#showing affection and kindness to dave

[timaeusresponds]

I hate for a lot of reasons I don’t owe anyone the character assassination of Dirk Strider through the epilogues (no one is going to convince me it was a logical step) (do not try i dont care) but

But

Ult Dirk’s Big Beautiful Motorboat-able Rack and Massive Biceps.

[mint-8]

Platonic! Yandere PVZ Plants x GN! Gardener/Neighbor! Reader

Platonic! Yandere Sunflower

- Yandere Sunflower enjoys spending quality time with you! Whether you are working in the garden, doing some other work, or simply chilling under the sun, Yandere Sunflower will make sure to be by your side at all times!

- Yandere Sunflower's favorite activity is singing! They will sing whatever songs you favor and will be delighted if you sing alongside them! Even if you are not the best at it, Yandere Sunflower will be there to cheer you on and practice! They are even willing to let the other plants hear your melodic voice, but only if you promise you'll spend extra special time with them later, ok?

- Yandere Sunflower also loves seeing you dance around the lawn. They are definitely going to make you the star of their reality show when it finally airs. It's going to be a huge hit, they promise!

- Yandere Sunflower who really appreciates you sitting to bask the sun with them and simply... talk. It can be pretty chaotic with the constant zombie hordes and Crazy Dave's antics, but Yandere Sunflower finds solace in the fact that they were one of your very first plants. I mean, Peashooter was there too, but... without them, you'll be completely defenseless against the undead! You need them after all! It's comforting, knowing that very few plants will provide you with the sun necessary to fight and protect your house... it makes them feel needed and loved.

- Yandere Sunflower who gets along well with everyone else in the garden, especially their close friend group: Peashooter, Wall-nut, and Potato Mine. Yandere Sunflower knows them the best and trusts them completely to keep you safe. And you know the saying, best plants stick together :)

Platonic! Yandere Peashooter

- Yandere Peashooter, like many other plants in your garden, has a strong will to protect you, their dear gardener. They make sure to practice their pea throwing abilities every day and encourage the rest of the plants to do the same!

- Yandere Peashooter who acts like a proper, hardworking leader to the many plants in your house, but who in private acts like a diva and is completely spoiled in your affections and time. They are willing to share, but only to those close to them, and even then, Yandere Peashooter might act a bit hurt and annoyed when you come by to cut their leaves or water their roots.

- Yandere Peashooter who gains so much pride from being your very first attacker plant, knowing they hold that special place in your heart and memory bank, helps them go through the tough times, so they take that pride and convert it into energy to defend you from those putrid zombies!

- Yandere Peashooter who loves it when you spoil them with affection, but more often than not, also simply enjoys watching you do your chores around the house. You are always so diligent and focused when taking care of them and the rest of the plants, which inspires them to uphold such discipline as well when in front of others!

- Yandere Peashooter will only ever trust their 3 best friends: Sunflower, Wall-nut, and Potato Mine, with their dark secrets and knowledge of their obsession. They might not be the strongest plant, but they are a veteran in this war, and they know exactly where to hit, so it hurts the most.

Platonic! Yandere Wall-nut

- Yandere Wall-nut is a total sweetheart who is a great listener to you, their beloved gardener, and who happily accepts their role as a defensive plant to protect the rest of the garden! They are very selfless and are more than willing to sacrifice their entire body (literally) for the greater good (that being your protection, of course).

- Yandere Wall-nut enjoys spending time with you, like any other plant. But they would rather let you use them for any purpose you might have! As a feet recliner, as a cup holder, as a resting stool... you can use them for anything! But you are so kind to them gardener, you always sit by them and talk about your day. You are just the sweetest.

- Yandere Wall-nut doesn't mind feeling the teeth of the undead violently chewing and ripping off their shell, thankfully they can't feel that much, so it's just like a massage! But they hate seeing you sad and frustrated whenever you place them to protect the other plants. It makes them sad. Wouldn't you rather let loose of that frustration on them?

- Yandere Wall-nut is so desperate to please you that they are more than willing to become your stress toy. No, really. You can kick them, throw stuff at them, and even try to set them on fire! Yandere Wall-nut wouldn't mind too much... if it means feeling such light pain will result in your happy smile, then they can easily make that small sacrifice. Plus... you are paying attention to them... you are touching them with such fervor... it's totally worth it ♡

Platonic! Yandere Potato Mine

- Yandere Potato Mine enjoys the silence and calmness when they aren't fighting hordes of zombies. They enjoy simply taking in the sun and watching you work around the garden, usually without you noticing. They can be very sneaky if they wish to, but feeling your lovely kisses and pats whenever they do a good job battling the undead makes them feel butterflies, which will usually flare up their antenna.

- Yandere Potato Mine enjoys your attention and your love, but they prefer watching from afar. Or rather, from below. They usually don't hang out with the other plants that much. Aside from some insta-kills specimens and their close friend group, Yandere Potato Mine can usually be found sleeping and enjoying the sun whenever they are not stalking their favorite person in the whole world.

- Yandere Potato Mine who works best as an intelligence gatherer whenever Peashooter, Sunflower, or Wall-nut aren't able to find you. They can put their faith that Yandere Potato Mine will always know where you are and report back. They are great at blending with the environment. After all, they've had plenty of practice.

[zan0tix]

I yap so much about the comic and the importance i find in its contents but i hope when i write dirk or jake or rlly any of them it doesnt come off as me dumbing them down😭

I know the core internal mechanisms at which they all operate from otherwise i wouldnt understand why they even do what they do and why they speak how they do since that is so crucial to analysis of their behaviour and Why they were written.

But i mostly write silly scenarios so the deeper messier parts dont get to show much😭 working on deeper things tho rest assured i am locking in🫡🫡🫡

I try to match the tones of how i believe the characters would act continuing off the ending of homestuck. With dirk and jake specifically i try to write them to where they still both kinda dont say everything they need to but they dont have the weight of narrative destiny on their shoulders anymore so they can admit they like spending time together and have actually confessed like normal people and got out those apologies they kept yammering on about in the last half of act 6

I try to reinvoke the ridiculous nature of the one time we really see the real dirk and jake talk (which was actually a dreambubble memory. jake is so gay.) but i try to make it feel how that did, they really do love spending time together and just being weird and cringe and bantering about stupid shit ❤️(the most we see dirk type laugh in the comic)

(Always Highly recommend reading this log if you havent in a while. Its just such good writing theyre so funny) https://www.homestuck.com/story/4844

I feel like the Best Bros part of dirkjake kinda gets lost alot of the time considering THEY NEVER SPEAK DIRECTLY (which is insane that hussie could craft this universe bending gender norm shattering yaoi with no fucking interactions wtf anyway) but there is alot you can gleam from jakes interactions with hal and this one log to tell us how they usually speak

Dirk always veers into making homoerotic comments because.. i dunno he might have feelings for jake or something whos to say. and when jake presses him dirk immediately diverts. I think from being around dave and everything daves realised thats bullshit about masculine standards and heroism that let him have a healthier relationship to masculinity, hearing abt that would loosen dirk up about Actually being affectionate to jake

But hes still somehow trying to no homo his way out of things that are incredibly homo just in a subtler way, not immediately going “Haha, what? I never said that. Anyway.” (Its both out of his fear for what his true identity means about him as a man but also because he doesnt think he deserves to get such affections cough thinks himself an evil)

And jake was always going with the flow. If his friends socially decreed something as okay to talk about then the fucking damn burst open and he couldnt keep it in anymore but they had to Very Clearly Clarify with him about it. So i think dirk going down a more positive road would lead jake there too seeing that if its okay for dirk to be less restrictive with his feelings jake can be too.

