#i dont wanna start a fight with anyone

[one-strugling-bean]

Random Thoughts on Homestuck pages 3466-3468 & 3472-3475 (aka, Vriska and John talk about feelings post Tavros’s death)

This conversation right here was the first time Homestuck was genuinely able to impact me on an emotional level. Therefore, I wanna talk about it.

(A quick reminder though: this commentary is purely subjective and no one is forced to agree with it.)

(Actually, as long as you are polite and respectful, I encourage you to discuss this matter with me, and point out anything that you might think I have understood wrong.)

(Also, I have only read up to page 3490, so cut me some slack if I say anything wrong story-wise. And no spoilers please.)

But yeah. Let’s do this.

Sooooooo, Vriska. From my light browsing through the Homestuck fandom, there seems to exist a lot of discourse between the fans that like her and defend her actions, and those who hate and blame her for all the crap she does. Right now, I think I fall somewhere in a grey area between the two, although closer to the latter specter of the argument.

She’s an incredibly interesting character, that’s for sure. For me, it’s her extremely grey morals that make her so.

Vriska is someone who consciously plays the role of the “villain” because that’s who she thinks she has to be amongst her friends, and what troll society seems to ask of her – from her perspective, at least. Also, her ancestor was apparently a super badass pirate lady who did many amazing things, so Vriska feels encouraged – pressured? – to also become strong and live up to her ancestor’s image.

She had a demanding lusus, the kind of lusus that apparently only choose to raise “strong trolls”, and fed off of other young trolls, which charged a young Vriska with the responsibility of killing her kin(?) in order to maintain the high-maintenance spider.

She was definitely shaped and molded very harshly by the conditions of her development and growth. So, the Vriska we are presented to in the comic is someone who would’ve probably been a very successful troll in Alternia society, strong and willing to do whatever it took to reach her goals, but also with the emotional maturity of a 5-year-old. At least by human standards.

This is my interpretation of Vriska. Am I too far off? I really hope not.

Right now, I’m at a point with her where while I appreciate her character – what she brings to the table in terms of narrative – I’m far from being a big fan of her as a person. Because like, she’s a bully. :/

And it’s with that notion in mind that we take a step back from Vriska for a little, and focus on someone else: Tavros, aka, the apparent main victim of Vriska’s meddling.

Tavros is weird by troll standards. Karkat mentioned so himself, at some he said something like he doesn’t think Tavros could ever hate anyone.

He is much gentler and overall nicer than the rest of his fellow trolls, and is seen as “weak” by their society's standards. And that's wgy Vriska, from what I understood, decided that she’d “help” him by basically antagonizing him to hell and back in hopes that he'd grow a tougher shell.

I’m mentioning all of this because earlier, I read the opinion of someone that was trying to defend Vriska’s actions towards Tavros, specifically the events leading up to her acquiring God tier, and later on, his death by her.

Basically, their point was the same Vriska herself was trying to explain to John, that she only bullied Tavros because she liked him, and knew that he wouldn’t survive in their world if he kept being “weak”, so she messed with him to try and toughen him up.

Tavros was simply too much of a coward, and so eventually, when the time came and Vriska needed him to be strong (to kill her so she’d get God Tier) he was unable to do it and ran away, leaving her to die alone from blood loss.

And this is the thing that truly leaves me kind of confused and upset because in case it’s not obvious by now, I actually like Tavros and relate to him, and the whole spiel of “weak vs strong” upsets me quite a bit, and I really don’t understand the point of the person that defended her.

I might have interpreted this wrong and let my bias get in the middle of my critical thinking, but…. isn’t it obvious that Vriska’s intentions when she was bullying Tavros were far from wanting to help?

I'm being genuine here, btw. Because I've read a fair ammount of people arguing this.

This was my train of thought: I don’t doubt she did to some degree appreciate Tavros, but you can’t tell me she wasn’t enjoying having power over him. She would relish in messing with Tavros, call him names, insult him for being crippled (despite, or perphaps, especially because she knew she’d been the one to put him that way). She loved being more powerful than him, and using her advantages to give him hell.

