in the face of it. Even though he has an Active class and is a dreamer of the Active moon, Dave himself has always come off as an incredibly passive character to me in a lot of ways. (Even the aspect of Time itself and its heroes are specifically denoted as incredibly Active in the {official and Canon} extended zodiac test [which means its contents are NECESSARY, RELEVANT, and TRUE]). Always acting under the direction of other characters, subject to The Lord's rule over Time, and constantly struggling with his seeming lack of control. Here, even after reaching his Ultimate Self, he still only makes passive-aggressive remarks instead leaving the flow of the story and the big decisions to others. (In my last post I went into deeper detail about the nature of, and relationship between Aradia and Dave's classes and how that affected their sessions, but I can't remember what the tie in was unfortunately so for now I'll leave it at this and move on)

Among the human players of sburb, the Strilondes have always been the most genre savvy and possessed the most awareness of the narrative and its' influence, (although Dave was never near the levels of Dirk and Rose). But up until this upd8, direct interactions with the narrative have been few and far between in Candy (at least as far as I can recall). I mentioned this in my previous meta as being a result of The Muse being the type to inspire characters to action whereas The Prince is far more heavy handed in is dictation and rarely attempts to hide his presence in the narration these days. But we see here once again, that not only is The Muse bad for the people under her influence, she's also just really not good at constructing a story. She relies too heavily on tropes and cliches, on plot contrivances; she tells too much and doesn't show enough, (something that should literally be her greatest strength as a Muse). Yet despite this, Davebot and Aradia are seen multiple times to interact with her dictations directly and Aradia even points out on page 284 that she is aware of The Muse “observing (their) every action and noting its relevance : )” (the emphasis on 'relevance' being mine). As such we can infer that it doesn't take an Ultimate Self to recognize The Muse's narration. But if not that, then what? If it was just pre-disposition of character that let them notice, then between her own abilities and self awareness, surely Candy!Rose would have by now, but she hasn't. Then is it proximity? Maybe The Muse is getting complacent and starting to unknowingly imitate The Prince and his methods? Or is it because both Davebot and Aradia are Heroes of Time? The aspect opposite The Muse's. After all, The Muse did express that the way (either Aradia specifically or that the both of them) experience time is “woefully unfamiliar” to her. Perhaps that makes it difficult for her to write a story that resonates with them fully. Whatever it may be, all the information up until this point doesn't come to a head so much as it is something that I believe to be RELEVANT.

With that, let us switch gears while keeping the previous information in mind. As I said before, in spite of all the active components of Davebot's Mythological Role, his character has often been passive. And the precise story beat I want to focus on right now is his Awakening to his Ultimate Self. Candy!Dave was out on patrol with a wife who he loved, but who also had very much always been the driving force of their dynamic. He was pulled to the ancient bunker by the narrative where a hologram of Obama expertly guided him through a conversation like a true politician, somehow knowing a lot about Dave while at the same time withholding “classified” information as if that word had any meaning without a country or government holding Obama accountable. (Unless of course Obama was still answering to someone... *Cough cough*the authors*cough cough*). Look, all of this is me saying that Obama was a leftover contrivance of The Prince that The Muse utilized for her own means. Dirk was a skilled programmer and engineer. He had a deep understanding of how to build AIs that could easily impersonate someone. He had an even deeper grasp of how to manipulate Dave. Dirk built the bots. The Bots. The bots that are supposedly NECESSARY for one to Awaken to their Ultimate Self and survive. And yet even if that is TRUE, it isn't true. The Prince claims he was a special case but his powers are of the soul, not the body. And it is the body that breaks down. And we know that Rose really was suffering in her path to Awakening, but I will remind you that her poor condition was first established through narration that we know was under the control of The Prince. Further more it happened prior to the Meat/Candy split, in which the Canon still possessed TRUTH, which is why it still remained RELEVANT in Candy (and it was obviously NECESSARY in Meat for reasons about to be discussed). Both Rose and Dave ultimately played a passive role in their Awakenings, guided to their Ultimate Self by another even though they are both Active players. I believe that The Prince established these rules about Ultimate Selves and built the robot bodies as a way to give him an upper hand against the two characters most likely to overtake him. Because to reinforce a point from a previous post, Rose is the only full on published author among the players and Dave himself has written comics and presumably screenplays for his films, making them the two people who might not only do a better job than The Prince or The Muse, but just do a flat out GOOD job. The Seer especially, which is why The Prince went through the extra effort to disrupt her sense of self as she was coming into her Ultimate Self. If these two had played an Active part in their own Awakening and without The Prince’s influence I think they both would’ve been quite capable of giving The Prince a run for his money. But the humans are not the only players in this game...

As I've already alluded to, Lord English (The Lord), was almost certainly his Ultimate Self. Awakened and Empowered by the treasure (a juju so powerful that it enabled John to retcon things in a way that overrides the timeline instead of splitting it, and it did so without even granting him its actual power). When The Knight awakened, The Muse described it has having all of Time flow through his consciousness, allowing him to experience every instance of his own self. Conversely Jade described that her Ultimate Self would be “like... one ultimate self distributed across multiple bodies. so in multiple places and states at once. every jade that exists is like a light being shined through a thousand cracks in the timeline.” (Hey remember those cracks in the universe that had light peaking through them? Idk, seems RELEVANT if you ask me.) So if we reasonably assume that ones aspect heavily affects how one's Ultimate Self first Awakens and how it operates than that means there will be similarities between those who share aspects. If Awakening for a Hero of Time is an experience of everything that ever has, is, or will happen to a version of themselves, and Lord English possessed a juju that allows one to retcon and not split, than the combination of those powers would make it so he could be the singular instance of himself while at the same time always be “Already Here” than there is truly no difference between Lord English and the theoretical Ultimate version of himself. And since the Muse consumed Lord English at the end of Candy, granting her the power to punch a wormhole in the black hole. This is also presumably where she gained the power to “...exist in several narrative structures at once” (pg 286) (also see the above explanation of Jade's Ultimate Self for why that is RELEVANT). Because of this, we can assume that The Muse is just as indistinguishable from her theoretical Ultimate Self as The Lord was. But these powers and this simultaneous existence is not without consequences because the Muse's collapse at the end of this chapter is almost assuredly a result of Meat!Jade's rebelling against The Muse in chapter 6 (specifically the action on page 167/168). And finally, to tie this back to the imposition of bodily destruction to those who Awaken their Ultimate Self, it is worth noting that The Muse does not possess a body of her own to be destroyed. Instead inhabiting the body of various Jades.

Alright, so once again sorry if you thought there would be some big culmination to this post, and hey, what pumpkin?

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abundantchewtoys · 5 years ago

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Homestuck^2 re: Chapter 11: “History's Most Notorious Haters”

"History's Most Notorious Haters"? Sounds like something Dirk, Vriska or Meenah'd say. :P

So, last we "saw" Dirk, Terezi had had a fateful encounter with Rose's spawn.

... Ah yes, Dirk was intending to start fresh re: seeding the planet. And actually go about it more seriously. Wonder how that'd turn out.

---

> 2877

Uhhhhhh... That actually looks like it could be Caliborn's handiwork, only it's drawn neater than he would. That command though.

What? "Knight: Keep it real". What knight? Not Dave right? So: Davebot? ... Did Alt Callie, Jade and Davebot board a selfdrawn rocket? If so, Alt Calliope kind of sucks at drawing, which is hilarious.

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> 2878

Oooooh, yes! So the wormhole that Calliope opened must've opened above Earth C, from which they boarded a vessel, the third that's under way to Deltritus, pfffff. Oh, and I f*cked up, I mentioned Jade where I should've written Aradia. Alt Callie is in Jade's body, after all.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Ultimate Dave behaves. Aradia might be the best person to guess whether his soul is influenced by inhabiting a bot.

Pfff, target practice with Jade's dumb fruits.

...

OH HELL YES THESE TWO TOGETHER. Didn't think that would match so greatly! :D (I also wonder how much of their banter is flirting, after three years cooped up together.)