The Epilogues has a highly specific premise and was being manned by caliborn and calliope 2.0 cranked to the max in the deranged fanfic behaviour so. Of course it would not be a healthy environment for characters to grow💀 anyone who takes it as full confirmation about how theyd act or become as adults and ignores the fact of its premise Being “Homestuck but Sick and Twisted; The Fanfiction” is kind of stupid its like saying homosuck was in character. Ofc everybodys lives goes to shit because the two running the show dont know how the hell to be good puppeteers 😭

Said it on twitter but you can tell how much a dirk hates himself based on his relationship to a jake. Because tho ult dirk wouldnt ever admit it jake is dirks anchor of self worth just as dirk is jakes. When they show compassion and kindness to one another its a step closer to self acceptance because Jake is quite frankly a living embodiment of EVERYTHING that is “wrong” (queer, cringe, sincere, feminine) about Dirk to himself in his saviour complex surrounding manhood. (See Everything caliborn says about jake) jakes always waiting for dirk. If dirk were to step down and admit his own humanity itd mean hed have to accept he is capable of growing and isnt inherently evil, and jake would be ready to embrace that about himself too

Anyway all that to say. Even in my simple silly writing i at least do try to retain dirk and jakes strange emotional dodging olympics but also its just on a smaller level since theyve inching their way to fully internalising that Its Okay to be Cringe and Gay Together❤️ because the World isnt Ending anymore. Its in the little things they dont say because haha im the one who makes them say words.

Dirk and jake hate themselves because theyre not men in the right way but their love is because of them not being men in the right way so.. nerm.. Whos flying the plane?

[the-berries-and-the-plums]

my amazing partner @i-aintlonely convinced me to make a tumblr specifically to make this post so here we go:

my Three Houses name theory

TL;DR: i think the three pigs in Dave Malloy’s Three Houses—Susan, Sadie, and Beckett—are named after real-life writers whose work aligns with their arcs. Susan = Susan Stewart (nostalgia, collections, self-mythologizing), Sadie = Sadie Plant (digital spaces, gamification, technology & compulsion), Beckett = Samuel Beckett (isolation, fatalism, existential despair). full analysis under da cut

okay. so. i was thinking about beckett and wondering about the connection to Samuel Beckett. i’ve never read (writer) Beckett, but even a cursory glance at his work and quotes reveals more than just an Ireland-based connection to Pig Beckett’s house.

i’ll just leave this quote from him on love and relationships here:

“Until the day when, your endurance gone, in this world for you without arms, you catch up in yours the first mangy cur you meet, carry it for the time needed for it to love it and you it, then throw it away.”

this almost feels like another version of “if i can shut the door, i won’t feel like this anymore, love always leaves you in the end”. glorifying isolation and withdrawal as a show of strength

Beckett wrote extensively on isolation, the meaningless of time, and decay. he was known for an often bleak and absurdist minimalist existentialism which closely mirrors (pig) Beckett’s. Beckettian protagonists are frequently broken, passive, and resigned, unable to affect change on their environments, much like Pig Beckett wasting away in his basement.

if Pig Beckett is in fact named after the writer, it works out to complete a nice symmetry: Susan/Sadie/(Samuel) Beckett — Julian/Jasmine/Jacqueline. SSS —JJJ. this is at least a satisfying pattern, if not definitive proof.

in my eyes, Beckett is almost certainly named after Samuel Beckett. this got me thinking about another writer whose work really reminds me a lot of Three Houses, one whose name i initially dismissed as a coincidence when the connections jumped out to me on my first or second listen. but knowing dave malloy, and after making the Beckett connection, i realized i shouldn’t be so sure there wasn’t a larger pattern to uncover…

that writer is cultural critic Susan Stewart, author of a favorite book of mine, On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. this book explores how collections and souvenirs function as “containers” for nostalgia. Stewart argues that nostalgia is a narrative we project onto the past—a narrative that serves an ideological purpose and against which we construct our identities. and, Stewart argues, the act of collecting, categorizing, and displaying objects is one of the main ways we construct and maintain that narrative.

the way Susan obsessively curates and “excavates” her Grandmama’s possessions encapsulates this impulse. she turns every book, every knick-knack, every piece of furniture, into a souvenir of a romanticized past, of her family history and her grandmama’s life as she imagines it.

Stewart explains this desire: “The souvenir distinguishes experiences. We do not need or desire souvenirs of events that are repeatable. Rather we need and desire souvenirs of events that are reportable, events whose materiality has escaped us, events that thereby exist only through the invention of narrative.”

susan’s souvenirs aren’t reminders of things she remembers; they’re placeholders for things she never lived, events that “exist only through the invention of narrative.” her entire sense of self is built around this invention, her obsession with turning a ghostly, incomplete history into something tangible and legible—something she can cleanly define herself within or against.

Stewart discusses souvenirs and collections (and books!) as “miniatures”, which she uses to mean anything which creates for its user/reader a “self-contained world”, a kind of immersive, all-encompassing narrative. crucially, these miniature worlds are inherently fictive—idealized reconstructions, just as a physical miniature (or a digital miniature *cough cough* Sadie) is a reconstruction of a real object, but is not that object itself, no matter how high-fidelity it is. nostalgia works the same way: its narrative acts as an idealized “miniature” of the past, even a past never actually lived.

Stewart also paints the countryside as the landscape of nostalgia, and of retrospect. the rural landscape is thought of as static, unchanging, a witness to the past (“the birch trees stand like ghosts”). on a more metaphorical level, just as the past is infinitely knowable (through research, excavation, and myth-making), the countryside is infinitely visible, stretching out before us, “maplike” in contrast to the shifting, unpredictable vantage points of a pedestrian in a city (making the city the uncertain landscape of the future, according to Stewart)

susan’s mythologizing of her family history—her obsessive engagement with grandmama’s objects as souvenirs of a grand, moralistic narrative—is a near-perfect depiction of what susan stewart describes in On Longing. and the eventual collapse of the secure identity that narrative provided her is precisely what Stewart warns can happen when nostalgia becomes more real to us than reality—when it moves beyond its utility as a tool for connection and understanding and transforms into a deep, intrinsically insatiable pit of longing.

so finally, of course I’m thinking: “for this theory to hold weight, there has to be a writer that matches Sadie”

and i’m pretty sure there is!

Sadie Plant is a philosopher and theorist associated with the cyberfeminism movement. One of Plant’s key focuses is the ways in which virtual spaces empower users—particularly women—to exert control they lack or are barred from IRL. this aligns directly with sadie’s desire to control her digital village as her real-life routine spirals into disarray.

in Zeroes + Ones: Digital Women and the New Technoculture (1997), she analyzes the deeply immersive and compulsive relationship between humans and technology, exploring how digital information systems become entangled with and reshape human behavior.

