#hiveswap act three

[vexwerewolf]

Should I read homestuck

tl;dr: no

actual answer: yes, but with some extremely important caveats.

Firstly, because Adobe shitcanned Flash, you can now no longer experience Homestuck in the form it was intended upon release... unless you download the Unofficial Homestuck Collection. This act of unbelievable, nay, saintly generosity by Homestuck's most dedicated fans allows you to experience Homestuck as it was intended - as close as is humanly possible.

"As close as is humanly possible" is the key phrase here. One indelible part of the original Homestuck experience was UPDATE! Homestuck would sometimes go weeks or even months (and later, years) between updates. I wasn't on Tumblr back in the day, but at the peak of Homestuck, even if you knew nothing else about it, you'd know when an update dropped because Tumblr's net traffic would increase something like three to fourfold. People would go apeshit bananas about whatever new revelations the Huss would drop on us.

You also need to realise that Homestuck is a product of its time and while its takes on sexuality and gender identity was pretty progressive (for its time), Huss did use the r-slur a bunch.

While we're on the subject of the author, Andrew Hussie (of whom my current understanding is that they have not changed name but go by they/them nowadays) is, in the most diplomatic possible terms, a very unique person. They are, at times, a visionary storyteller with genuinely fascinating ideas. At other times, they come off as kinda spiteful towards their readers.

Without meaning to dip into spoilers, some story beats seem (in my opinion) almost intentionally calculated to upset, irritate or mock certain fans. It never rises to the sheer vicious contempt that Steven Moffat had towards Sherlock's fanbase, but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth whenever I go back.

Additionally, and this is where a sort of birds-eye-view spoiler is unavoidable, the story suffers from the Game of Thrones pitfall of repeatedly increasing its own complexity by adding new plot threads without resolving existing ones, eventually leading to fatigue on the part of both the reader and the author. The arcs of a lot of characters just straight up get abandoned, while a couple of characters take an unnecessarily large amount of screen time.

There's one character in particular that the author openly states within the narrative (the author exists within the world of the story. It's... a whole thing) that they favour, and whose behaviour the story is warped to accommodate. You'll know exactly who I'm talking about almost the moment they show up.

Another reason I say that it's not really possible to read Homestuck as it was originally intended is because a lot of the shit that happens in it fits into the zeitgeist of the internet at the time any individual update was written. There's a whole section in the late middle third that is inextricably and very specifically tied to how it was like to use Tumblr in 2012.

Additionally, a lot of things have soured with time. There was the whole Hiveswap debacle (it was first announced in 2012. We got the first act in 2017. We got the second act in 2020. We do not even know if the third act will ever come out.). There were the legal threats. There were the Epilogues and Homestuck 2, which were... how do I put this? Not universally liked. There's been nearly a decade of discourse since Homestuck ended, and a lot of things haven't grown better with age.

All of that being said.

You should read it.

I cannot express to you just how big an impact Homestuck has had on internet culture. Even people who claim to hate Homestuck unconsciously use slang that it invented. Its unique ideas on storytelling, character design and narrative chronology have, in both subtle and unsubtle ways, changed the way millennials and Gen Z tell stories.

A lot of people were inspired to tell stories because of Homestuck - one example I always give to Lancer players is that Kill Six Billion Demons started as a comic on the MSPA forums (before it was homestuck.com, it was MS Paint Adventures), so Homestuck is in an indirect but demonstrable way responsible for the existence of Lancer. The sunglasses that Gideon Nav from the Locked Tomb wears have been explicitly stated by Tamsyn Muir to be Dave Strider's. Toby Fox made music for Homestuck, and worked on large parts of Undertale while living in Andrew Hussie's basement.

We also know someone in the Bluey creative team is a Homestuck, because...

There are subtle but direct references in Bojack Horseman, Hazbin Hotel, Steven Universe, Adventure Time - and those are just the ones that it's easy to prove! In a more general sense, I think there's a lot of cartoon series, movies, games, etc. that would either be very different or wouldn't exist if Homestuck hadn't happened.

It's certainly influenced my work.

I think, being very cautious to manage your expectations, that you should read Homestuck. At the very least, a lot of things people say on Tumblr will start to make, if not sense, a different kind of nonsense.