So, Aradia implies she's reached ascension as well, over the years somewhere. Well then. Guess that must be part of the reason she was okay with just chilling on Candy Earth for all time. Girl's seen it all by now.

And Dave has taken to his robot body like a fish takes to oxygenated water, I see. He's having a field day (year(s)) with it.

Alt Calliope is definitely behind the narration here, speakerless as though it may seem.

And wow. So... Where Dirk has gotten a vast understanding of his own self, Dirk and Aradia mostly just experience every passing moment in every timeline at the same time.

Hah, so Calliope was actually in two places in spacetime of Universe C at the same time, circumstantially. Where Lord English was always "already here", Calliope is always "already there". :P

But now that Jade escaped her influence, will she become more active on this ship? And will we not see the others for a while, until Calliope revisits their narrative?

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> 2879

Wow, alive Aradia is such a joker. Sad that John never got to see this side of her, he only encountered the creepy.

And wow yeah, Dave went off on a tangent there, I didn't even notice. Both of them actually left their loved ones behind on Earth C. Dave's loved ones must even think he's dead, unless he went back to Jade?

Guess we might see something in the coming flashback! I mean sure, it seems like it's going to be just about Aradia saying goodbye to Sollux, but hey! Dave's an Ultimate Knight of Time, he could have found the time to say goodbye.

Blaperile's got a good point, the "months in the past" seems to imply this takes place not after three years but sometime during their trip to Deltritus. The () do show it's a flashback to Earth C, at least.

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> 2880

Oh, Sollux actually watched them leave? Boy, he was "in one of his moods", but seeing her actually leave on him must've stung a LOT.

What... What has he done since then, though? Did he find his way to Karkat... Wait, how would he? He's still blind! ... So he did not actually watched them leave. Still, he looks like he knew what was up.

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> 2881

Wow, they left in broad daylight! I wouldn't have guessed!

...

D'aaaaaah, [S] page! I wonder how small the animation's gonna be. And if it'll focus on just Sollux? I mean, ... He wouldn't really HAVE much to gaze WITH, right? Because he's still blind. So... Just a black page? Or actually showing more of Earth C, from this fateful day? Maybe how John finished his day after hearing about Dave?

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> 2882

... PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf

So dramatic, I have to admit.

Well, I guess Sollux HEARD them leave. *pops raspberry*

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> 2883

Welp, poor Sollux. Didn't think this through. Stairs, his eternal enemy.

Guess he might still be stumbling through the ectobiology meteor at the end of the day in Earth C's timeline.

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> 2884

Oh wow. Hah, so Dave might actually be lugging around some unresolved feelings from what he did just after ascending. Which goes to further prove, Ultimate Selves still have baggage. They're not tricksters.

Meanwhile Aradia seems to know where she and Sollux stood perfectly.

Also, Dave is needling Alt Calliope. Just cause they're aligned on taking on Dirk doesn't mean he's okay with how Calliope took over one of Jade's alt bodies.

It would even seem that Calliope is needled in SUCH a way that she's trying to move the trip along. Even though she MUST narrate everything objectively and not leave anything relevant out.

Which means Dave can keep needling her. This is too good!

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> 2885

Uuuuuhhhmmmm... I think that's symbolical.

Unless Calliope was so petty as to launch them into a weeks-long head-over-heels spin. :P

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> 2886

Wow. So they DID get Calliope to switch clothes. Hey, maybe that's why Jade on the other timeline was in another outfit too.

Pfff, Calliope tried to sugarcoat the timeskip, but she ruined it by trying to continue the previous conversation, which Dave immediately picked up on.

And! Calliope is actually engaging with Dave and Aradia! That's remarkable! It seems her fascination with the Time aspect overrules her desire to remain an observer first! And, well, on the other ship her attempts at bonding (over juice and such) didn't really float.

That "BEST KARKAT" mug though.

So, uh, Aradia is now free game to use in your fan adventures, it would seem. She just up 'n left for a couple hundred years. :P Doesn't even matter when, she can probably timetravel back into the other timelines by now, now that's she an Ultimate Self.

Dave's AC thrown into the sun, tssk, tssk.

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> 2887

Aradia picking up Calliope's mannerisms! Alpha Calliope's mannerisms, hilariously.

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> 2888

Yes Dave, now there's two of them. You are surrounded by eternal children.

(I started to wonder from Dave's comment on 2886 - did he in fact still age before becoming his Ultime Self, how ever slightly?)

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> 2889

... Oh, it's a BEST NARRATOR mug. Dave's getting two-timed (*cough*) here, now he knows what Jade felt like with the Karkat's.

---

> 2890

This must be when Jade took back control of her body! That must've been a mental whiplash to Calliope. Though she did do a good job dividing her attention over those two "narrative frames".

#homestuck #homestuck^2 #reaction #alt calliope #davebot #aradia megido #spoiler alert

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theorynexus · 5 years ago

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Well, I accidentally seem to have ended Homestuck’s Meat Epilogue on 69. I might just cut this page off half-way through so I can get a 70.

That’s all we need: 69 with Meat. Will the innuendos and double entendres ever cease? ... Oh, and before I continue, I just wanted to ask: Jake’s supposed illegitimate children mentioned via the rally sequence--- is that a reference to Hiveswap and Grandpa Harley? I have not actually played or watched a playthrough, so I can’t be certain, but that nonetheless seems to be the case. Hmm. There were some other thoughts that I’ve had over the last few days that I wanted to add in there, and I’ll do so if I remember them as I continue with this post, I guess. Most importantly, I would just like to announce that I’ll be taking a little break before starting up my Candy liveblog. I want to experiment a bit with starting up a reread of Homestuck from the beginning and creating a sort of interesting narrative that relays all of the important things that pop into my head as being important/relevant for certain early pages, either because they connect to them plot-wise, are foreshadowing said later events, or represent important themes/ideas being implemented early on. I’ll at least spend a dozen or so posts on doing that, I guess, before I start the epilogues back up again. I don’t know if I’ll continue doing that or move on to Homestuck^2, after I am done with Candy. Maybe I’ll go back and forth between the two, at that point, depending on how popular said quasi-liveblog information/analysis jamboree becomes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, hey, we seem to suddenly be in a war zone. I wonder if this is retroactive dream bubble shenanigans, if this is what’s happening in the Black Hole, somehow (or, erm... trans-black hole, for souls that are seemingly destroyed? Maybe there’s a second afterlife-- not counting the “afterlife” that comes from reviving via dream self or whatever?).

Yep. Seems to be “what happens to those who get sucked into the black hole.” My guess is that Alt!Calliope created a sort of new world or story or paradise for them to “play in,” or whathaveyou. (In which case: Whoops, LE’s going to be in there, assuming he didn’t get split into his constituent parts of Gamzee, ARquiusprite [or AR and Equius?], and Caliborn. This of course assumes that Alt!Calliope does not and/or cannot exclude anyone from said realm, which might indeed be quite possible.)

Hehe~ Meat. Also, that “Deed is Finished,” seems to reference the end of the Meat Epilogue. For some reason, it also makes me think of Christ just before his death. As for Jade’s behavior... again, the obvious parallel is with the, “ What a daring dream, to combine the finest qualities of humanity with the elegance and nobility of the animal kingdom. How you wish you could know their world,” line from about Jade’s introduction. Not all TOO much to say, there, albeit it’s a bit silly. We’ll see what implications it has. (Quite the nice image, her being so covered in blood, with a giant pool of it surround her, as well~)

This suddenly feels like an excerpt from an entirely different story, with the same characters; yet a different setting. Somewhat like the supposed sequel/prequel story (or parallel tale?) that will supposedly come out eventually for Doki Doki Literature Club? I wonder when that will eventually be released... . But I am distracted. I guess this impression to some extent comes as a result of the similar military-ish themes.