Plant describes this digital rewiring in a 1999 interview with San Jose State’s research journal Switch: “There are many historical and functional parallels between drugs and software - both are difficult to detect and, just as data is moved around the Net, these communicating chemicals shuffle information through the neural system. And they can also ‘change the operating system’”

I think the parallels to Sadie’s compulsive engagement with her game world are clear: the way her way of thinking and existing (her ‘operating system’) becomes compulsively enmeshed with the game’s logic, her cognition and neurological reward systems subsumed by the comforting simplicity of a cleanly-ordered system (“sometimes it feels like half of me is missing”). it feels in line with (or perhaps like a darker extension of) Plant’s ideas.

So to sum up the theory:

Beckett is named after Samuel Beckett

Susan is named after Susan Stewart

Sadie is named after Sadie Plant

This could very well just be the result of coincidence, wishful thinking, and overactive autistic pattern recognition, but I’m convinced I’m onto something…

it’s compelling just how closely each house seems to align with the central themes and messages in its corresponding author’s work — and possibly even the author themself. Susan’s romantic, ecstatic, cascading sensory descriptions, laden with metaphor and simile (“the air is latticed with birds”) remind me a lot of Susan Stewart’s famously dense, intellectual, and poetic prose. as a cultural critic, Susan Stewart, like Pig Susan, is an intent analyst, crafter of narrative, and maker of meaning. Pig Beckett’s entire pandemic worldview feels like a distillation of Samuel Beckett’s bleakly existential writings — but also of his life, which was marked by intense privacy, isolation, and mental health struggles including depression and possible alcoholism. and Pig Sadie’s initially unbridled sense of creativity and control within the game world mirrors Sadie Plant’s hyper-optimistic, 1990s utopian view of the transcendental and liberatory potential of computer technology, contrasted with “drifting through the haze” of meaningless, dopamine-maxxing, engagement-baiting content that now makes up so much of our digital spaces.

so I think each author abstractly serves as the backbone of Three Houses’ intellectual understanding of each pig’s flawed approach to healing, but also simultaneously represents the crux of their respective pig’s behavioral patterns, limitations, and cognitive biases. it makes sense that this would be the case when you consider the grandparents’ message; the biases and idiosyncratic cognition of each character both limit them and hold the key to their healing and growth — through “dancing with the wolf” and accepting their own idiosyncrasies the pigs can attain new insight and understanding.

I want to reiterate/disclaim that Susan Stewart is the only one of these writers whose work I’ve actually read outside of research for this post, so if anyone more familiar with any of them wants to jump in with something I missed, i’d love to hear it!

all told, this is just a speculative fan theory which could very well be coincidence. but personally i’m choosing to believe it until proven wrong (which hopefully won’t be in the next few days as dave malloy gradually adds genius annotations lol)

[zedleaked]

YES YES BRUBUCK NATION WANT THE HEADCANNONS!!!!

🎹OK GET READY FOR BIG HEFTY LIST, GO!!! 🦆

Buck’s love languages are physical touch and quality time. Buck is crazy sensitive to touch, only really letting people he trusts to touch him, any sudden touches may cause him to jump and possibly bite someone. He absolutely melts when his feathers are pet or gently caressed by Dave, he can get especially clingy and whiny (which Dave finds very cute).

Nothing beats just spending time with his partner, whether it’s dancing or just hanging about and talking, he drinks in every second he has with Dave. Buck was never really the most liked person, even before his fall into insanity, so spending time with his partner means so much to him, it also leads to him being a little clingy.

Dave’s love languages are quality time and words of affirmation. Dave just loves being around his little spinning wheel (Buck), he loves going on dates, or just being in his auditorium in private. He loves listening to Buck yap about anything, any kind of passionate rambling from anyone makes Dave happy.

Dave loves having his ego fuelled, but compliments and comments from Buck feel especially special. The two of them tend to have very flirty back and forth banter and it drives Dave absolutely crazy.

Tbh the both of them are just really touchy in general. The cuddlers… they also just like having their hands interlocked too, it’s comfy…

The two of them met at a casino/bar Buck frequented at. Dave performed there once and it caught Buck’s attention, so he had approached him and had a drink with him. The two had some playful banter, Buck was getting more tipsy by the minute, and while in his drunken state he made a bet with Dave. “Y’know, if ya make it big out there, I’ll owe you thomethin’, anythin.’” The two of them had held onto that bet and had been pals ever since.

As we know, Dave won that bet, becoming the big star he is. What Buck owed him was a date, and it went pretty well!

The incident involving Buck and Brian had changed Buck quite a bit, and Dave noticed a lot of things wrong. Buck’s speech was more slurred and lispy than before, he laughed more frequently and manically, he was more twitchy, erratic and more sensitive to touch, and all that really bothered Dave for a while. Eventually he comes to adapt to Buck’s changes, cause in the end he’s still the same guy who loves him, and he loves him back of course <3

Buck’s mind is really loud, his thoughts are unhinged and insane and it feels as if there are constant screams in his head. He’s grown used to this but sometimes when he hears Dave’s music or hears him sing it quells his thoughts, makes his mind quieter and makes him feel more sane.

When Buck is feeling especially manic or nervous he tends to laugh crazily. Dave knows when he starts laughing unprompted that something is off, so he tends to play him a tune or just hold him close for comfort. Buck is very responsive to touch, so it calms him quite quickly, his laughter fading as Dave holds him…

Since the two of them started living and sleeping together they have this little ‘ritual’ they do every morning where Dave spins Buck’s slot machine for good luck, especially before a show. Even if they landed on a bust they tried to take it as an opportunity to try extra hard to have a good day.

Sometimes when Buck is feeling anxious or angry he tends to get a little ‘itch’ in his teeth, and it makes him really want to bite something. Most of the time, this ‘something’ turns out to be Dave, which is something Dave had gotten used to (and kind of enjoys??? Erm uh…)

Speaking of biting, Buck REALLY loves showing affection through biting, not even in a sexual way, just in general. Sometimes he just gnaws on Dave’s wrist while they’re cuddling, maybe Dave uses his free arm to pet him as he does so…

Dave stims a lot by tapping his feet and tapping his fingers on stuff. Sometimes he likes to tap his fingers on Buck’s back, Buck really likes the feeling, the rhythmic tapping just feels really calming to him.

Kissing is a little funky as you could probably imagine. Most the time it’s just Buck pressing his beak against Dave’s piano teeth and it makes the both of them giggle like stupid idiots <3

Additionally Dave tries to teach Buck songs with his teeth and it’s really dumb and stupid but they’re having fun <3

Sometimes when the auditorium in the Musical Master of Melody is empty, the two of them just like to slow dance on the stage.

The two of them love to dance… surprisingly, Buck especially loves dance, it feels as if Dave is the only one who can really match his weird erratic moves.

Ok mini High Roller section:

I like to think they accidentally formed High Roller by being really intimate, just suddenly, huh… we’re something… different

When they first formed into High Roller the first thing they did was look in the mirror and point finger guns toward it and said ‘Lookin’ good!’