[transmascswagpolls]

Transmasc Swag Polls- ROUND 2

CANONICITY LEVELS-

LANQUE: CANON Transgender Troll (and one of the few canon examples of Transmasculine Wrongs) HAJIME: Gender Tomfuckery Propaganda and other info under the cut.

MEDIA? Hiveswap Friendsim and Hiveswap Act 2, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (and other related media)

LANQUE PROPAGANDA-

we need more problematic trans guy in this poll he is such a little bitch but in an enjoyable way hope he has fun in hatched 2 dance :3

[Pollrunner's Note: He is one of three male Jade trolls in the entire Homestuck series, a blood caste that consists almost entirely of female trolls. One that has HEAVY ties to motherhood and the Christian imagery and ideas of feminimity. Lanque is heavily coded as a vampire- literally meant to be an 'emotional vampire' and everything that represents. He grows up in what is essentially an "all girl's school" and is uncomfortably lumped in with Bronya's grouping of "her girls".

It's never stated in text, but you can very explicitly tell that Lanque is trans because we get to see his chest. Only afab trolls have nipples in Homestuck and one of the cis male trolls in the same game has no nipples to speak of in his shirtless sprite sheet.

One of the game over routes in Hiveswap Act 2 ends after he's confronted with being involved in theft. Since it was meant to be a ploy for him to be able to finally run away, he decides to THROW YOUR CHARACTER OFF OF A MOVING TRAIN.

Literally one of the few canon examples on this poll that truly earns the title of Transmasc Wrongs.]

HAJIME PROPAGANDA-

[Pollrunner's Note: There was a LOT more propaganda then I could feasibly put here. These are the highlights]

While his identity issues mostly revolve around his (lack of) talent it’s not hard to imagine them spreading to other aspects of himself, like his gender. Dresses very masculinely, with a tie and button down shirt (which seems to be a bit tight in the chest, almost like the cut doesn’t fit him quite right).

As for the swag part, hajime is the only danganronpa protagonist who’s able to save all of his friends, plus post-game he has literally every talent ever. he’s also got both a male and female love interest and is well liked by all of his classmates.

in the game you get a file for all character's that has their info, one of the things listed are chest measurements (because the creator is a creep). But anyways, his measurements are the same as the girl with the biggest boobs in the game (36 inches), and is you have them side to side, there's not much difference in width. Also he's very skinny. Plus he has no nipples (nobody does but anyways).

At one point in the game they have to separate between girls and guys to sleep in different buildings, but there's 1 room less than it should be on the boy's building and 1 extra room on the girl side and they have to decide which boy has to sleep in the girl building They end up going with Hajime because he doesn't really mind and the girls agree he's probably the best option.

In chapter 1 he's the one most hesitant to go swim at the beach. It's for plot reasons, but he's still one of the only people who's never seen going to swim for the entire game.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

i'm losing my mind how are there STILL ACTIVE CATRA HATE BLOGS it's been FOUR YEARS how are you still this mad about a female abuse victim!!!!!! how do you STILL not get it!!!!!!!!!!

I have been in enough fandoms to understand that some of the people who stick around the longest are those who act the most scarred after watching the media. It's like stockholme syndrome. Or it's like hating the thing is what gives them drive in the world.

I have also been on the other side of this. I remained a Homestuck blog for a whole four years after the ending made me depressed about Terezi Pyrope, even lasting an additional year and a half after the dogshit epilogues released, through to the demise of Hiveswap and Homestuck^2, before I realised enough was enough and let Adventure Time give me sanctuary again.

But Homestuck had its Gamzee fans who hated the comic and fandom, Adventure Time had its Lemongrab fans who hated the show and fandom, and it seems She-ra has its fair share of antis.

The She-ra antis consist of the following groups, from my observation:

Former fans who got obsessed with some other show and have to bash She-ra because it ain't cool anymore. Usually Owl House fans but can be from anywhere. Their hate is universally connected to propping something else up, and is never done in isolation.