MECHA DAVE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

(But in all seriousness, my suspicion is that this Dave comes from the Candy timeline. The alternative is that he might actually be from within the Homestuck^2 period of the Meat continuity? My impressions are somewhat hard to sort out, there, though.) Wait a minute... I for some reason have a sudden impression of there being a Davebot in one of the Dream Bubble walk-arounds. Is that a false memory? Nah, I guess maybe I was thinking about the e-bubbles, or something, upon looking into it.

Well... that’s interesting. I like that glowing shades business.

I appreciate this confidence. I wonder: Is it because he’s gotten in touch with his ultimate self, or what? That seems quite likely. I wonder how strong the connections are between these new split timelines emergent via the epilogues. They should be pretty strong in connection, regardless. Hmmm~

***sudden glint of a galaxy reflecting in the glasses***

Well. I guess that no further interactions will ever definitely and definitively occur between Alt!Calliope’s realm and the living world. Probably. The imaginary line lines are quite intriguing and compelling, though. It... feels like something more should be said about it, and likely I shall indeed be compelled to theorize on the matter at a later date, perhaps when I have more perspective on the matter. Right now, however, my mind feels a bit fogged, and I am uncertain about what to make of it, both in the sense “what I ought to sculpt my understanding of it into,” and also in the sense of, “what theory and/or explanation ought I to craft from this jumble of words”? For now, I suppose we’ll just have to wait, and I will have to thank you all for following along with my epilogue liveblog(s). I hope you and the others who join you in the future shall continue to enjoy and perhaps even enrich yourselves by following along as I post all that comes to my mind, either whilst I am reading, before, or after. ... Dangit, I didn’t make sure to write a Post 70.

#Homestuck Epilogue #Homestuck Spoilers #Meat Epilogue #Homestuck Liveblog #Homestuck Epilogues

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bladekindeyewear · 6 years ago

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Boots Reads Homestuck Epilogue(s) Part 14 - Candy Page 27

==>

Alright, back from a brief excursion. I really, REALLY wanna fucking finish this. I want to see ROXY UNZOMBIFIED goddamnit, or at least get a REASON for her zombification, even if it’s just some Dirk-like villain who just cliffhangers himself away like a fucking asshole.

Also, comment on John’s whole rant... I guess John DID kind of want to be important. Or... well, not “important” per se, but rather at least impactful in his friends’ lives. It feels like they’re all walking dead through their own unsolved problems, trying to put on a pretty face, and nothing he tries to do matters, even attempted kidnapping. He feels as useless as Dirk THINKS he is, but he never really was. Gosh, I wish he’d pulled off that absurd kidnapping. Freeing people from this sort of thing is supposed to kind of be his jam?

Okay, reading the new page.

FUCK. TEN YEARS???????

Pff, John’s kid and sorta!Vriska. Yeah I can buy that.

Also I love how they type out “Harry Anderson” every single time as his full first goddamn name.

--God damnit, how is Gamzee still fucking things up ten years later? Hasn’t someone considered killing him?

Karkat and Meenah, also unsurprising. Too bad Dave has to die unsatisfied. >:(

Hm... this sorta!Vriska also has a weird Capitalization Quirk for Important Words, huh? --Oh right, Kanaya raised her. That might do it.

Hm, eyepatch?

Alright, the world’s falling into chaos. Did the world HAVE to fucking fall into chaos in BOTH TIMELINES where these supposedly-went-through-a-successful-journey heroes managed to eek out victory despite opposing reality’s greatest tyrant? Pfuh.

--and right. Alt!Callie reinforces the idea that even though this possibility “wasn’t canon” -- which... means Meat is?? D: -- that the lives within still matter when looked at within their own bubble.

JADE: while abstracted heavily, and fully freed from all forces of narrative gravity, these events still represent possibilities that slept within the hearts of all who reside here.

Mhmm, part of an extension of themselves, their uniqueness, their hopes and dreams and... whatever WHOEVER did to fuck Roxy over. Jesus DICK what’s happened to her I need to know you’d better fix this.

And somewhere within that mess, John Egbert is the best man at Jade and Dave’s wedding. He lasts nearly two hours before he gets a ruinous case of the sniffles.

Maybe they worked it out into ALMOST full mutual love? Even if Dave’s 70% gayness goes totally unsatisfied? I mean, I can hope, right? :(

Dammit, Jade, couldn’t you have done this properly? :C

and everyone knows that John has lost his family to Jane Crocker.

What the shit?!???

What drove Roxy away was him being depressed and just an all-around huge wet blanket who was impossible to live with. John is totally ready to own the fact that he was a bad husband, but maybe not the fact that he was a bad enough husband to drive his wife to passively support a brewing genocidal dictatorship. She looks happier, though, whenever he’s caught sight of her behind Jane—Calliope faithfully at her side—in any of the propaganda broadcasts that Jane passes off as business press conferences. By the time Roxy finally cut things off between them, he hadn’t personally seen her smile in years.

WHAT. THE. SHIT.

WHY DID ROXY DO ALL THIS THEN. WHY DID SHE OF ALL PEOPLE, ONE OF THE MOST FORCEFUL AND SMART AND COOL--- GUHHH SHE JUST VOIDED HER WILL JUST OUT OF OBLIGATION TO JOHN OR SOMETHING?????????? WHAT THE FUCK WHYYYYYYY

Characters choke. Characters make bad decisions. That’s fair. Andrew’s said that before. But John was VISIBLY RECOGNIZING HOW OUT OF CHARACTER ROXY WAS ACTING. WHYYYYYYYYY DID IT HAPPEN, WHY SUDDENLY DECADES OF MISHANDLED RELATIONSHIP WITH ABSOLUTELY NOBODY POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS WHAT THE FUCK. AND ROXY WAS THE ONE WHO STARTED IT AND PUSHED INTO JOHN UNTIL HE ACCEPTED. WHY.

WHY.

Read. Calm down. Read. There had better be. A FUCKING. ANSWER.

Hi military rebellion leader Karkat.

KARKAT: OH MY GOD JOHN, STOP BEING SO FUCKING PATHETIC FOR JUST A MINUTE. COULD YOU DO THAT FOR ME? JOHN: i don’t know. that’s a pretty big favor you’re asking me there, karkat.

heheh

JOHN: i dunno. it doesn’t seem responsible, really... to dedicate my life to something so important when i’m in a place where i can’t even find the energy to think that getting out of bed in the morning is “important.”

Depression stuff, yeah.

John really needs a psychologist who isn’t just Rose.

pff, yifftrain.

That’s how the years pass. Faster and faster the longer it goes.

What. The. Fuck.

We’re not going to get any answers are we. Roxy just acted out of character for no reason, didn’t she. This is-- no, Andrew’s too GOOD at this for that to-- I mean-- is there a big answer he’s just not telling us-- FUCK!!!! D:

AAAAAAAA

This sucks. This sucks this sucks this SUCKS. But I’ll keep reading. I have to know. If I’m ever going to be able to stand, like, i dunno... homestuck rp i guess? i should probably keep reading. and hope i recover. eventually.

But that’s only part of it. Above this Earth, the dead cherub is still meditating, waiting for the day when she can have her own heroic apotheosis. Waiting for the day when she can confront the one she calls the Prince. And on this Earth, John is just waiting for the day that feeling finally stops. That feeling that he’s still waiting for something, and the even worse feeling that years ago, he missed his only chance to put an end to it. If you stand on a very high hill at dawn, you can watch your shadow move in an arc around you.

Yeah, reinforcing that John would be happier in the timeline where he did something and -- at least temporarily, since there’s hope of future revival -- “died” because of it, even if he wasn’t clear on why what he was trying to do even really mattered in the whole scheme of things.

...which is pretty weird when you consider the ending of Homestuck didn’t try to express that messa-- no, wait. I guess it did?

Yes, everyone went to the post-victory planet to live out indefinite lives, but there WAS still the stage play. Proving that John, at least, WOULD eventually step outside the happy ending to instead risk his life doing something important. They earned both possibilities, really, to choose from at their will.

...Aren’t there another dozen pages or so left in this Candy segment, though?? Are we gonna follow their kids or something?

==>

...Okay so stuff still needs to happen here, plotways. Good. I think.