In addition to that, High Roller just likes looking at herself in general

Sounds kinda odd but High Roller really likes to hold and hug himself, it’s like Buck and Dave trying to show love to each other still despite being the same guy now

Buck’s loud thoughts are also quelled when fused with Dave, it also gives Dave an idea of what Buck is going through

OK THATS ALL THE ONES I'M WILLING TO SHARE [FOR NOW...]

[dingodad]

What is the deal with the beta and alpha kids ghosts in Terezi remem8er? When their main bodies die, their souls just go into their dream body/god tier body, so their dead bodies shouldn’t have specific ghosts. I get how dreamselves have ghosts since when the main consciousness takes over the dream body, the original soul dies, but there should be no soul left inside of the main body of the kids if they ascended. As far as I know, this flash is the only one that shows ghosts of the dead bodies of characters? Every time a character dies, is there just a ghost made of them no matter what? Do souls just not work that way in homestuck?

Remem8er is a moment in the comic i prefer not to think about most of the time because of these exact insane implications but I think the best way to frame those implications in a way that expands our understanding of the rest of Homestuck rather than coming across as a crazy last-minute twist is to think of the ghosts in the dream bubbles not as "souls" as we might traditionally understand them, but as "memories".

like, obviously the point of the entire flash is "Remem8er"ing, so any understanding of the events in the animation should stem from that. but we ourselves also have to remember that these structures we think of as an 'afterlife' are first and foremost "dream" bubbles. and while we tend to think of ghosts and memory projections as two distinctly different things in the dream bubbles, they're not without their overlap; remember that psychics like Aradia and Sollux interacted with and even summoned the shades of the dead all the time before they ever visited the dream bubbles, and there are subtle implications that interacting with a memory of an event can have some real impact on how that event plays out.

the "soul" as it is exists in Homestuck is something that can be "splintered" by a mere thought - the Brain Ghost Dirk has its own ghostly existence, but it's really just Jake's 'interpretation' of Dirk, and Hal and Dave's bro are all just different kinds of interpretation of the same character. and this is basically how the things we see in Remem8er are framed; the animation ends with everything flashing by in a neuron, because it was all a visualisation of Terezi's Mind powers, and Mind is an aspect that deals not with facts of physics (like 'you only get one soul') but with the way our own interpretation of events dictates reality - as quoted in the link above, reality isn't something that happens to you but "SOM3TH1NG [you] 4R3 M4K1NG 3V3RY MOM3NT W1TH 3V3RY THOUGHT".

as I've said before, as Homestuck approaches its conclusion and the shape of the Ultimate Self begins to emerge from the fog, the comic starts to introduce more and more of these different kinds of 'interpretation' - first doomed timeline versions, then post-scratch versions, then post-retcon versions - not because it wants you to keep track of them all as if they were different characters, but because it wants you to get the picture that no matter what permutations you make they are all ultimately the SAME character. I once talked to someone who suggested Remem8er was SUPPOSED to be some kind of shocking twist that forced us to deal with the gravity of death in Homestuck in a way we had previously been ignorant to, but I don't think this could be further from the truth: Remem8er puts importance on these deaths precisely because they are NOT moments of grave severity, but stepping stones in the journey the characters took to become who they are now. after all, "Remem8ering" is not mourning something you lost, but accepting that something has always been part of you, even when you weren't aware of it.

so to actually answer your question: yes... as hard as that might be to accept initially, i guess it does make a ghost every time you die even if you get reborn afterward? but like Terezi points out, we make new memories and therefore new ghosts any time we make any decision that affects the world around us. don't think of the soul or pieces of the soul as something you lose to the void every time a new ghost of you is born into the void, but rather as one huge picture that gets sharper as each new ghost takes the place of a new pixel in the image!

[pacificwaternymph]

Aaaaand everyone give it up for WASTED POTENTIAL

Season finale spoilers under the cut

Okay. I'll be honest. The finale was... not what I was hoping for.

I tried so hard to remain optimistic. I truly believed they could pull it all together and everything was going to have a satisfying conclusion. But I guess that's my fault. I set my expectations too high.

Is this about Tech? Primarily, yes. Yes it was. I am so disappointed. And you can make fun of me all you want but I genuinely believed, with all my heart, that CX-2 was Tech.

BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK ELSE WAS THERE SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON HIM

There was so much to suggest that CX-2 was somebody we knew. We spent so much time on him, suffered through so many completely unnecessary, in hindsight, close up shots and random pieces of episodes that focus on him, only for him to get javelined through the middle in the span of half a second.

It feels like the writers were just making fun of the viewers, at this point. Haha, can you believe they actually thought?

Yes, we did think! Did you?

Tech's death was so... unconvincing. They didn't even try. Not only was his life "cut short" in the midst of his character development, said death was caused by falling, without any other kind of injury, while we watch him disappear into the clouds. And then we see no body and only have his broken goggles as "evidence" of his death. What the hell else were we supposed to assume?

That's not even bringing up that Tech gets maybe three mentions all throughout the entire season. The show never touches on how the death of one of their squadmates, people they have known since birth, affects the batch. Not once do they ever say out loud that Tech is dead until the fucking finale.

This isn't just me reading too closely between the lines. This is genuinely bad writing. It's loading chekhov's gun and then refusing to shoot it.

Even if CX-2 wasn't Tech, or even somebody we knew, the way he is treated suggests that he was supposed to be important. He was supposed to be be relevant. And now, he's neither!

Furthermore, where fuck was everybody? Where was Rex with the reinforcements to storm the base? Where was Wolffe deciding he didn't want anything to do with the Empire anymore? Where was Cody? Where was Phee in all of this?

Where was Cid? So we're just... not going to get any kind of closure for that? We spend two entire seasons with her, then she just betrays them and we never see her again? Even if they didn't redeem her, that feels like pretty damn bold move.

The Zillo beast does... barely anything. Really? It just breaks out and moves away from the biggest source of energy it will ever find after causing the slightest amount of property damage to two rooms, and storms off into the woods, and that's all we get? Seriously?

And then once we get to the time jump... Echo's gone. Again. Either still off with Rex, if he hasn't gone into hiding yet, or died off screen. Neither is a good nor satisfying ending for his character. But I guess shouldn't be surprised by that. When have the writers ever cared about Echo?

The biggest problem with the whole thing is that it didn't feel like a finale. It felt like a normal episode, just slightly longer. The Bad Batch returned to Pabu, because I guess there are no consequences from the Batch being discovered there before and the empire decided that they were just going to... leave it alone, and everything returns to the status quo. That's not what a finale does, Dave.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. There were parts that I enjoyed. I'm glad Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair got their happy endings. Seeing Omega all grown up really did something to my heart. But overall I am just so frustrated.

[penultimatefan02]

The Pen Dillema in the Outback

(an opinion)

A while ago I left the Eufala Outback because of a shift in tone within the discussions surrounding Pen. Using the word narcissist (or any combination of) to describe Pen or his actions started to become taboo. A few users were guilted into apologizing for their offense, me included.

What did I write that was so offensive? I quoted Dave, Pen's writer, to defend using the word narcissist as a descriptor. My comment wasn’t about me, or my preferences, it was about defending those who have a valid perspective on such a divisive character.