Hordak fans who hate Catra and maybe every other character and crew member and the show. There are a lot of the reverse, Catra fans who hate Hordak, which is part of why this group is so persistent, as a "counter" to this Hordak hate. However, the Catra fans who are Hordak antis MOSTLY do not hate the show (they are just... out of touch with it and generally have bad takes). I've seen one or two extreme cases of Catra apologists accusing Adora, Scorpia, and even Entrapta of abuse, but they were completely alone in their feelings. The Hordak fans who hate Catra tend to also hate Glimmer, Mermista, Adora, Bow, and say that the show is ableist or whatever, but they do not actually harbor much love for Entrapta. Her victimisation is an excuse for their behaviour and they have no understanding of her chaotic character. Do not interact.

Glimmadora fans (the ones who purely seem to exist to make 'Spop Is Abusive' posts). Why the fuck Glimmadora fans hate the show so much, I do not understand. But these are probably the most In-Your-Face of these three groups. While the Hordak fans mentioned above have a lot of similarity to Homestuck Gamzee fans or Adventure Time Lemongrab fans in the weird way they'll hate on the show for doing their blorbo wrong, Glimmadora fans don't have that evidence because they don't really care about Glimmer or Adora. They have absolutely nothing to say about the show, other than that it is Bad. My theory on these Glimmadora fans is that they really liked the Glimmer and Adora ship on a superficial level, and then the show decided to have its Deeper Themes and give Catra and Adora a messy, complicated relationship. There was a lot happening after season 3 where people went "CATRADORA IS REALLY ABUSIVE AND CATRA IS HORRIBLE AND YOU SHOULDNT SHIP HER WITH ANYONE". This period was SO fucking harmful to the fandom that it never recovered, so much work was lost and deleted from AO3. People would say "Glimmadora is a much better ship anyway". But then when season 4 rolled around and, uhh, Glimmer was acting like a little shit all season (for good reason but she really fucked things up with Adora), and Glimmadora crumbled into ash? Well the Glimmadora truthists felt like the show was working against them and that Season 5 was a grand conspiracy to make the Abusive ship Catradora canon!!! The funniest part of this is I sympathise a lot with these feelings. I used to be a Glimmadora truther myself when I watched the show in fall 2021. I was like, "wow, look how nice this ship is. And they go with catradora in the end?? Fucking HOW???". But then seasons 4 and 5 happened and.... yeah, I was disappointed with how Glimmer and Adora's friendship ended up, but I was ENAMORED by the messiness of Catra's character and how raw her and Adora felt about each other even in spite of all the bullshit. I never made excuses about the show being abuse apologising. I analysed it purely in how believable the relationships were and what the intentions of the characters are.

Of these groups, the ones responsible for the most actual SPOP Anti blogs are undoubtedly the Glimmadoras. The only time I've seen something similar, so many antis appearing, was because of Steven Universe ship wars. You have NO IDEA how petty people feel about Lapidot, Amedot, all the dots, all the amethysts. A crew member was chased off the internet over it, or left the internet over the show's own decisions, depending on whether you believe the """screenshots""" that were taken of Zuke's ""private blog""".

[calware]

fun fact #1! hiveswap act 1 was released in september of 2017

fun fact #2! hiveswap act 2 was released in november of 2020

this means that the 2nd act was released a little over three years after the 1st one

fun fact #3! the three-year anniversary for act 2 is only 4 months away 🙂

[crappy-homestuck-confessions]

Summary of Hiveswap Act 3 SAHCON panel

Courtesy of Makin from the Homestuck Discord server. I'm just sharing exactly what the announcement was! https://discord.gg/homestuck

Possible Act 3 spoilers, read more at your own risk

some of "the hiveswap act 3 team" (namely producer jonaya, musician james roach and artist kim quatz) had an AMA/panel during sahcon, take my summaries with a grain of salt but I'm known for being really accurate and right: tl;dr

no release date revealed (no mention of the highly elusive programming team either)

act 3 will have more adventure game puzzling like act 1, and it's "the big plot act"

showed new art of locations and characters like last time, as well as a music track

the full picture

james instantly mentions hiveswap has been worked on for over ten years already which was very funny

they played some wii shop channel-sounding music with the nuclear leitmotif

joey survives the train crash (MASSIVE SPOILERS)

fiamet is in an early part of the game (and we do see the train tracks in the background), they shared an animated sprite of her + a drone

cridea and jeevik week are part of this act, art of her was shared

three new characters (tiagon, onhors and luxora) were revealed

new location (shopping mall) for which the wii shop music is for, troll language translators please get to it

new location (jade caves)

new location (hallway in space (?) + machinery that may or may not be part of the same area)