At the same time, I also don’t doubt that Vriska believes she was helping him all this time. That she was the one in the right. That the suffering he get from her was Tavros’s own fault for being so weak. That, while yes, she does feel some remorse now, she was still in the right for killing Tavros. And yeah, by Alternia standards, I guess she is. Can’t argue there. As she told John, he was a much lower-class troll actively disrespecting her, and she had already been super merciful not to kill him before, instead "befriending" and playing with him. But enough was enough and all that.

She still feels guilty about it, but that shouldn't be relevant because whatever her own feelings and other people's beliefs may be, according to their society, she's justified. She had something to back her up.

The crux of the problem is, there’s no Alternia anymore, no Troll society, and most of the trolls that she’s left with don’t really care about the way things are supposed to be.

And this leaves her – and me – with the current conundrum: now what is considered “right”, and where does that new "right" leave her standing?

She doesn’t know. But by her friends' reactions, she probably has some clues.

Vriska is still a teen with feelings, so remorse and guilt are a given for her since she did care about the people she hurt. I’ve also read some people trying to defend her with that – the fact that she’s obviously feeling regret – but I honestly don’t see what that changes. What should that matter, if she keeps repeating the same mistakes?

Regret and guilt aren’t really valid unless they’re able to stop you from re-committing said mistakes, and try to make amends instead. Which, yeah, she tried a few times, but none of those tries were exactly sincere or convincing.

(I was trying to say unbiased here, but I think I blew that by now. Oops.)

When she kills Tavros, I can’t see anything there but an emotionally stunted kid having a tantrum and destroying the core of her misgivings instead of trying to sort through them.

She was upset to realize that Tavros had finally gotten more confident, but only to act against her of all people, and let that emotion fester, blind and control her. This led to Tavros dying by Vriska’s hand in an act of thoughtless violence, although later on, when she finally calms down from the tantrum, she feels remorse and realizes she fucked up. Again.

What happened with Aradia could be interpreted as pretty much the same, right? Vriska got upset, didn’t know how to deal with it, so she destroyed the source of her anger. And when guilt knocked on her door, she could lean on the rules of their society to condone herself.

But again, the reason why now with Tavros things are slightly different is that that society doesn’t really exist anymore and no one really gives a fuck about its rules.

I guess the question right now is how many times Vriska will continue to fuck up this way until she realizes how “weak” she actually is.

The reason why I appreciate her character so much is that I think it just gave me so much insight into the insides of the mind of a bully.

Meanwhile, the reason why I don’t really like her all that much is that she’s just generally a bad person, and has yet to show honest signs of wanting to change for good. As much as I loved her conversation with John, I really don't think that qualifies as such.

I honestly hope this is the last time this crap happens and she finally learns for good now. Maybe John can help her get there. I believe he could.

It just makes me sad that lives were already taken, meanwhile.

RIP Tavros. I liked him a lot, really. Maybe it was just me, ‘cause I’m a bit of a softie myself, but his gentle ways were a breath of fresh air when I was reading Act 5 Act 1. Everyone was so intense all the time, it was kinda nice to have someone calmer I could relate to in all the brashness going around.

But then again, that’s also what made him a target for Vriska, and what eventually got him killed. His “weakness”.

It’s like what Vriska said about Karkat, who’s just as much of a softie beneath all his grumpiness. They probably would’ve thrived a lot better on Earth. The alpha kids’ Earth, I mean. Not sure about ours, sadly.

I am getting sad writing this. Homestuck, why would you do this to me?