Then I got hit with negativity and I caved. I apologized for being insensitive. What faced my apology was a wall of users telling me how wrong using the word narcissist was and how anyone who uses it should feel bad about themselves (gist, not wfw). The pack basically told me to sit down, face the corner, and reflect in shame.

I left instead.

The Eufala, at present, is not a healthy or safe space for Pen fans. Users have thrown their personal trauma onto the group to carry. They armchair diagnose him and declare their opinion fact. They berate users who refer to Pen in a way they don’t like by using guilt as a weapon. It all became very personal with way too many eggshells being tossed out to navigate. It felt manipulative, and ego driven.

If the Eufala Outback is a safe space for Pen fans, it should be safe for those who see him as narcissistic and flawed but with potential for growth. It should be safe for those who only see Pen in the negative if they are kind. It should be safe for those who wear rose-colored glasses. It should also be ok to describe Pen as a narcissist.

Pen IS divisive. His fans and his haters are also going to be divisive. It’s part of why the character is such an interesting topic. There is a huge difference between healthy discourse and using the good nature of others to manipulate Pen’s narrative to a group’s own liking.

Merriam-Webster defines a narcissist as follows:

an individual showing symptoms of or affected by narcissism, such as

an extremely self-centered person who has an exaggerated sense of self-importance

a person affected with narcissistic personality disorder

a person who is overly concerned with his or her physical appearance

If someone describes Pen as such, they are not attacking anyone personally. They are simply calling an apple an apple instead of using a hundred words. It’s not in any way a slight on a real person or their history. To think so, is maybe taking a step too far in their own entitlement. We are discussing a fictional cartoon character, so let's keep our wits about us.

Every person should self-regulate their reactions to external triggers. What some users in the Eufala are doing is controlling others as to not be triggered. That’s toxic. If a commonly used descriptor is so offensive, skip it, but don't try to control the person who used it.

Hopefully, the tone will shift back to normal soon and healthy discourse will be had again but right now, it’s too controlled by those who diminish the character that Pathea created by forcing others into the group’s, not the game’s, narrative.

Peace out.

Also, thank you to the one person who reached out to apologize. It was thoughtful and I’m grateful the situation was acknowledged.

[tenaciouschronicler]

April 2 2025 2010

Update thoughts and timeline theories

------------

what the fuck

Ive made it no secret that I love 180 turns from serious to goofy but having a 180 turn from goofy to tragically serious? Bad.

Lil Cal is awful. Awful to look at and just in general. Ive got a feeling he couldnt help at least sharing some information due to Sburbs influence but Im almost positive just to fuck with Dave he managed to share only the barest minimum. And then just spent the last four months laughing at Dave. Imagine having to deal with that thing for four months.

Rose and Dave are the last remaining two of their timeline. Yeah, this line got cut short due to Gallows' meddling leading to Johns death. I knew something bad was bound to happen but knowing underleveled John died... well that really pulled the rug out from under me. Rose and Dave lost communication with Jade and the trolls, Jade likely falling to the meteor without a server player and the trolls just inexplicably vanishing.

Rose and Dave have tried over the months to progress the game themselves, but even at this stage are having difficulty fighting their Denizens. The only thing Dave can think of is rewinding to before John naively followed Gallows to his death. But even that is not without caution. While I understand Daves perspective, Rose is also valid in her fears of what happens next.

TT: After you go, what do you think will happen to me? [...]

TT: Will I exist?

TT: Is there a chance it'll continue to exist, and I'll just be here alone forever?

TT: I'm not sure which outcome is more unsettling.

We got a taste of timeline shenanigans back in the intermission and while it was played for laughs, we can now see the greater implication of altering it. Its such the norm for the Felt and Midnight Crew that Slick and Droog debate Stitch's death where Droog counts it invalid because the main timelines Stitch is still alive. So does that mean Rose is likely so be alive and alone until she dies? Regardless of if she can reach her past self or not?

Think of this doomed timeline as being the timeline where Slick is dead. We dont know if the Felt exist here, though its implied because there is no town, but it is still a timeline that exists. Just because the Felt and MC dont exist there doesnt mean the timeline itself doesnt. It continues regardless of if You think it does or not. Now the difference is the intermission timelines are parallel, showing an outcome that branched at Slick dying or living. Where as here, Dave is rewinding to a previous point on the same timeline, so that does add a different variable. Plus Dave hypothesizes 'our dream selves kind of operate outside the normal time continuum i think /so if part of you from this timelines going to persist thats probably the way to make it happen'. Which, for simplifications sake, would make the dream realm another timeline.

So. We dont have the full grasp of how dream selves work just yet but with this info it seems like they are similar but seperate from the physical self. One could potentially exist without the other, if Rose manages to persist after the timeline wipe, but there is importance placed on having the dream self 'awaken' and both existing. Perhaps thats how the time loops the Exiles go though become affected? Because the exiles are existing at the same 'time' on the 'same' locations as the kids (ie. Earth and Prospit) just at different points of each respective story (ie past and future).... and now that Ive written that down I feel like Ive just come closer to solving a riddle.

Introspection aside (and added to the list of things to write about), we get the final tidbit that Rose and Dave are indeed on the same planet and that Dave is already awake, just unaware. With a final farewell tinged with apprehension, fear and love, Dave Rewinds.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

could you please do an analysis on the sylph of time?

Sylphs and their enabling ways <3

class = character arc and aspect = base personality traits

Sylphs are the passive counterpart to Witches, and, like Witches, their powerset revolves around "changing" their world. Where a Witch manipulates what's already there, a Sylph's ability to change something is additive - they grant it more of their own Aspect. Thus, their powers most commonly manifest as healing or buffs, and Sylphs are, by nature, quite nurturing individuals. Both Kanaya and Aranea share this trait - Kanaya is well-known for her "mothering" tendencies, which Hussie outright comments on in the book commentaries, while Aranea is constantly offering to heal people, and when she flies off the handle, it's in a misguided attempt to nurture/heal the timeline into the new alpha timeline.

However, this naturally caring disposition comes with two caveats: the first is that Sylphs pick and choose their favorites, and if you aren't in the Sylph's good books, then you're functionally worthless to them. Sylphs represent a dichotomy of kindness and cruelty. There are those that they can't help but lavish attention and kindness onto, and they don't really care whose cost it comes at. This ties into the second major caveat: that Sylphs are massive enablers. They're naturally drawn toward strong personalities, and they can even be pretty pushy in their pursuit of these personalities' attention and affection.

You see this cruelty in both Kanaya and Aranea, though Aranea's a bit more obvious about it. She actively mocks people on her team that she doesn't like - she makes fun of Latula's inability to smell and Cronus's belief in wizards and magic (basically his only positive trait), and is shockingly callous towards Damara - even going so far as to thank her for her role in the Scratch, saying they all got to "live out their wildest dreams" on Alternia, even though most of her teammates suffered horribly and died in awful ways, ESPECIALLY Damara. Kanaya's tendencies in this regard are a lot less obvious, but, for example, she actively mocks and bullies Eridan to his face - to the point that this is how she flirts with Rose. There's also the matter of actively trying to kill Gamzee while he's still Karkat's moirail - and while Gamzee may have earned it, the fact that she apparently wants to do so even without accounting for Karkat's feelings on the matter (which are obviously "don't kill my moirail") still speaks to the Sylph's tendency to simply not give a shit about the feelings of others. And that isn't even touching on the way that Kanaya specifically seems to help Tavros along just so Vriska - whom she has a red crush on at the time - has a chew toy to play with.