Q&A starts 10 minutes before the panel ends:

once again, no release date, but heavy in production

they'd love to make hauntswitch but one thing at a time

some characters from act 2 will return in act 3 and act 4

the most interesting character is "dreadeye" who has a complicated quirk (I don't think she's been revealed)

act 3 will have more adventure game puzzling, which act 2 barely had. it's the big plot act

rest of questions will be answered on twitter

[davekat-sucks]

Three new characters for Hiveswap Act 3. Two are from Hatched 2 Dance (K-pop troll band) and a sea dweller party guest. As well as some questions being answered. Hiveswap Act 3 is said to be The Big Plot. There will be more adventure and puzzle elements. They have to finish Hiveswap first before Hauntswitch. And how they make their characters.

[softesteshouten]

Thoughts on Squared so far [5/23/24]

Well. That was this month's update.

The last time I did one of these was when Yiffany was first revealed. And even before that, it was a post covering the comic, only 200 pages in.

A lot's changed since then! A hell of a lot. We've gone through art style changes, more ridiculous plot points, a three year hiatus, and a seven month long stretch of genuinely really good Homestuck content. Not to mention that within that timeframe, Hiveswap Act 2 came out, but that's neither here nor there.

It feels like the comic's been building upon itself for a while now, even before the recent updates. Building up and up and up to something big and important. We've gotten introduced to new things, such as The Point, we've gotten closer to Dirk little plan, we've gotten insight into not only our protagonists but our villains as well.

I think everyone that could be at play has effectively entered the story at this point and won't be leaving anytime soon.

We've questioned the morality and motives for several of these characters and have gotten deeper insights, deeper suspicions, deeper hatred and love and understanding for a lot of them.

We're climbing to a breaking point.

Something's got to blow.

The only question is: how.

And what of the consequences that'll come from it.

Squared as a whole has been a very, very rocky mess. A strong opener from the beginning of the comic, to offs and ons, ins and outs of good writing as it progressed, to hitting a very incredible long stride of updates from the most recent updates. Not only has Squared been consistently updating, but it's also been consistently good.

It ain't pulling punches anymore. It ain't sacrificing anything in order to tell the story it wants to tell.

It's good. It's really fucking good. The quality has only shot up higher and higher and higher and every single update has surprised me with new insights that I never would've seen before. I can't criticize this I'm too busy fucking enjoying it.

I want to see what happens. I need to see what happens. I'm too damn curious to sit around and let this comic pass me by. I don't expect it to surpass anything else Homestuck has done--not by a long shot (except for maybe the epilogues, but that ain't a high bar). All I expect is that this will be good and interesting. And that it keeps this high bar that it's set for itself.

[classpectpokerap]

Pesterquest Rewritten - ACT 1 COMPLETE!

Finally, after three months of work, Act 1 (meaning, the prologue, the 4 beta kid routes, and the first half of the intermission) are all COMPLETE! Check out the Damara sprites made by @damarassanctuary in game -- alongside Spades Slick sprites by Binx and a background or two by @flaringk!!!

ON TOP OF ALL THAT, the bonus route by @hydro-city-zone has EVERY SPRITE COMPLETED, PLUS THE END CARDS... It's all working!!!! It's so GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

God im so fucking unbeLIEVABLY happy to see this all in game. PQR is a dream come true for me -- it's a deeply personal work and I'm so glad it's getting the love I've been seeing.