A flash above the clouds catches John’s attention: another ghost, falling down from wherever it is they come from. John follows after the light with an exhausted sigh. The novelty of dead trolls falling from the sky has really worn off over the years. But he might as well go warn the new arrival that they’ve landed in the middle of an imminent warzone. He sets down at the edge of the crater and peers through the smoke.

He recognizes the ghost immediately, because he sees a younger version of her almost every day.

JOHN: vriska?

Vriska’s face snaps up, eyes blazing. Eyes. Actual eyes, with expression, color, pupils, and everything.

JOHN: wait. you’re... JOHN: alive??

PFFFFFFhahahahah!

That’s pretty hilarious. Vriska fell into the singularity and popped out here.

...Yeah, you can’t stand having missed the most “important” bit, can you. Too bad. You didn’t have the spotlight in the end.

==>

JADE: it is the one i have been waiting for all these years. JADE: we have run along parallel lines for what may as well be eternity, but my gravitational well has finally ensnared him. JADE: and now he is due to fall into this world.

Uhh, who? Davebot or something, from the postscript? Couldn’t be Gamzee, unless it’s, like... a different Gamzee.

“Chaos war”? That’s a dramatic title.

==>

Hmm, reading reading...

Will Dad’s passing knock any sense into you? Probably not.

...yeah, it wasn’t going to be that easy, was it?

Of course. Of course Dad died saving the President.

Although, she’s going to assign fault to Karkat and then want to start a full bloody war over it, so, the opposite of having sense knocked into her then.

JANE: UGH! JANE: That... that fool!! JANE: I can’t believe that he would do this! JANE: How could he do this to me!?! JAKE: Janey... JANE: The human president could be anyone! JANE: My dad can’t be anyone but him!

Jane, you’ve become a real asshole. :(

...Fuck you Gamzee.

GAMZEE: hEy. GAMZEE: Do YoU tHiNk ThAt MiGhT bE a BiT mOtHeRfUcKinG xEnOpHoBiC?

PFFFFHAHAHAHAHAAHAHhhh oh my GOD :’D

JANE: What? You think appealing to me with your disgusting little addiction is going to sway me?

Oh Jesus Christ that’s horrifying. THAT’s what’s been going on. I don’t want to visualize it, dear lord.

==>

Hahahah, catching Vriska up. She’s practically curling up in a ball like Squidward in future shock.

PFFF PUTTING PARENS AROUND HER NAME SHE CAN’T STAND BEING IRRELEVANTIZED LIKE THAT

JOHN: i was supposed to go fight lord english, but i didn’t. so now we’ve gone beyond, like, the event horizon of canon. (VRISKA): What the fuck does that even MEAN????????

Wait, shouldn’t YOU know exactly what that means, Vriska? Like, better than most people at least?

JOHN: all i know is that all of this is my fault.

JOHN: it’s been turning around in my head like this for a while. i thought... JOHN: why does everything here fucking SUCK so much? JOHN: how the hell did we even make it from point A to point festering clusterfuck? JOHN: it doesn’t follow any kind of logic i understand, or any sort of basic sense i have about who we are as people... JOHN: and why? why have we all ended up so unhappy and... twisted up?

Yeah, a BUNCH of people have acted really goddamn out of character and it’s unclear why.

JOHN: i got everything i wanted. everyone got what they— JOHN: what i thought they wanted. JOHN: and that’s just it, isn’t it? JOHN: the more i think about it, i’m the only factor that matters to anything.

--What?!? No!!! You could SEE that this wasn’t what you thought they wanted right from the get-go. It couldn’t have been YOUR imagination that this realm of alternative possibility was drawn from, could it? D:

JOHN: whatever i did, or didn’t do, just... destroyed reality’s ability to, like, substantiate itself, or whatever. JOHN: like there’s a bug in the operating system of whatever force in this world that regulates cause and effect. JOHN: everything’s been unraveling. nothing that happens makes sense anymore. JOHN: and now i’m the only person out here who’s even real at all! JOHN: hahahaha.

That’s certainly an idea at least, that people started acting out of character as we went further from “canon”. In fact, it’s kind of a slam at fanfics, maybe? Acknowledging that they distort the characters by understanding them in different ways, sometimes, and.. hm.

(VRISKA): Hahahahahahahaha... Wow, I’ve never seen a guy get his 8ulge all the way down his own swallow chute 8efore! JOHN: wait, what? (VRISKA): Good fuck. Do you actually think reality gives that much of a shit a8out you? (VRISKA): Get real, Eg8ert. (VRISKA): It’s not like you’re me. JOHN: ok, well. JOHN: that’s fair i guess.

Heheheh. ...Yeah, Vriska might pep talk him out of this self-deprecating theory of his. Besides, I mean... is that the ONLY cause for this whole fucking situation? That Roxy’s will got eroded to nothing arbitrarily either at random in a glitching non-canon timeline or because John kind of maybe thought something was going to happen and reality decided to run with it??

...heheh, “batterpanzers”.

I’m pretty sure caring what “c8non” is supposed to be is EXACTLY the thing you’re freaking out about, Vriska, whether you realize it or not.

Oooh, Gamzee. Do we get to see Vriska kill him?

Yeaaah... redemption ain’t for THIS sp8der. The ghost version of Vriska got the closest thing to redemption she’ll ever get; THIS version never learned any damn lessons and is not going to accept that she ever NEEDS to. Also, you said her name in relevance-reducing parentheses. Bad move.

==>

Yaaaay here’s the bunch of indigo blood we were promised!! :D

Where’s the nudity though? Maybe that’s coming.

He yowls as if he had actual testicles to be mauled, and for all anyone knows, maybe he really does.

It’s reassuring to see that while Andrew is more than willing to give us WAY too much genital detail in some cases throughout this epilogue, he still knows how to deftly exploit the parts of anatomy that still AREN’T explicitly characterized and remain intentionally vague for their impactful resulting humor. :)

She lunges at Gamzee’s catastrophic face lips-first, and practically dives into his mouth, ramming her tongue into his

NOOO FUCK HE WAS ABOUT TO DIE AAAAAA D’:

FUCK :(

Okay, back on to anything but this.

==>

Oh shit, double Vriska. This might be bad.

...Phew. Nice save, John.

JOHN: ha ha. yeah, right. because this is real life, right? JOHN: i guess reading narrative relevance into a bunch of dumb and totally random events is kind of lame and childish. ROSE: No, that isn’t what I meant at all. ROSE: By all means, apply a narrative to our lives. Up until a certain point, it would have been perfectly accurate to do so. ROSE: But not anymore. JOHN: because... it’s not canon, right? ROSE: Do you remember what I told you years ago? About the three pillars of canon?

Wuh-oh.

ROSE: As I explained to you on that morning sixteen years ago, there are three critical features of canon: essentiality, relevance, and truth. JOHN: yeah. ROSE: We have been untethered from the mooring of “truth” for some time now. ROSE: So while we, in our subjective experiences of conscious perception, feel in this moment that we have known each other for a very long time, technically it’s not true at all.

...Okay. Okay.

So. Were, like.

Roxy and Calliope affected by the, like... “untruth wave” of his choice not to go the hardest, because he made it in their vicinity? And that turned Roxy into a hypnozombie with minimal apparent free will? :C

...Oh wow. She’s thanking John that she got a chance to be happy in this side timeline, even if so many other people suffered. Because of the fucking hell Dirk was about to unleash on her in the Meat timeline. Fuck.

ROSE: In the silly wizard story I wrote when I was a child, ROSE: The realm most comparable to heaven existed in a state of subliminal conditionality, dependent on the inscience of the individual experiencing it. ROSE: Which is to say that it would cease to exist the moment you realized what it was. ROSE: And so, those with knowledge could never truly be happy.

Oh wow, huh. Yeah, knowing you’re just in a fanfic kind of screws your appreciation for life around you, huh. So John got fucked over a bit by his metatextual awareness. :(

And... Rose was, like, cut off by his choice from her own metatextual awakening, maybe? Hence her ability to appreciate a life somewhere disconnected from anything “canon”?