Aranea is also incredibly guilty of this. She pretty clearly has feelings for Meenah in one way or another, and constantly downplays Meenah's bullying and cruelty. In her, we see a Sylph at their worst - entirely self-serving, they strive to fill their world only with things they like, treating others as props or toys that exist either for their pleasure and amusement, or to be discarded as unpleasant or unworthy. Their worldview is fundamentally selfish and ego-driven, masked by the Sylph's "nurturing" nature. They're usually not directly the problem, but they exacerbate existing problems if they aren't challenged and forced to grow beyond this childish mindset. Once they do, however, they're able to apply that powerful ability to heal and nurture where it's most needed, providing a safe haven for the party to retreat to and the ultimate supportive power in everyone's growth and actualization.

Time players, on the other hand, are driven and persistent. Time is associated with struggle, goal-orientedness, minutiae, details, tasks, processes, entropy, and, of course, time itself. Time players are the grand taskmasters of the game, and all four of our time players show this attentive, determined nature - for all Dave's disaffected coolguy persona, he's the one who pays the most attention to what's going on, remembering all of karkat's rants even as he makes fun of John for caring, and picking up on subtle hints about his destiny to kill LE. When we see him on the meteor, he's almost never idle, practically always working on his "art" somehow, even as he's spiraling into despair. Aradia is also the first person to make mention of some conspiracy she feels is hanging overhead, and it's implied that she's been incredibly busy behind the scenes doing LE's dark bidding at the behest of the Handmaid - Damara herself also working tirelessly to sabotage her timeline in order to bring about LE and his reckoning on her team. And what does Caliborn have if not persistence? Dirk calls him out for paying more attention to his sister's SBURB rambling than he pretends to.

At a toxic overabundance of their aspect, Time players can grow frustrated and destructive, spinning their wheels in overdrive in such a way that they begin to damage the structure they belong to. Damara is the greatest example of this, her rampage being so thorough and so absolute, but Aradia's violent and futile anger when given emotions back in her robot form after dying stick out as well; Caliborn, too, became so impatient that he killed his own sister, stunting his own growth and turning his game into a void session. Time players may also burn out entirely - they can easily become so overwhelmed by their perceived duties and a sense of futility that they lose track of the bigger picture (all the worse because Time players tend to lack Space's grasp on interconnectivity, and feel the need to take burdens on alone), and choose to detach entirely - a refusal to act that resembles Space's passivity. Time players have a tendency to flounder when they have nothing to work towards, and must learn to give themselves space and permission to breathe, reorient, and ask for help.

So a Sylph of Time takes form. I see them as something of a life coach, combining Sylphs' nurturing natures and Time's focus on task completion. They probably enjoy making to-do lists for people, and perceive themselves as someone who helps others be their best selves by boosting everyone's overall productivity.

The kind of person the Sylph is drawn to is not necessarily one that aligns well with their Aspect, or even one that appreciates their meddling. In fact, given the Sylph's fascination with strong personalities, and a Time player's focus on struggle and perseverance, it's very likely for them to be drawn to someone dangerous and unstable, who outright dislikes the Sylph's interference. In a more malignant case, I wouldn't even be surprised if the Sylph of Time's method of lavishing attention onto somebody is to deliberately make life more difficult for them - to throw them into challenges and watch them deal with them. Time, after all, has associations with struggle, destruction, and entropy, and Sylphs are naturally callous.

In this way, a Sylph of Time is more naturally prone to directly making the situation worse for everyone. Under the guise of helping others achieve greater heights, they'll deliberately engender difficult situations that could have been avoided. They may drive people to productivity of such levels that people start to burn out. As Homestuck has a soft magic system, the specific form of their abilities and influence depends heavily on the work they're in, but this is the overall "vibe" that this class would entail.

That being said, if the Sylph is properly confronted on their poor tendencies, and realizes how bad an influence they've been, the Sylph of Time could become a powerful actual agent of productivity and efficiency. Their abilities let them buff or heal others via their Aspect; in the case of Time, some potential applications that stand out to me are: closing wounds by fast-forwarding them or rewinding to before the wound was inflicted; granting their teammates a buff that slows down time around them, letting them do much more in a shorter period of time; granting a teammate some of Time's attention to detail, letting them view some past event in their lives with Time's clarity, in order to reach some grand new epiphany.

Every Class and every Aspect has the potential for great harm or great benefit. Hope this was interesting!

[valentinetypewriter]

Things I did and didn't like about The Umbrella Academy season 4

warning spoilers under the cut

Things I did like

Confirmation that Ben and Viktor were close as children, it was nice seeing someone in his family treating him nicely

The entire concept of the timeline subway, I do think it's a very interesting concept

Diego and Lila's daughter being named Grace, especially because Diego seemed the closest to their mother

Klaus helping out alison taking care of Claire when she can't

Lila having a new power, because I hated her old power, it just felt very Mary Sue

The references to season 1 episode 1 in the last episode (Reginald's speech and the music)

Klaus being a total germaphobe, I like the over cautious behaviour now that he can die

Small details, like Klaus writing on his hand the word stop where his Tattoo used to be

I also enjoyed the references made to the comics, like the mask that temp agents wear being in Gene and Jean's barn. I think the photo of them saving paris/the Eiffel tower is a reference to the comic where the tower is a mech for Zombie robot Gustave Eiffel

A lot of what happens to Klaus is very similar to that of the comics, like his situation with the drug dealer is what he's doing in the first comic, also now being able to levitate as well.

Things I didn't like

Just fyi a cute little end sequence isn't going to distract anyone from it being bad

The first thing Klaus took from that box was Dave’s dog tags and they just don’t talk about it. Nor mention it at all again

After getting his powers back, luther's body changed again, I don't like this as his body isn't affected by his powers, it was caused by being injected with a serum to save him

Viktor has trouble committing to relationships and this problem is not further elaborated upon. Like what was the point of showing that

Also Ray’s abandonment is never actually discussed, but I guess it's consistent that Alison can't keep a stable relationship. But seriously she betrays her family and let's Reginald kill Luther, just to have this man in her life and she loses him and no one mentions it

Lila and Diego are not content with family life and an unnecessary love triangle is formed between them and Five. I feel like they certainly butchered a lot of the characters in this season

Five out of all people, who constantly risked his own life trying to get back to his family multiple times suddenly ignores and hides a way to get back to them, because now all of a sudden he has a thing for his brother's wife???

In season 2 Diego makes a bracelet in the mental hospital for Lila she ends up wearing it the entire time throughout the season, only losing it when she gets shot. Diego picks it up and keeps it with him, when he finds her again in season 3 he gives it back to her, which she then wears for the rest of the show. But in season 4 suddenly she hates bracelets, trading one her got for her for a fucking vacuum.