See you all with a trailer at SAHCON on the first! :333333333

(we're currently working on finishing Volume 6 (the hiveswap crossover chapter) -- download the game to see our progress on it in real-time)

[ragnarozzys]

sharing one of my answers from my retrospring because i think about this every so often with tealbloods and think it's so funny. the jade/teal car in hiveswap being a blame game trial act makes so much sense to me between their castes being a group of terrible gossips feeding off of the resentment and drama that is the jades and all that with one purpleblood throwing in fuel to the fire. tbh three of my top fave castes and theyre all a mess when you put them in the same room together

also just fun to include even accidentally when making my own teals because each of their jobs or roles bench on them being nosy as hell as a detective, secret agent, and Pyrroh (thief of void) each

[landoffreaksandfrogs]

if you could make a spinoff or continuation of homestuck like hs^2 or hiveswap or whatever, what would you make?

ALPHA TROLL SESSION. FULL STOP. ALL THREE SWEEPS. WITH BACKSTORY. AND ALCHEMIZATION SEQUENCES!!!!

i dont want to continue the story of homestuck i want a troll session with as much as the time spent into the sburb gameplay as acts 1-3. the beta trolls fucking BLITZED through their game and i want to see the alpha trolls CRAWL.

i want drama i want resentment i want manipulation i want LE hints and i want angels. i. want. LORE.

i would make beforus into a fully developed and realized creation and i would write the alpha trolls with tender loving care like michelangelo carving all those marble dicks i would make people go insane i would put enough symbolism and thematic parallels to choke a goddamn horse i would CRUSH. IT.

SGRUB ALPHA WOULD BE MY FUCKING SISTINE CHAPEL

[fridge-reviews]

Hiveswap: Act 1 - Blast Review

Developer: What Pumpkin Games Inc Rrp: £5.59 (Gog.com and Steam), £6.11 (Humblebundle)

This game is set in the Homestuck universe but apparently before the events of... well Homestuck. Those words mean very little to me, I've heard of Homestuck and that it was a thing for a while. I have no idea if it's still popular or basically anything about it, so I'm very glad that they didn't make knowing about it important otherwise I'd be totally lost.

The game is a point and click adventure game. One with a lot of 90's references, but then it is set in the 90's so that makes sense. As is the case with most point and click adventures its pretty short once you know what you're doing, although I have to say this one felt shorter than most. Part of me wonders if the reason its so short is because it's hand animated, I could certainly understand how that would factor into the decision to make a few of shorter games rather than one big one (since this the first of from what I've read four acts).

I have to say I rather enjoyed my time with the game, the puzzles were fun without being all that taxing and the writing was quite sharp, hell in some places it was even heartfelt. I especially liked the 'strife' puzzles which were puzzles where you were trying to evade a creature by utilising your inventory and the world around you.

Hiveswap: Act 2

Originally I was going to review this as a seperate title but... well as much as I love the Point and Click genre there isn't really all that much that changes from game to game really, at least not within the same series usually. As such I thought why not just combine the pair? Anyway, this is the second act in what apparently is going to be a four act series. I couldn't find any word on the status of the next game but since there was a space of three years between the first game and this one I'm assuming that the developers are still working on it. Though I do have some doubts that it'll come about given that the developers have announced that the person who owns the Homestuck IP has decided to leave and work on projects unrelated to Homestuck.

Enough on the drama and what not, what of the game itself? Well... it's not bad actually, more of the same. So if you like solving puzzles and seeing characters develop then you might just enjoy this. It's about twice as long as the last game so the increase in price is somewhat justified.

----

If you’d like to support me I have a Ko-fi, the reviews will continue to be posted donation or not.

[taivus]

I smashed through my 2022 reading goal with ease, so I decided to change things up for 2023 and shift my new year's resolution to beating video games instead of reading books. I'm not really a gamer (at... all, really), but from owning a Steam account for over a decade, I've collected lots of things to play.

I'm setting my goal to 13 video games, which is roughly 12.5 more games than I normally play in a year.

If you have any suggestions for which ones to play from this list, let me know! I will mostly be playing whatever sounds fun in the moment otherwise. Any title bolded means it's one I'm leaning toward prioritizing from my cursory glance through my library.