ROSE: But that isn’t me anymore. ROSE: I am blind against the veil of this world. ROSE: It’s all ambrosia to me. ROSE: I don’t care if it’s not true. I care even less if it’s not canon. ROSE: I have a beautiful wife who I love more than I thought possible, and a daughter who I am immeasurably proud of. ROSE: It can all be senseless, ephemeral noise that dissolves in the void. A whisper swept up by the wind before it’s uttered. ROSE: I’m still grateful to have felt this way.

:’)

Alright, this might be a pretty good way of accepting their potential happiness in different timelines as a potential substitute for Dirk’s mess. I’m not sure HOW well I’ll be able to internalize it to stop the stomach cramps, but we’ll see.

We still have a little bit more left, though. Next post.

#Homestuck #Homestuck Epilogue #Upd8 #Homestuck Liveblog #bladekindeyewear #BlastYoBoots

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blaperile · 5 years ago

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Homestuck^2 - Reactions Chapter 1 “Ghostflusters” (Pages 33 - 56)

Time for Chapter 1: Ghostflusters!

So what's it gonna be? Ghostbusters Earth-C rip-off videogame? Furthest Ring ghosts something something?

In any case, presumably perspective switch incoming in 3... 2... 1...?

Page 33:

OH HELL. FUCKING. YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!

IT'S FUCKING CANDY EARTH!!!!!!

HOLY SHIT I SCREAMED OUT LOUD AT THIS

I HOPED FOR THIS

I HOPED FOR THIS SO FUCKING HARD

I'm so happy about this!!!

I was SO afraid that John, Vriska, Jane, Jake and Alpha Calliope would not appear at all in Homestuck^2, give or take a brief conversation from Terezi with John and/or Vriska or something.

But this!!!!

THIS!!!!

Oh man I screamed of joy and pumped my fist at multiple parts of this page. First the image! Then the "wind skims the void" esque quote. Followed with the confirmation that this is Candy Earth. And finally, the mention that it's JAKE and not John!

I've mentioned it before, but I absolutely loved the way Candy Jake was portrayed, and I thought it was a shame that we'd never see him again.

I hadn't dared dream we'd revisit these people on Candy Earth!!!

Oh god oh man oh god... are we PLEASE going to get official art for Tavros Crocker, Harry Anderson Egbert and Vriska Maryam-Lalonde???? :O

Also, can we just appreciate the fact that John has finally removed that banner of his 18th birthday? :P

abundantChewtoys has a good point, is Dirk the narrator here?

To be honest, the fact that the next arrow seems to be within brackets, and how the Candy path was portrayed before, for now I'm going to assume that we've returned to a speakerless narration.

Page 34:

LOOK AT HIM. HE'S GROWN A MUSTACHE! :D

He's starting to look more and more like good ol' Grandpa.

This entire bit of narration... god, I'm so proud of him. You go, Jake!

This seems to imply that this isn't taking place very long after the events of the Candy path, in any case. Not very long after they moved in with John. Seeing as he's still talking about the state the house is in because John was gone for so long.

Heh... so Tavros is out with Vriska right now. Please don't tell me this will be an excuse for them not to show up in Homestuck^2. :P

Anyway, I wonder where this will be going.

Just, for now, some Jake introspection and perhaps dialog with John or... hmm, what if this is taking place around the time of Dave's death? That Jade might have found his body and will need someone to talk to? :(

I'm incredibly curious if there's going to be some kind of overlap between the Meat and Candy stories, now after Calliope, Aradia and Davebot have left this reality.

Or are we going to get 2 separate stories? One for Meat, and one for Candy, fully separate?

I'm leaning into the overlap theory, if only for the fact that otherwise I'd have assumed the two to have been split up just like the Epilogues were.

Page 35:

I absolutely love this art.

Eesh... Jake might have developed a drinking problem. I wouldn't really blame him after all he's been through, but still. Maybe he should have a good talk with Roxy.

Page 37:

Holy shit! For a second I thought we were switching perspectives to someone else, but I think abundantChewtoys is right!

That looks like Jake's old jungle. The good ol' Homestuck sun, and all those trees...

Oh man, what is Jake dreaming about? Brobot/Dirk? Grandma? The Lusii? Something else entirely?

Haha, just before moving on to the next page I noticed that John's old drawing is still attached to the fridge. That's adorable.

Page 38:

Wow... okay, it's being made clear that it's a dream and not reliving a memory or such. He's not his 16-year old self, nor is he dressed like it (his outfit and gun are from SBURB).

I wonder what he's being chased by? Some kind of Jane-like monster? :P

Or Dirk.

...Gl'bgolyb? It DOES have way too many limbs, after all.

Page 39:

...Welp. It's fucking Dirk.

I sincerely hope it's "just" a dream, but I'm getting afraid it's going to turn out that Meat Dirk can contact Candy Jake in his dreams. :(

Page 41:

HOLY MOTHER OF A FUCK IT'S BRAIN GHOST DIRK.

HELL YES

Oh jeez, I did NOT expect that

Looks like he even transcends any individual Jake, because he remembers the events of the Game Over timeline!

Also, Jake remembers meeting Aranea in his dreams? Then I guess that happened before his pre-retcon and post-retcon selves became separate beings?

Oh man, is it just me or is Brain Ghost Dirk totally ripping on the normal Dirk here?

I always loved Brain Ghost Dirk. Those were the main moments we could see Jake and 'Dirk' talk to each other back in the original Homestuck.

Is... is he going to warn Jake about what his Meat self is up to?

On the other hand, there IS some kind of connection between Brain Ghost Dirk and 'normal' Dirk, what with how he transformed into Dirk in that one Dreambubble meetup.

I'm really curious what's going on!

But if Brain Ghost Dirk truly is the "last sane Dirk standing", then I fully approve of it! And immediately I'm starting to hope that he's going to materialize into a real person again.

I'd absolutely love to see Brain Ghost Dirk fight ordinary Dirk.

...

Holy fuck, abundantChewtoys is right. "Ghostflusters" is probably referring to Jake and Brain Ghost Dirk, haha. Is that now the official shipping name for Jake and Brain Ghost Dirk? xD

Just imagine what Jake must be feeling like now. Dirk has been dead for DECADES from his perspective. So to see him again, in some form, after all this time...

Pages 42 - 43:

...Welp, that was sudden! Why did Brain Ghost Dirk wake him up again so soon?

Did he mean it as a warning, a warning not to trust Dirk?

Or is Brain Ghost Dirk now going to appear in front of Jake in real life now, just like how he used to see Brain Ghost Dirk alongside him while nobody else could?

Page 44:

Huh, why is he looking at his hand? Is there something between his hand and the table? Did Brain Ghost Dirk somehow provide him an object that now materialized in the real world?

Page 45:

OH YES, I KNEW IT. He's seeing Brain Ghost Dirk!!!! :D

I'm starting to wonder... what with how the Candy Earth seems to be out of reach for Meat Dirk, maybe that's going to be key to defeating him?

I mean, other than Alternate Calliope being capable of suppressing his narration, anyone else from the Candy timeline could be essential too!

I guess it depends, can he get control on them if they are to enter the Meat universe? Or is he unable to control them even if they enter his universe, just because they come frmo Candy?

Page 47:

!!!!!

Oh man, this is the Brain Ghost Dirk I love so much. Being absolutely Dirk, but doing what's best for Jake. I love this guy.

Looks like, for now, the plot on Candy Earth will continue to be disconnected from the Meat universe! This is actually going to focus on Jake standing up against Jane, holy shit!

I'm so curious just what exactly Jake's going to DO here.

But I'm liking it very, VERY much already! :D

Page 48:

Holy SHIT, we're not wasting any time here! STRAIGHT to Jane's battleship it is! And here comes Jake with Brain Ghost Dirk right behind him.

Wow... just look at this ship. Looks just like The Condesce's ship, with a slightly more colorful make-over.