Klaus is the only sibling who dies without knowing how the Original Ben (his ben, his best friend) died

It kind of went downhill after episode 5, like there were a few things I disliked but nothing that outright made me hate this season. But the way they managed to massacre 2 good characters that had an enjoyable platonic relationship is astounding

Five spends the last three seasons, trying to save everyone, mostly trying to save his family he spent 60 odd years trying to get back just to become a home wrecker in the end

I don't think Lila and Five had a genuine connection the way Lila and Diego did, I feel like they were just lonely and desperate after 7 years.

Lila despite having laser eyes, suddenly being able to copy powers again in the last episode despite not doing it at all nor showing any sign of being able to do that

ABIGAIL >:[

They never ended up explaining why the fuck Jeniffer was found inside a giant squid, its mentioned quite A bit, and even gets shown multiple times, but there's no reason or meaning for it.

[yanderes-galore]

Hello!! I'd like to request a Scenario/Short going off of the Bro Strider x Reader Headcanons you did, if that's alright! Same as last time, where reader (GenderNeutral) is liked by Dave as well and Bro feels Romantic feelings for them. (I do like to think Bro is the type to kidnap reader, if that helps for an idea BUT if you'd prefer not to involve that, that's OK!!)

Thank you so much for the opening!! /pos - dirk anon

Hm... I can see what I can do, sure. Bro is called Dirk in this.

Puppet Master

Yandere! Bro Strider Short

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Post Kidnapping plot, Isolation, Toxic behavior/relationship, Manipulation, Possessive behavior, Dave is used to manipulate you, Toxic parenting, Neglect mentioned, Stockholm syndrome mentioned, Forced relationship.

Your encounters with the Striders started simple. For a long while you knew Dirk and Dave through a babysitting job. You were hired a few times to tutor Dave and watch him.

Your impressions of Dirk were that he was rather stoic and quiet. He never showed any emotions around you or Dave. It felt a bit uncanny to you.

All you really knew about Dirk was he was the guardian of Dave. He seemed obsessed with swords and puppets. Plus... you didn't really see him as all that affectionate.

You got along with Dave, his younger brother, more. You saw him as a sibling of your own, maybe even a kid. In your eyes Dave is a very good kid despite his upbringing.

Dave always looked forward to seeing you. You were always a breath of fresh air for him. Your kind words were better than the cold attitude Bro gave him.

Dave was not the only one who liked you.

Dirk, as cold as he is in this iteration, began to be obsessive towards you. It got to the point he used subtle manipulation to keep you around the apartment longer. After all... Dave likes you around.

Poor you never saw it coming.

Before you knew it Dirk had you in his grasp. You kept falling for his tactics... small promises of paying you more or even the fact Dave didn't want you to leave. You had no idea Dirk was just being selfish.

Right up until he locked you away.

Soon all you know is being at the apartment with Dirk and Dave. Most of the time you're confined to Dirk's room or even somewhere else entirely. The doors and windows are always locked... he doesn't care if you take up a sword against him.

He already knows he has enough control over you.

You begin to loathe Dirk and lean more towards Dave for comfort. You hide such a fact in fear that Dirk will isolate you even more. By now you know the truth of Dirk.

No wonder Dave liked you more.

Like an adorable doll or puppet Dirk controls you. He breaks you down to make you his own. With him and Dave being the only contact you have it isn't hard.

Dirk feeds you and takes care of you but you see little affection. He's obsessive over you but he doesn't seem to provide any good aspects of a relationship. He just seems to claim you as his... that's it.

A puppet... a doll... something/someone he can manipulate for his own comfort. Soon you begin to feel like you're losing your own autonomy. The answer to that is simple...

You are.

Dave is the only one that keeps you intact. You try to treat him as you did before. While you are slowly worn down by Dirk... Dave makes you feel like you can tolerate it all.

However... you fear when Dirk will find out.

If Dirk finds out he will prevent interaction between you two. You want to leave Dirk's grasp... but can't do it without fearing for Dirk. You simultaneously bring out the best and worst of Dirk.

No one's going to save you. You lost count of how long you're here with Dirk but you feel it's been awhile. Soon... Dirk even begins to act kinder as you've given in.

There's less cold neglect. He still says nearly nothing but certainly shows more warmth. You feel like... you're making things better.

So if being here makes life better for you and Dave...

Maybe you should reciprocate just a little bit for Dirk, hm?

Or is this all just another trick set up by the puppeteer himself?

[mimikyu-oli]

William got the bright idea to use Faz-goo to heal his youngest son's head trauma. 🙂

It's pretty instant and Michael is none the wiser.

The boy only have a faded scar on his face but no actual damages.

MCI happen and Michael's protectiveness is kicking.

And then, Elizabeth disapear and he start to freak out when his brother isn't in sight.

It takes some times (and support from Jeremy), but he get through it.

The bite of 87 happen.

William is like "Good ridance! One less pest to deal with!".

But then he saw the look of devastation on Michael and the father instinct kick.

William: Well, if it worked the first time.

---

These goo-entities genuinely think they are the original person.

They don't know they are clones.

Until Circus Baby Entertainment and Rental.

Then it's a literal existential crisis happening.

Michael: Evan is goo!

Jeremy is goo!

Does everyone I know are goo!?

Michael: Am I goo TOO!?

👁_👁

---

Existential crisis power 3.

Supprisingly, Evan is the one who is the less affected.

Or more like he shows it less, but he's still upset about it and doesn't want to burden his brothers when they are clearly overwhelmed by it.

Meanwhile, William, since day one, is:

Stage 1) This is the "What makes someone a person?" and "Is it still the same?" dilemma.

Stage 2) This is not my son.

This is just a replic of him.

Stage 3) My oldest love a bunch of goo. What a weird one.

I'm going to go away from him.

He's old enough to deal with his problems and his goo pet.

Stage 4) Bloody hell! My son love a dying man.

I'm going to do him a favor.

But he's also:

Look! Evan!

Your brother replaced you.

Look how nice he is to it.

Do you feel... angry?

Betrayed?

(He is talking to a gooeyfied Evan possessing a little animatronic bear.)

Evan is feeling self-deprecating.

William: Shite.

My son is pathetic.

---

[It's the idea of the person and the goo are exchanging places. And William, knowing it because of all his experimentations on rats (and Evan is the first human guinea pig.), takes the goo and put it in some kind of jar/core he put in the bear. (Same concept as in spirit possessing things but with goo. And it's like putting a battery in a toy.)

Although, I don't know what he does with Jeremy yet. 🤔 (He's not throwing him away.)]

---

So yeah, Michael is in a state of "they are not them, but they also are."

It's a bit easier with his brother since years has pass, but with Jeremy...

Well, it's either a year or a few months since the bite for him.

---

Michael and Jiji: 18 in 1987.

Evan: 5 years younger. 13 in 1987.

AND THEY ARE ROOMATES!!!!

---

Evan (Or Goo-Evan) see Jeremy as an older brother.

It's kind of ironic after the later is switched and then discover it.

No one knows what to think nor understand after that happen.

---

Goo-Jeremy wake up while William was collecting the gooeyfied Jiji and asked himself "What is Dave doing here?".