Eh anywayyyyyyyy, I doubt ayone will read this, but if you have gotten this far, thanks a lot ^^

Imma gonna continue reading now, have a nice day

[spicyrottingbrains]

I was going through the buddie tag on ao3 for the first time in a little over a month looking for a good fic (I've been in a little but of a reading slump because all the mistagged fics were messing with my head so I took a break from it and only read buddie fics that ppl recommended on tumblr and fics from my other fandoms). And guys I just came across not one but two fics with a eddie diaz bashing tag. I never thought I'd see the day. Ohmigod. All the hen chim and maddie bashing tags were bad enough and I had them filtered but god this random dude really did bring wayyy too much eddie hate into the buddie fandom of all things. Also why are they tagging buddiee if it's not happening. If it's an eddie or buck pining fic then atleast say that it's one sided or use the prerelationship tag(if it applies) instead of tagging the relationship tag. The amount of mistagged fics pisses me off so much.

[killer-wizard]

looking at horror youtubers i used to watch as a kid and seeing their boring ass lazy content with their stupid voice affects and exploitative topics. not to mention the weird ass sponsors. yawns

[days-in-reality]

I just wanna disappear but because my nan spent her retirement years raising me I owe it to her to stick around otherwise I'd be out of here and no one in my family would hear from me again (besides my sister) and I can only imagine how peaceful it will be how much stress will melt away without those attachments and I wouldn't feel bad cause I'm 100000 miles away

[sensitivegoblin]

Vent

Tw: sh, suivide

[nugatorysheep]

Sometimes I think about how, back when the roster was much bigger, me and my old friend group all picked out WTL characters that we thought the others were the most like, and almost universally people thought Druid was the most like me. That probably should've been my first clue that none of them knew a single thing about me, but hindsight is 20/20

I also often think about how, after several days of going through things that had happened to me over the last four or so years, I was told 'You seem like a person who wants to be understood', and it hit me that until then, I had never met someone who ever really got me. Now that I have, I could never settle for less.

[usertoxicyaoi]

anyway rb this and in the tags list some of your favourite siblings in tv/film!

[thotferatu]

all im gonna say is that all the complaints of "why does MJF have so many storylines rn!!!!!!!" youre valid but you were wrong bbg

this shit is fire

the tie ins?? gorgeous gorgeous girls love long term booking

[piratadelamor]

self isolation as a form of self preservation is going to end up killing me someday

[todayisafridaynight]

CANNOT BELIEVE IT'S TAKEN ME SO LONG TO REPLY YOU'VE ALREADY FINISHED THE SECOND MOVIE LOL BUT

I LOVE showing The Mole Song to people because it's like, love it or hate it, you can't possibly have a lukewarm reaction to it. I'm thrilled you liked it so much!!! Hong Kong Capriccio definitely has its moments and I'm glad you enjoyed it too; on that note, I haven't seen Final yet, and it doesn't seem to be hardsubbed online, but I was able to find a raw and subs separately. They seem okay from the scene I skipped to twenty minutes in but not positive lol

It really does set the tone early! I love the cutaway gags too The manga has a lot of absurd non-sequiturs and it was a fun way to adapt that to a new medium. As an adaptation as a whole, Undercover Agent Reiji in particular definitely has the tone down and I appreciate that it kept a lot of the Moments I liked.

Hiura had me from the blood oath… one of the guys of all time… despite how I sound from what I just said, I actually didn't even know there was a manga or a sequel when I first watched it, so I was SO relieved he survived the explosion. I was honestly 100% convinced he'd crash the plane at the end though lol, but I guess that ended up happening in Hong Kong Capriccio anyway?

BUT YEAH LIKE THE GUY JUST HAS A HYPERFIXATION AND I HAVE TO RESPECT THAT. Which, you know, in-universe, to have the whole butterfly motif and then dress your man up in florals… I repeat, Reiji was slaying in that dress… I love everyone's costuming in these movies. SPEAKING OF THE AUCTION, the PSP segment onward was insanely RGGcore wasn't it… good god……

It's kind of funny how little Reiji changes--I guess that's how you keep a manga going for like 900 or whatever chapters so far--because he'll pretty much Always have things he needs to figure out. Still very much fun to watch, though!