Action: Bastion; BioShock Infinite; Moon Hunters; Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time; Sayonara Wild Hearts; Transistor

Horror / Mystery: Alicemare; Fran Bow; The Hex; Little Nightmares; Night in the Woods; Oxenfree; PRICE; SOMA; What Remains of Edith Finch

Platformers: 1001 Spikes; DLC Quest; Hollow Knight; INSIDE; Nihilumbra; Thomas Was Alone; VVVVV

Point & Click: Dropsy; Emily is Away Too; Hiveswap Act 1/2 (beaten already but want to replay to get all the achievements); Life is Strange: Before the Storm; The Red Strings Club; The Room; The Room Two; The Room Three; The Room 4: Old Sins; The Secret of Monkey Island; Tell Me Why; The Walking Dead

RPGs: Child of Light; Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition; Disgaea PC; Dragon Age: Origins; Dragon Age II; Final Fantasy VII; Final Fantasy X/X-2; Labyronia RPG; LiEat; OneShot; Rakuen; Tales of Beseria; Tales of Symphonia; Tales of Zestria

Puzzle: Antichamber; Catherine Classic; Ether One; LIMBO; Portal; Portal 2; Snakebird; The Talos Principle

Visual Novels: AI: The Somnium Files; Angels with Scaly Wings; Eliza; Hatoful Boyfriend; Heaven Will Be Mine; HuniePop; Long Live the Queen (technically beaten already but I want to 100%); An Octave Higher; Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (playing this one right now!); We Know the Devil; Zero Escape: The Nonary Games; Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

Other: Age of Empires II; Age of Empires III; Homeworld; Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale; SteamWorld Heist; This War of Mine

[transmascswagpolls]

Transmasc Swag Polls- ROUND 1

Propaganda and other info under the cut.

CANONICITY LEVELS-

LANQUE: CANON Transgender Troll

c!FUNDY: (pseudo) CANON Transgender Man. Fox. Blockguy (he was written by the former head writer of the DSMP as transmasculine but the person who played him, Fundy, says that it's up for interpretation. It's pretty explicit in story moments though) MEDIA? Hiveswap Friendsim and Hiveswap Act 2, Dream SMP LANQUE PROPAGANDA- we need more problematic trans guy in this poll he is such a little bitch but in an enjoyable way hope he has fun in hatched 2 dance :3 [Pollrunner's Note: He is one of three male Jade trolls in the entire Homestuck series, a blood caste that consists almost entirely of female trolls. One that has HEAVY ties to motherhood and the Christian imagery and ideas of feminimity. Lanque is heavily coded as a vampire- literally meant to be an 'emotional vampire' and everything that represents. He grows up in what is essentially an "all girl's school" and is uncomfortably lumped in with Bronya's grouping of "her girls". It's never stated in text, but you can very explicitly tell that Lanque is trans because we get to see his chest. Only afab trolls have nipples in Homestuck and one of the cis male trolls in the same game has no nipples to speak of in his shirtless sprite sheet. One of the game over routes in Hiveswap Act 2 ends after he's confronted with being involved in theft. Since it was meant to be a ploy for him to be able to finally run away, he decides to THROW YOUR CHARACTER OFF OF A MOVING TRAIN. Literally one of the few canon examples on this poll that truly earns the title of Transmasc Wrongs.] c!FUNDY PROPAGANDA-

This character canonically and explicitly being a trans man is an important part of his lore, and also marks the character as Definitely being separate from his actor. when his father wilbur was around, he always babied fundy, who wanted to be taken seriously and treated independently. when another guy, schlatt, came into power and exiled wilbur, fundy latched onto him instead, seeking his approval while also spying from the inside. unfortunately, over this time wilbur’s paranoia grew, so by the time schlatt became too unstable and even schlatt’s supporters (fundy and quackity) were joining wilbur’s rebellion, wilbur no longer trusted his son, and also blew himself and their entire nation up. [Pollrunner's Note: One of the last acts c!Jschlatt takes in the story, with his dying breath, is to tell Fundy that he is the one thing that Fundy will never be- "a man".]