He pretends to be asleep until the man is out of the room.

Some times later (around a few months to a year or two), Michael goes in Circus Baby Entertainment and Rental and find some files he brings with him. (Since he has peoples waiting for him at home, he goes right instead of left. And spend a joyfull night with Ennard.)

---

Reaction of the reveal:

Jeremy: Panic attack caused by an heavy existential chrisis and the fear of being left by Michael.

Michael: He's dealing with the same dilemma as his father in 83 and trying to calm down Jiji. (With a sprinkle of existancial chrisis too.)

Evan: Frozen in place while staring at the situation happening right in front of him.

[homestuckreplay]

get dave strider a home cooked meal 2k09

(page 587-606)

9/5/2009 Wheel Spin: Parent Bad :( Verdict: Brother Committing Puppet Crimes (And Real Crimes)

9/6/2009 Wheel Spin: being silly :3c Verdict: Silliness Gone Too Far

Homestuck loves to slowly dispense information about a character’s guardian and the relationship between the pair long before said guardian actually makes an appearance. I kind of love it. It’s like hearing stories about a friend’s parents for months at school before going to their house one day and actually meeting these long fabled adults. In Homestuck, it gives these characters a lot of power as they have so much influence over the characters without even being around, it makes them mysterious in the ways that the lives of adults often are to younger people, and it adds another thing to look forward to in the story, another reason to keep coming back and reading the new pages every day.

John’s dad’s car was seen on p.29 – presumably with Dad inside – and Dad was visually seen on p.79 via a portrait on the wall, before showing up for real on p.88. Rose’s mom was seen in silhouette on p.231, but it took until p.388 to actually meet her. Dave’s bro’s appearance was actually foreshadowed on p.456, as he uses his baseball cap and triangular glasses as a lock screen, and again on p.587 with the baseball cap collection, and we get his full silhouette on p.592 where he REALLY looks like a guy with a skateboard. It could be a long time before we see him in detail, but given that Dad and Mom were both revealed during a Strife sequence with their kids, I’d guess that the same will be true for Bro.

But honestly, Bro continues to get worse and more sinister. It’s explicitly confirmed on p.595 that Dave isn’t able to put food in the kitchen, which puts a whole new spin on how excited Dave got about finding the apple juice in his closet (p.320) – that could be the first thing he’s had to drink all day. And depending on how often he’s able to leave the house, he probably lives mostly on snacks, maybe takeout since I imagine that’s how Bro eats. It’s gotta be affecting Dave’s health. No wonder he’s such an asshole.

Dave slicing a puppet’s snout off with a sword and putting it down the garbage disposal hurt me too because I get that Dave is doing this out of anger and fear, but his bro is absolutely provoking him into it, he’s obviously got more cameras pointed at all these setups ready to make more content for PlushRump. The line ‘Besides, it's not like your BRO is around to see.’ on p.591 definitely feels like an omniscient narrator giving a nod to the reader while still accurately reflecting Dave’s thoughts.

There are things Dave still isn’t getting about his situation. He’s caught in this space where part of him realizes how fucked up his relationship with his bro is and he’s scared, another part of him is reacting by doubling down on how cool he thinks his bro is, and a third part of him is still just oblivious. The internal conflict and the moment to moment uncertainty are very real for an abusive power dynamic in general, and although in the abstract it’s funny to imagine a jumble of shitty swords stored in a fridge, I really can’t laugh at any of this.

Dave’s bro is the first character that I don’t enjoy thinking about, but all this stuff is really important to Dave’s character, so I will watch the first Saw movie and see if that sheds any new light.

On p.587, there’s the line ‘You think if you see one more soft, bulbous bottom being like / kind of jutting out and impudent or whatever / you're gonna fly off the handle.’ This is word for word a set of messages Dave sent Rose on p.522: ‘if i see one more soft bulbous bottom being like / kind of jutting out and impudent or whatever / im gonna fly off the handle’ and is the second time Dave’s narration and pesterlog have been identical, the first being ‘it is like fucking christmas up in here’ referring to an unopened container of apple juice on p.26 and p.320. I don’t recall seeing this for any other characters. It makes Dave feel very unfiltered, like the difference between his thoughts and words is less than for the other characters. But it also feels like the narrator likes him, and is entertained enough by his words to replicate them exactly, like he’s god’s favorite.

Finally, I had a revelation that Rose should be the one using hash map. It’s the perfect modus for someone who wants to expand their vocabulary and show off all the weird words they already know. I bet Rose could get so creative with item names. Instead of a PLUSH CUDDLE CTHULHU (1) she could knit a FLOCCULENT OTHERWORLDLY AMUSEMENT (also 1 but like, a fancier 1) and she could spend all her time trying to find words that even the sylladex doesn’t know.

[horsesbones]

posting this now because idk if ill ever actually write the entire thing but i had this fucked up idea for a doomed timeline fic where bro strider suffers a seizure on 4/13 before the session shit happens, and wakes up in the hospital after getting a brain tumor removed that was supposedly affecting his personality. since the timeline was doomed cal is empty now, and he thinks lil cal's shit just was him hallucinating. he comes back from the hospital and shows dave his papers/diagnosis and they just kind of. sit there. not really sure what to make of the situation.

[un0riginalc0ntent]

Starting off strong with post-sburb DirkDave because if it ain’t broke don’t fix it right.

It wouldn’t be like an immediate thing especially on Dave’s end, but I think it’s the kind of ‘helping each other’ that melts into holding hands and freudian slips and sharing a bed and oh god it’s a crush.

Dirk first, of course. By the time he starts to get a handle on being a person existing in a populated and notably non-post-apocalyptic world, he’s started to shed the idolization he transferred over from Post Scratch Dave and is seeing more and more just. Dave. A person. A really fucking cool (in the way that matters) person. Dave has more intelligence than he gives himself credit for, he’s incredibly good with his god ability both in practice and in understanding, he’s showing the moves to becoming a healthy person healing from trauma and it’s this example of healthy habits but also this person he can’t help but form an affection for. And Dirk’s an adult now, he’s still fairly limited in experience and his last relationship was a mess, but in the years since the game he’s put in some work to be more conscientious of other people’s desires and decisions, less controlling to get what he wants or what he sees as best for them— especially Dave.

Dave takes longer, Dirk has hard feelings for a while that he keeps under barely contained wraps out of concern he’ll scare Dave off or ruin what they have. It’s a struggle to shed some of the nagging thoughts that Dirk had/has the potential within him to become a person like Bro, and that other’s experiences with him have rocky areas where that fact is more prevalent. It’s guilty, on some level, because Dirk is visibly trying, but there’s a worry in it. The first few years, part of spending time with Dirk is somewhat a process of working out the blurry mental lines between the terrifying visage of Bro and the far more human softness of Dirk. It’s seeing Dirk struggle to adapt to the new, lively setting, sure- but it’s also seeing Dirk talk about movies and his projects, seeing an unguarded and human image of someone with hobbies and emotions. Over time the interest and fascination in Dirk’s hobbies and mannerisms and behaviors becomes an. Affection.

And then they both get to hem and haw about how to proceed while panicking to their friends about the newly discovered absolutely crushing facts of being into one another.