And sporks. Goddammit, the sporks. xD

I wonder, are we going to get a reprise of that scene on Derse? With mindcontrolled Jane visiting Jake in his prison cell and upsetting him, while Jake was also talking to Brain Ghost Dirk.

I wonder what Jane will look like... I wouldn't be surprised if it's more like her mindcontrolled self. And like abundantChewtoys suggested, perhaps with a bit of business suit and Condesce jumpsuit thrown into the mix. :/

Page 49:

Jane LOOKS like she's receiving Jake with open arms... but it's gonna be so much of a trap isn't it?

She's gonna appear sweet and kind for a second, lulling Jake into a false sense of hope that she's back to normal... and then she's going right back to being a jerk, isn't she?

That, or she's holding out her hand to instantly give him a slap in the face or something.

Page 50:

...Well then! That I did not expect.

Looks like Vriska took Tavros right with her to the rebellion! The question is, did Vriska force him or did Tavros voluntarily go?

Nonetheless, it's not like he's gonna be in a prison camp there or something.

I love Jake's reaction here. He knows Tavros is better off there than with Jane.

Unbelievable. Jane didn't know Jake was GONE all this time? Damn.

Well uh, at least Jake won't have much trouble infiltrating then I guess. xD

Page 51:

Oh man, what's Brain Ghost Dirk going to do? Shit on her desk? xD

Pages 52 - 53:

Ahahahahha, Dirk, no, what are you doing. xD

This is the Dirk I want to see more of, oh my god.

Page 54:

Omfg, Jake's shirt!!! It's a mix of John's slime t-shirt and Jake's own skull logo!

I wonder who created that. Did John give him this t-shirt, or did Jake take one of John's t-shirts and put his skull logo on top of it? :P

Page 55:

Oh man. I like how the light effects make the bottom of his shades more orangey, like Meat Dirk's new shades.

Page 56:

That dialog definitely created some awkwardness there!

But it's definitely good. It shows Jake a bit more of what Dirk really thought like, that it wasn't all good stuff.

That's the end of the first chapter! :O

I didn't expect the chapters would be relatively short. I guess they'll be mean to differentiate between different scenes, and when the perspectives will be switch? And not really like the gigantic acts of Homestuck. :P

I gotta say, I'm really liking the way this Epilogue is going so far.

I can't get enough of Candy Jake. To me, he was the absolute highlight character of the past Epilogues, and I'm SO glad that doesn't stop being a thing here in Homestuck^2!

Oh man, "Clown Logistics" is the next chapter... that's definitely going to be something Gamzee related!

But... what, exactly?

Is it going to be a department here on Jane's ship? Perhaps we now switch over to Jane's perspective?

I'm having a hard time coming up with anything else, considering we've never seen Meat Gamzee and Candy Gamzee is supposed to be... well, uh, dead.

Definitely doesn't look like we're headed back to Meat Dirk just yet!

#Homestuck #Homestuck^2 #reaction #Jake English #Brain Ghost Dirk #Jane Crocker

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davekat-sucks · 2 years ago

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Speaking of the Meat/Candy timeline not making sense, why didn't Rose and Jade simply ask Kanaya if they could have kids from the get-go?

Trolls have two quadrants best suited for bucket-filling after all, so it's highly likely that someone's Kismesis is another's Matesprit and vice versa. The idea of your lover sharing an intimate quadrant with someone else wouldn't get a Troll's hackles raised because it's the norm in Troll society. Kanaya's also been shown caring for grubs she didn't directly fill pails for either, ergo she probably wouldn't walk out on them if she didn't contribute to the process.

So, Jade and Rose not asking the person who's most likely to be comfortable with polyamorous relationships, if they could have kids in the first place, doesn't make sense! I can let Jade's ignorance on the topic slide; the Retcon left her all alone on the Battleship and she was mindcontrolled/asleep for the rest of the campaign. Of course she wouldn't know the intricacies of Troll culture and their dating practices, no one taught her them! Unlike Jade though, Rose should've known better.

And why...the hell...did Rose have to carry the kid for 9 months...if ECTOBIOLOGY EXISTS THERE?! The Meat timeline even included the equipment for Gog's sake, it's frustrating that the writers forgot that fast! If they wanted to explore Rose's idea of motherhood, Jade's perpetual loneliness, and the nuances of the Troll quadrants-- why did it have to be with a flippant and trashy cheating reveal? Soap Operas have more cohesive and respectful character drama than this.

WhatPumpkin really forgot that ectobiology exists. I could understand if Hussie or WhatPumpkin made some bullshit excuse that troll biology and human biology are unable to mix due to biological difference. Which may make others question how high tech would Earth C can be if spin-offs like Hiveswap and Hiveswap Friendsim, shown trolls are technologically advanced. They literally made a machine that can heal a person's bones and muscles in an instant. Lanque is an example of a perfectly transitioned female to male troll without issues. Something like surgery to be able to mimic a human's reproductive organs would not be far off. Either way, a troll and a human hybrid COULD be possible. But I guess it's not enough for Kanaya or Rose to have their own kid. They got to adopt one who happens to be cerulean and named after Kanaya's OLD CRUSH VRISKA, showing she still wants the bad girl troll even after marrying Rose. We got to make Kanaya still obsess over her despite that her arc was suppose to be that she would GET OVER VRISKA AND MOVE ON TO SOMEONE BETTER THAT WILL TREAT KANAYA BETTER. I don't know why Andrew Hussie or WhatPumpkin are doing cheating and infidelity in Epilogues and Homestuck^2's main conflict for drama. Because it's seems like everyone is fucking someone else despite they have a lover or they are married. John leaves his wife Roxy and fucks with Terezi, Jade and Dave are married but Dave leaves so he can fuck with Karkat, Terezi now has John's dead corpse but is now flirting with a Rosebot who had abandoned her wife Kanaya and is now fucking with her and Ultimate Dirk, Jake/Jane/Gamzee, and Aradia ghosted Sollux (AGAIN) to fuck around with Davebot. It's someone NTR fetish at this point and I hate hate HATE it so much.

#Homestuck #Homestuck Epilogues #Homestuck^2 #HS2 #Homestuck 2 #Homestuck2 #Kanaya Maryam #Rose Lalonde #Jade Harley #Andrew Hussie #What Pumpkin #WhatPumpkin

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theworldgate · 6 years ago

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Now that I’m done with the avatar change, some somewhat spoilery thoughts on the epilogues are due!

And some non-spoilery ones first: Both of them are ‘creepy’ for want of a better word, though this seems to be mostly intentional (the more “wait is this meant to be creepy or not” stuff is in Candy; I can’t recall something like that in Meat). Like, I suppose this is a somewhat spoilery thing but also there’s a massive wall of trigger warnings, and it comes before the choice for a reason.

I think Meat sticks the landing better.

I hope you aren’t too attached to two particular Alpha Kids <laughs in ‘literally just changed my avatar from one>. I think it’s compensating for the actions of them in ‘canon’ that didn’t age well, and I’ll stop before getting into spoiler territory.

Gamzee makes everything terrible.

Seriously, Meat is pretty solid, though I can see why it’s polarizing. I’m not sure I want to read it again, but I’m also not sure that I don’t.

The second part of that sentence doesn’t really apply to Candy. I think it does provide some key context. Probably. But meh, a lot of it isn’t my sort of thing, and there’s a plotline kind of but it doesn’t go anywhere.

There are strong satirical elements and the issue is that, especially in Candy, it gets a bit muddled as to, like, how satirical it is.

This one is a spoiler a bit, but I think putting it above the cut is in the same spirit as the warning tags: there might also need to be one for Gaslighting.

There is a LOT of content there; that I finished it within a few hours reflects that I have the literal exact reading speed that Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds brags about when it comes to fiction. Also ngl I did kind of skim some of the relationship stuff in Candy. But also there being a lot of content means that this is not going to be comprehensive.

Not to mention that there are some explicit callbacks that could really do with links.