ALSO the drugs reminded me (I was expecting them to be In The Dogs too lol), shoutout to manga Tsukihara for having the exact same character arc as Mine and ending up an invaluable ally. Also getting to beat up Ryuji Leo (sorry my boy but Mine is overall the stronger combatant to me and I am tired of the Reddit-y discussions on the wiki saying otherwise </3). Living vicariously while Mine's status is still uncertain lol

P.S. I Too Treat Your Blog Like The Morning Paper and it means a lot to me to have the opportunity to write in and talk! I would also love to join a stream if you ever go for it!

P.P.S. NOOOOOOO PLEASE THE SLOW DANCING…….. UNWELL. I've imagined the same thing but at home… in the light of the refrigator… Jo is still tense as hell both because of the situation and it's such a waste of electricity and they really should close the door as soon as possible… but Arakawa insists if it's only for the duration of the song, it's fine……

YEAH THE MOLE SONG MOVIES WERE REALLY FUN thanks again for recommending it to me (I found out it had a manga series the moment I went to look it up, but I haven't read a lick of it. I'd say I'm surprised it's still running but I mean... manga like One Piece have over a thousand chapters at this point, so I shouldn't be too surprised. Maybe I'll give it a read sometime just to check out how the movies and manga compare-and-contrast with each other)!

1.) BIGGEST HONOR I'm glad my blog can entertain a lot of people (and a big part of that is due in part to people writing in and giving me a chance to chat a bit, so of course I always have to thank you and everyone else for sending me asks as frequently as you all do. They're absolutely the highlight of my day whenever I get the time to answer them ^^)!! I've always liked the idea of streaming (I've attempted to years back but I never tried again afterwards), though I always end up getting too anxious about it (plus I tend to get performance anxiety and I end up taking a lot longer to draw whenever people are watching me). I hope to get over that anxiety one day though- I bet it'd be fun to respond to people in real time or take quick doodle requests mid-stream :)

2.) AW THEM DANCING IN THE KITCHEN THOUGH I CAN SEE IT..... Jo being worried about the electric bill though that's so accurate..... I'll definitely think on the concept of Slow Dancing AraSawa with all the apparent enthusiasm around it.. I promise..

YAYA my friend (who made the post) told me a moment after I told her (also PLEASE I was so heinous reading the name- first thing I said to her aside from 'new movie night plan' was 'how many times does this man play a dude named 'Jo' ☠️☠️)! I wasn't able to find any recordings of the actual play (I know a trailer was posted last year so I don't know if they've actually performed live since then) but here's to hoping one day there's a recording of it posted somewhere...

[youaremysunshine-court]

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[crunchycrystals]

absolutely insane to me that cornelia street and death by a thousand cuts are on the same album as me hee heeeeee hoo hoo hooooooo

[arolesbianism]

Shakes the bars of my cage I need to draw soooo bad I need to draw I need to draw let me draw I have to draw I need to draw I must draw (<- has been too sick to be on electronics much and doesn't like doing traditional art)

[overlyimmersed]

today exists to fuckin piss me off

[squiddy-god]

Hello!! I just read your twst x chubby S/O and I thought it was amazing! Could I request Third Years x S/O who's into crocheting and crochets them plushies or keychains as random gifts? Plus a bonus when they admit that after they graduation Night raven they want to start a small business on it after hiding it if you want >w<

Hehehehe i love this so much because i crochet! It is one of my many house husband skills, personally my favorite things to make is these little octopuses but i should really branch out lol, this reminds me of those manhwas where the mc starts a business that booms 

Cw : tooth rotting fluff, mc has a successful side hustle to make that bag, gn reader, bonus grim because i love my cat so much, my son, grims is obvi platonic, rsa mention because vil is petty

Grim 

Oh hes bragging 

His human henchman is the best because they make him cute gifts 

The skrungly

I wanna make him little kitty outfits for every occasion

Making grim cat toys and he acts like he doesn't like them at first but he literally wont sleep without the crochet tuna fish you made him 

I think he needs a little kitty bag to wear and put his stuff in (mostly tuna) 