[pony-town-skinz]

wanshi from hiveswap!!!! she's my favorite warrior cats soldier purrbeasts kid >:3 she is just so adorable ugh /pos. i hope we see more of her in act three

[homestuck-fanauthor-coalition]

@jonayariley

The 200th Year Through the murky lens of the portals they created, Rose had watched the city grow up. Humanity found its footing in that place, seeking to reclaim what it had lost in the calamity that had ravaged the Earth. And the technology that Rose and the others provided through the Black Tower helped, giving them the means to claw back to where they had been and then beyond. But the blessing was a mixed one, Rose thought — the influence they had was considerable, but it was by no means absolute. The government structures — the corporate institutions that flourished as they exploited the new technology for their own ends. It was a bitter kind of survival — not the kind of survival that Rose would’ve picked, given the choice, but all they could do was send people through to act as envoys. The first of them had all died long ago. Jasper, Bec, and Liv had never returned through the Black Tower. They sent messages back, of course, and they had lived a good longer on the Earth. Jasper had managed another ten years, Bec two beyond that. Liv had, despite all odds, managed to hold on for twenty years before finally dying suddenly. None of them had wasted away, and none of them had suffered — that was a small mercy on top of a lot of heartbreak. Dave had never really forgiven her for what they’d done — for bringing people into the world only to die like. But how could they have known beforehand what would happen? Except that Rose did know. The Tome of Knowledge — that accursed book that the Dersites had — told her the way forward. And those three people — their pseudo-children — had been an instrumental part of it. It was like following a roadmap… or maybe a series of faint signposts. Certain steps needed to be taken and certain conditions needed to be met. And hadn’t it been worth it in the end? Humanity had recovered! Maybe Rose and the rest wouldn’t be able to witness the fruits of their labors firsthand, but it was enough to know that things were going to be better.

Chapters: 39/?

Rating: Mature

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence; Major Character Death

Category: F/F; F/M; Multi

Fandom: Homestuck; Hiveswap

Relationships: Meenah Peixes/Aranea Serket; Porrim Maryam/Aranea Serket; Jade Harley/Rose Lalonde; Porrim Maryam & Kankri Vantas; Meenah Peixes/Kankri Vantas; Jane Crocker/Roxy Lalonde; Roxy Lalonde & Dirk Strider; ?????? Elwurd/Porrim Maryam; Jane Crocker/Jake English; Kanaya Maryam/Aradia Megido; Kanaya Maryam & Karkat Vantas; Eridan Ampora/Vriska Serket; Terezi Pyrope/Vriska Serket; Eridan Ampora/Feferi Peixes; June Egbert/Dave Strider

Characters: Aranea Serket; Meenah Peixes; Porrim Maryam; Beforus Feferi Peixes; Jade Harley; Rose Lalonde; Dave Strider; John Egbert; Lynera Skalbi; Charun Krojib; Kankri Vantas; Stelsa Sezyat; Rose's Mom | Beta Roxy Lalonde; Jane Crocker; Roxy Lalonde; Jake English; Dirk Strider; Yiffany Longstocking Lalonde Harley; ?????? Elwurd (Hiveswap); Cronus Ampora; Daraya Jonjet; Latula Pyrope; June Egbert; Damara Megido; Doc Scratch (Homestuck); Karkat Vantas; Aradia Megido; Kanaya Maryam; Tavros Nitram; Feferi Peixes; Eridan Ampora; Vikare Ratite; Ardata Carmia; Terezi Pyrope; Konyyl Okimaw; Boldir Lamati; Skylla Koriga

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe; Alternate Universe - Modern Setting; Alternate Universe - Fantasy; Alternian Empire (Homestuck); Beforus (Homestuck); Modern Era; Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk; Cyberpunk; Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse; Alternate Universe - After College/University; God Tier (Homestuck); Derse and Prospit; cosmic horror; Beforus Culling (Homestuck); Private Investigators; Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy; Attempted Sexual Assault; Heist; Imperial Drones (Homestuck); Alternate Universe - Steampunk; Alternia (Homestuck)

[andrewhussiesmidlifecrisis]

Had a dream that homestuck2 ended with LE being Retroactively Erased From Existence and this somehow resulted in trolls going extinct and I fucking hated the ending for the holes it opened (why just troll extinction? Why do this if hiveswap act three is still supposed to come out someday?) and got into a slapfight with hussie about it where they nearly called me the R-slur for not Getting his ending

Very realistic, I think.