And into the spoilery stuff:

Honestly, you would think Vriska would have a bigger role given that there are 8 epilogues in each? She also provides one of the “I think this is meant to be creepy but I can’t tell???” moments in Candy. (well, I mean (Vriska), but the one who wasn’t in brackets during the canon but acquires them)

The Gamzee ‘redemption arc’ stuff really did not need to be dragged throughout the literal entire Candy epilogues. I mean, the core of the joke is pretty funny (it’s very dark humour, but still), but it’s eggs it a bit too much and Alive Calliope’s rationale for it is confusing and seriously Jane went full fash like 10 chapters before, have her do something to get him out the story before that. Like, it’s sort of what I got mad at wildbow for what (I thought) he was doing with March in Ward late last month, except if March also did nothing actually plot relevant and was just there being obnoxious. I mean, I’m glad the Homestuck comparisons still stand (though I think the content of Candy in particular vindicates Wildbow for drawing his lines where he does as far as sex stuff goes).

Oh, yeah, right. Jane went full fash. Twice. In one timeline I’d actually be willing to chalk it up to “yeah, this is a Dirk idea”, but he full on removed himself from the timeline (... suicide feels like an odd word when it’s not-unlikely that that Dirk did it in order to merge with Dirk Prime) and she just kept at it. Her actions, and the responses of the cast to it (universal horror by the end) definitely fall into the things I was thinking about with the level of satire being muddied. I can sort of see the point, but I think Hussie Hussied too hard and... it does actually read like a not-terrible-but-not-great-edgy-AU fanfic now I think about it. Like, the resistance is totally a stock fanfic setting for Homestuck. Huh.

Also, like... poor Jake and Tavros.

It actually nails Kanaya’s voice reasonably well? Which, yeah, makes sense, Promstuck is like the only fic I can think of that features her heavily and actually pulls it off (she is... not lacking in smoothness, but also not particularly interested in being a force of seduction), and from urbanAnchorite’s other fics I’m pretty sure that’s down to cephied_variable.

And that actually does bring us to our sometime narrator of Meat: Dirk. He’s actually a pretty well written villain. Very much in the Lord English vein which, like, makes sense given his handling of Caliborn and how the latter seemed to like him. Said handling was also the thing I meant yesterday by the “this shows the danger of humouring assholes”. But, y’know, there’s an element of assuming Dirk is memeing when he isn’t that is also very present here now. And, y’know, not exactly lacking in cultural relevance given that, again, Jane went full fash and at least some of the rationalisations for it were provided by him.

The other narrator of Meat is pretty chill, though leaving us hanging was kind of a dick move not gonna lie.

Oh god yeah, poor Jake again. Dirks is such an asshole. I mean, I can’t say enough how well written his assholery is, but that doesn’t, like, make him not an inutterable asshole.

I am not particularly qualified to comment on the Roxy gender stuff (beyond “the pivot to he/him is literally something I’ve had several AFAB NB friends do, though usually accompanied by a name change”. Although I will probably just avoid using pronouns for Roxy unless I mean specifically Meat Roxy or Candy Roxy since I think they (plural) did ultimately settle on different approaches to their gender(s? I think they’re both agender (like, specifically; Candy!Roxy very much reminds me of agender people I know) due to being the same person but go very different ways about it due to life circumstance stuff; I imagine Candy!Roxy would consider herself a woman for sociological purposes, but I very much doubt that Meat!Roxy would do the same himself).

Back on Candy discussion - there’s definitely a narrator, and actually maybe the final bit of Meat before the postscript (which follows on from Candy and likewise Candy’s is the immediate follow through on Meat) implies that it’s Dead!Calliope, but then the stuff that makes me think it has a particular speaker (before Dead!Calliope outright says so) makes me think otherwise. I know I both briefly thought Rose and then encountered some stuff that made it make less sense for it to be Rose (even ascended robot Rose, even if that would provide a neat symmetry to Dirk’s hostile narrative takeover+desire). It’s also a lot more... heterosexual than Meat, which makes me wonder if it’s Dead!Caliborn, but dead!Caliborn wouldn’t care about seeming sexist in this one line early on. Rose totally would despite being (as far as I can tell) a woman. Hmm...

Actualy, rereading the Meat postscript, I’m more sure that Candy is... not so much non-canon, as utterly orthogonal to the main storyline. Or it is now.

I mean, at least some of it will intersect; it gives us background for davebot for starters. Actually, given the treatment of robots as frequently de-facto nb but happy to roll with gendered pronouns (a la Candy!Roxy; I believe Mark Rosewater has said that this is broadly how Karn (the silver golem) thinks of himself, for example).

Okay, so I’m also 90% sure that Barack Obama is not actually the real Barack Obama, but that doesn’t give me any insight as to who created the fake Obama in order to get Dave to turn into Davebot. Unless it’s literally actually Jake because he does have some random robotics skill, and Jake is also a hope player. Plus Jake also used his Hope powers briefly in Candy I think? Which was near the end and I think possible precipitated it. But, like, Jake would have to have a reason for that, and I don’t think “Jane is a genocidal maniac” would prompt that specific response.

Speaking of an English... did Lord English take over the narrative of Meat briefly? I kind of kept hopping up above the line to add extra non-spoilery thoughts. Or acceptably spoilery thoughts. Like, the sort of thoughts that amounted to making the very intentional trigger warnings clearer. So, uh, I’m on about the callback to the vine thing. That thing. Plus some other stuff.

Another cognitive aid might have been a few drawings (I don’t think it needs full on panels, but just to make it clear where certain scenes take place), though I get why they wanted to avoid illustrating some of it.

#text #long post #homestuck #homestuck spoilers #the symbols hol dall the power #upd8 #upd8 thoughts #as an aside holy shit my fucking custom runescape tag is actually going to still be relevant next decade isn't it #like it explicitly states there's another adventure coming #it's another fucking hiatus #I haven't even actually played rs in months ffs #it turns out that during homestuck hiatuses this is a runescape blog #is the tag #if you're wondering #tag novel

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abundantchewtoys · 5 years ago

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Homestuck Meat p44 (P.S.)

It's kind of weird to consider, but according to Dirk Terezi and he never talked, right? So they just kind of, bolted into their fight versus Jack Noir, it appears. Some strategists they turned out to be. :P

I presume the Candy path will be in some ways a subversion of the Meat path but also serves as complementary material. I'm sure some situations are unique to each path, but I presume some conversations can serve for both paths, even if they don't really happen in the same manner. Similar to the Game Over timeline vs. the successful timeline.

And I don't think it's presuming too much to think that in the Candy path, it turns out Alt Calliope was supposedly the narrator of the pre-split narration. And perhaps it is Dirk that takes over from her at some point.

I'm wagering the sentence "The dead cherub must be stopped!" will occur as well.

---

Page 44

Wow.

What.

WHAT.

WH-

WOOOWW.

"POSTSCRIPT" it said, so I already figured-

But-

It doesn't even link forward to Homestuck 2????

WTF.

So.

I guess the black hole sucked all the ghosts & dreambubble landscapes into the blankspace.

And now.

Everyone's fighting. On a new type of Battlefield?

And.

I guess the Retry!Jade found a way to escape. By first consuming other Space players, I guess? Like a werewolf. And she summoned a tornado. The Dorothy standin summoned a tornado.

Or maybe. I should say. The Toto standin? Because Aradia went in too, and she's the most "normal" of the trio.

But.

Wow. A DAVEBOT? That is so awesome. I guess that at some point, in some doomed timeline, Dave was killed and Jade created a soulbot for him? But he's called a "man", so I figure he might be older than Jade. Wow. Still, I wonder what his timeline ended up contributing to the main B1 timeline?

I figure Jade is not being controlled by Alt Calliope at this point, but the fact that her eyes are black indicates she's still infected somehow.

My first thought had been we were witnessing where Aradia ended up in the dreambubbles as the Black Hole sucked everything up. But no.

And Aradia cut Sollux loose, but the narration implies it's for good!! Then again, with Sollux' duality, there's a fair chance he could bridge this gap as well! Just like how he had a foot on each side of the line dividing the dreambubbles and the land of the living.