He would taunt the others because clearly he is the most special kitty with his very cool bad and fish 

He is and i won't stand for anyone telling me otherwise, i love our bastard cat son

Cater 

Hes obsessed 

If you make him a keychain then he is adding it to his growing collection on his phone right away

I hc that hes a big fan of stuffed animals so he adores anny that you make him and they sit on his bed 

He names all of them

He helps you start the small business during school actually! At first its his suggestion to run a magicam page for all your creations 

Soon the comments are flooded with people asking if you sell, one thing leads to another and boom you now have a successful side hustle 

Rsa is honestly a big seller they love this kind of stuff

He loves everything you make him and never stops posting about his love for it

Very supportive of your small business ventures 

His favorite thing you've made him is a little bag for pens and pencils that is shaped like a playing card because he thinks its just the cutest thing in the world 

And the keychains that he gets to show off whenever he whips his phone out (often)

Some of his favorite candid photos of you are when you’re crocheting peacefully 

Trey 

Dometic bliss pt.1

Trey is,,,such an old man- he like baking and the simple domestic little things like making you coffee/tea in the morning 

He loves to watch you crochet because he thinks its very cute and wholesome to spend time when you are doing activities together that are calm 

MAKE THIS MAN DOILIES AND POT HOLDERS please 

He adores the set of frilly doilies you made him and the cute potholders are always in use

He is 100% in support of your dreams of making that bag, honestly he really thinks you should get a start now to make extra cash on the side since 7 forbid crowley pay you for the work you do

He smiles every time he sees a tart cooling on one of the doilies you made him, seeing the little pattern always makes him happy

He trades you baked good for the things you make him so i hope you enjoy sweet treats

Leona 

Cat…big kitty…

Oddly captivated by any balls or skeins of yarn that are out and about but hes fighting the urge to play with them 

He is not beating the house cat allegations 

At first hes pretty neutral on it honestly, he likes the gifts you give him because they are just his but hes not a big keychain guy, or stuffies

Then you make him a blanket and hes gone 

He claims to be neutral about it, saying he likes the gift but dont be fooled by his aloof act he sleeps with that blanket everywhere 

He is bringing it to class if he doesn't just skip the class 

It is his favorite blanket and he almost lost his shit when ruggie took it to wash it- he's kinda territorial about the blanket 

Gives 0 fucks that its some cutesy blanket with little lions on it

Also a big fan of pillows/pillow covers 

If you make him multiple blankets he loves them too but the first one is extra special to him 

Hes neutral about you starting a business during or after school/graduation because well,,,he's a whole prince,,,

You make cheka a matching blanket and leona gets a very happy letter from his brother on how much the mini lion loves it, leona rolls his eyes but is secretly very proud of you 

Regardless if you want to start the small business he is happy to support you making that bread 

Vil 

Vil in crochet clothes my beloved 

Hes charmed by your little hobby and the adorable stuffed animal you made him, a little crochet owl that sits on his vanity so he sees it when he does his makeup and night routine 

Vil does not post a lot of personal stuff on his magicam/socials, but he does wear anything you make him, he has a folder in his gallery dedicated to photos of the two of you, dates or candid photos either he took or rook took and sent to him. 

Most of these pics he's in something you crochet for him even if it's just a simple keychain it's a staple of his 

He is very supportive of your dreams of starting a business for your crochet, he admires the drive and discipline and encourages you to pursue this work 

Ironically if you start a side hustle soon to be full business, neige of all people is a big customer as he's fond of cute stuff like this 

This is where vil gets petty 

He sees a photo post of neige’s where he’s in a new outfit, not odd at all, what catches vils attention is that the cardigan and hat he's wearing is oddly similar to a piece he saw you working on for an order- anyone watching can see the twitch in vil’s eye when he sees the shoutout to you in the caption

The next 5-8 posts of vil’s are a mix of his regular posts and pictures of him in your clothes or with the keychains, all with captions along the lines of “my beautiful s/o @[your name here]”

He even posts the owl

Rook 

If you were to make him a keychain he calls it his lucky charm for hunting and always had it on him. 