But... Does this mean the Candy path ends without feeding into Homestuck 2? Maybe more likely, only some characters will "escape" their saccharine fates.

It's the question now of... WHERE does Homestuck 2 even take place? In Universe C, or is Dirk trying to get someplace else? Is Andrew's land truly inside Universe C or not, I guess?

And I suppose Meenah travelled through LE's server elsewhere, but it's anyone's guess where she'll end up. Wait, the LE server was how Spades Slick got to the Furthest Ring, so I guess Meenah might have ended up in Doc Scratch' old office, but that was located inside the Green Sun, so inside the Black Hole you'd think.

Wow.

I wonder if, the fact that Jade has been indicated not to have aged, means that she's in fact a ghost now, but with black eyes due to her manner of dying? Not sure how relevant that tidbit of info is, since in fact the kids have always looked the same being 10, 13 or 16.

But yeah. End of Meat path. Holy macrel.

I'm actually quite content that the epilogues move right into Homestuck 2. Since I'm looking forward to seeing some of Earth C animated, like Jane's office. And, well, the adult characters in general. I figure since none of them are custodians, there's a fair chance that their non-hero mode sprites are still the same at age 23, lol.

I've seen what I presume to be panels from the sequel comic on my Tumblr dash, so I've assumed the format is similar to Homestuck 1. But I wonder. There could be an art shift, as What Pumpkin employees now might contribute art for regular panels as well. And the "flashes" will presumably be uploaded to Youtube? Though I'm hoping for some HTML5 goodness as well.

In short: We are on this ride, forever. :O

So Meat was 44 pages long, 8 "acts". I presume the same amount of acts occur in Candy, so, yeah. That'll take us a while still, hahah.And it appears that the narration at the start of Homestuck 2.0 will be attributable to Alt Calliope, though it remains to be seen how relevant that'll be.

It seems to further imply the Candy path's narrator, at least, won't leave the epilogues into the next story. Not unless they're both (a version of) Alt Calliope, or unless the narration is never again "coloured", which I highly doubt.

#homestuck #homestuck meat #homestuck epilogues #liveblogging homestuck #reaction #aradia megido #davebot #jade harley #long post #alt calliope

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abundantchewtoys · 5 years ago

Text

Homestuck Candy re: p37-39 - Realtalk

Page 37

Wow.

Of course it would take irrelevance for (Vriska) to be able to admit some things. And yeah, you could say she's not the "real deal" anymore, but she's the last version of the most relevant Vriska this story had.

What she had to spitball about John there was interesting. She was aware of when the spotlight wasn't on her, so it kind of makes sense she'd know of John's importance to the plot somehow.7 Although she doesn't know his retcon powers are gone, of course.

But yeah, even in death, John is relevant. (See Meat path.)

Weird how all the shapes she sees in the clouds were reminiscent of Dream John's cloud visions, from that time he almost woke up. It's like the Candy path is almost still inside a dreambubble.

Meanwhile, I like how she's trying to instill better habits into Vriska Lalonde. Although, her upbringing is already such that a lot of bad manners and habits she would have developped on Alternia/Beforus aren't even there. Still cool to see what seems to be inherent to Vriska's DNA, though. The stealing, inclination for gloryhounding and idolizing.

What would Vriska have done with the information the dude (Vriska) paralyzed was Tavros' namesake, though.

I guess it's also cool we get at least some kind of honest explanation for (Vriska)'s horrible reaction at, uh, let's call her ((Vriska)), her dead ghost self from the Game Over timeline. And it's true! That version of her was much better suited, and cosmically, karmically, blessed, to end up with Terezi again.

That this is all taking place while the girls are lying on Gamzee's cooling corpse is another indication she'll never be entirely well-adjusted, though. Neither version of her.

But holy shit. So (Vriska) actually does admit to some kind of reciprocation of the feelings Terezi has for her. Which... could still be platonic. I'm not sure either girl really knows what she's missing, as Alternia didn't have a concept of fraternal (sisterly) bonds.

And here's what I didn't expect! (Vriska) contacting Terezi??? We last heard from her when she was ready to give up. If (Vriska)'s texts reach her synchronously from John's, that would mean she heard from her, possibly, just before meeting Meat John?? (If it's the same Terezi in both paths.) Alternatively, of course... She might contact Terezi on a point in her timeline after the end of the Meat path!

That is, if Terezi even replies. Maybe (Vriska)'s going to put out a whole monologue, like Terezi sent her from the B2 session, which (Vriska) never actually read before ending up on Earth C.

---

Page 38

Okay now this, right here?

New favorite page of the epilogues.

MAN that felt good! A look at what goes on inside Roxy's mind, at last! And a very real, valid explanation at how two versions of her can end up so different.

She just doesn't let regret and self-doubt hold her back so much. Doesn't mean she's perfect, since she admits she's been chewing over some stuff.

Kind of reminds me of how her Void symbol, like Space, is a lot of lines moving in curves away from a center. Almost like she has all these fractally branching paths of development she can choose to follow.

But I like how both John and Roxy are in the perfect place to discuss this stuff now. They're kind of right back to how they interacted when they first met, and later in blankspace. Only with the wisdom of adults backing them.

What's interesting, there's indication Roxy knows even MORE still about the circumstances of John's choice! And that both her and Calliope have something special about them due to being in close proximity to his choice.

Aww, but it's also good to see John and Harry Anderson's first attempt at reconnecting. Never thought John was going to end up like this. Like the non-Weasley adults that took a turn at mentoring Harry Potter - well-meaning but still kind of hopeless and clueless, also unintentionally shitty at times. Though in some ways, it does feel rather John-ish.

---

Page 39

What.

WHAT.

WOOOOW.

Dude.

That was glorious.

He just CALLED it. Dave just freaking called it. And Obama, he.

So.

Let me get this straight.

B1 Obama met B1 Jake (Grandpa Harley). In a Skaianet on Hawaii, he entered a session through a transportalizer. He met B1 Dirk (Bro Strider). They did a whole thing. They had a session together? Or, like, did Obama and Bro explore the B1 Session? Deliberately left vague.

Obama was the ? of Hope (Seer I think). At some point he left and maybe even ended up as his B2 Self. Cause he mentioned time-shenanigans. But then, of course, there's the possibility he just had an Ultimate Self reveal at some point.

And through the Hope aspect, he seems to imply, that even this "fake" reality can achieve truth.

And then.

AND THEN.

Dave gets asked to head The Call by Obama. This man's life was just completed. AND IT TURNS OUT CANDY DAVE IS DAVEBOT ALL ALONG.

I MEAN, WHAT THE SHIT!!!!

So, Dave as Ultimate Self, has access to all experiences of all his other selves now. Including Meat Dave, probably. Since even Davepeta, who already had an ultimate self awareness thing going on, is now part of him.

Wow.

About FUCKING Time indeed. (I just got the inherent pun there, too.)

What the shit.

Okay, Davebot just skyrocketed from "oh heh, look, another dead doomed Dave" to "holy shit I want to see everything this guy does from now on".

So.

This is definite proof that Dirk was trying to get a Rosebot situation going on there, in the Meat path. But it bears mentioning that Obama does NOT indicate that Dirk himself is exempt from the effects of the Ultimate Self awakening. It's possible he just didn't know. It's equally possible it's relevant information.

But yeah.

This would mean that all of them would have to become immortal soulbots. Kind of a shitty deal, since the human flesh has a few upsides to it, no matter how sophisticated your bot is made to be.

Still, I'm all here for Davebot kicking Meat Dirk's ass around, for sure. Who's ready for the Final Round of the Strider Beatdown, right?

...

Well this page took a turn for the unexpected. Here I thought "aw look, it's the froghunt but with Dave and Jade as adults, also godtiers!"

Still, props to Karkat for combining the personal (keeping his favorite pair safe) and the practical (bolstering potential future strongholds).

#homestuck #dave strider #barack obama #vriska lalonde #vriska serket #roxy lalonde #john egbert #reaction #liveblogging homestuck #homestuck candy #homestuck epilogues

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