Really he's just fond of anything you make him

a lot of his photos are of you when you are deep in a project and not paying attending, candid photos like this are his favorites and he looks at them often 

He really likes any little animal stuffies you make because he thinks they are just the cutest 

“Hunts” your plushies aka he will sneak up on you making them or sorting them out and act like he caught them 

Silly

He is very supportive of your business ventures, he loves to see you so passionate about wanting to eventually start a small business and be able to sell your creations 

He definitely encourages you to sell a few things in sams shop, afterall he sells anything and everything anyone could ever need

Idia 

The outfits you make grim are his faves 

He is a cat man at heart and cant help but coo over every new thing you make grim because it makes the kitty so so so cute and as a cat he was already uber SS+ cute levels 

He is also a big fan of any keychains you make him or even stuffies

The stuffies either are on his bed so he can cuddle them or they are with the rest of his game/anime figures on his shelves so its a horrific mix of like neon genesis mechs and crochet 

I think it would be funny to make him doilies to put the figures on because when hes gaming and people are like “dude why is your [super cool limited edition game figure] on a doily???” hes like “haha L+loser+lonely+my super cool s/o made them for me lvl10 affection” and is it cringe as hell? Yes. can those normies suck it because hes no longer forever alone? Also yes

They are demanding proof or it didn't happen 

Ortho is also a big fan and has a lil keychain you made hooked on him <3

idia would actually combust if you made anything themed after a game or show he watches/plays because that is SS+ max lvl affection with full hearts right there 

You have unlocked the super secret route and that is unlimited discord nitro and a new pc because he is so happy 

He also would support your business during and after school 

Malleus 

Domestic bliss pt 2

Genuinely you are breaking this guy. Like he cannot take it anymore 

I feel we all can agree malleus is prone to casual proposals because hes just,,,kinda like that

He pictures a future with you by his side and you aren't making it any better by being so endearing 

When he sees you doing something as simple as sitting down and crocheting his draconic heart is filled with sweet domestic love, makes him feel like an old married couple and he can't take it lmao 

At first he's a bit weird about accepting gifts as it's a big deal in fae culture to just,,,get a gift out of nowhere

But he does accept them, he simply gives you something he sees as equal value (this is how you end up with several big ass gems)

He considers all of your gifts his most precious items, his favorites however are the following 4 gifts he has received 

A keychain that looks like his gaogao-drakon-kun tamagotchi witch he keeps on the same keychain as said virtual pet

A gargoyle plushy that he considers to be one of his most treasured gifts, in a similar light he has a plushie of your fave animal and you have a dragon plushie that match (this almost killed him)

And a little crochet bracelet that you match (he never takes it off unless he has to) 

Your desire to start a business throws him for a loop at first because in his mind you are happily by his side in the briar valley, (he is very male lead coded) but he quickly re-adjusts to account for your business plans and he is the most supportive dragon you could ever hope for 

Lilia 

Old man (affectionate) 

 I like to think lilia knits and is simply overjoyed when he finds out you crochet 

You exchange little gifts 

It makes his very old fae heart happy to sit around the ramshackle fireplace and crochet/knit with you while chatting about your day/week, simple things like this make him feel like hes back in the old days with a baby silver 

He loves anything you make him and happily wears any keychains or items he is gifted

Stuffies are named and placed around his room without a hint of shame 

And he loves that you have such good goals and dreams like a business 

I like the idea of meeting general lilia and also making him something 

At first he is confused, almost indignant that you would have the gaul to give him a gift- of all people he would never accept such a token

Maybe its something simple, a granny square on the lacy side that resembles something akin to a handkerchief, something small you explain as a favor, something youd give a knight 

He claims he is disgusted by such human customs but his grip on the crochet piece is unmistakable, and the way you wake up the next morning to a small green gem-the same that adorns his armor, tells you all you need to

[florida3exclamationpoints]

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