I wondered if you seen the document recently released detailing some of the harassment Hussie and members of the Homestuck team had faced.
So, if you've ever been interested in Homestuck drama, which I largely avoid -- and if you've never heard any of it, no reason for you to dig in the dirt now unless you feel the need to -- this pair of tweets (+ docky and thread) is what they're referring to. A good through-line from the rest of the Homestuck Community Team making sense of some things Andrew had alluded to in the Color Composer post that I'd previously doubted, heavy trigger warnings in general for that too.
I considered being a coward and not addressing this, but this echoes and makes sense of what private sentiments I'd heard from people who would know what was going on inside the various post-Homestuck teams. Put bluntly, I believe in the thrust of it and believe the Homestuck team members who contributed to this. It's a comprehensive effort I believe reflects their heartfelt perspective (and is obviously not AI), and I believe the people it names as dishonest bad-actors are not to be trusted on matters of Homestuck's works or the team. (The document was particularly enlightening regarding C&D notices vs legal takedown requests, and the rash of seemingly fake ones.) My blog isn't a drama blog and I have trust issues regarding who to listen to on this matter, so if you message me about it to argue for one side or another I'm not planning to respond to you. I just felt like y'all deserved to know I'd stopped sitting on the fence, afraid to have (much less express) a strong opinion, even if I'm admittedly afraid of (and uninterested in) arguing about it.
(Not that my believing in something has ever been too strong an indication of it being true. Hah!)
But the biggest reason I opted to respond to this message, and highlight any drama whatsoever on my blog, is that I feel like I've been a part of the problem, intentionally or unintentionally, and I really want to apologize for any grief or stalking my Classpecting crusade has caused anyone on any of the Homestuck teams. I've created an audience at least partially of Classpect zealots, and I wouldn't be surprised if my past behavior encouraged anyone to go too far seeking "answers". And I'm not immune myself (see under the cut). I feel responsible for that, and for letting the lack of healthy psychological boundaries between myself and Homestuck infect others. We all need to remember that this is ultimately just a story, and piling onto those responsible for it demanding certain answers or story directions isn't something we as readers are wholly entitled to do. We CAN just try and trust them to fulfill their promises if they've earned our trust, and then be disappointed if we eventually believe they didn't, without feeling we need to dig answers out of them.
Authors DO have a responsibility to not do foul by their audiences to a certain extent (a responsibility they've sometimes failed, especially with the Epilogues IMO), however I've believed for years (since therapy especially) and continue to believe -- believe -- that the creators of Homestuck content, including Andrew and on forward, have made a sometimes-flawed but fundamentally honest and continually improving effort to do their best by readers and not substantially injure them. I also believe that the current Beyond Canon team has proven itself one of the BEST teams imaginable to cater to the readers, proven that they deeply understand readers' emotional demands of the story, and what will bring joy to the vast majority of them without causing pain to those who emotionally identify closely with the characters. I don't think it's unreasonable to deeply trust the Beyond Canon team to largely not hurt us, and even if they mess up, I don't plan on taking it personally.
More on how I feel personally responsible as I mentioned earlier... Back when the original Homestuck was ongoing, I hung on every word of Andrew Hussie's and even those tangentially connected to the Homestuck project for hints to the Class/Aspect system that I zealously considered the key to understanding the whole story, something Andrew eventually pointed out I (and those like me) had likely gone overboard with in some of the Book Commentary. I was hyperfixated on the system, took the "story that is also a puzzle" deadly seriously, and I'm sure a ton of other people shared my views and crashed right along with me into the ending of Homestuck that ultimately didn't reveal SO many of the answers we had been expecting we'd been owed before the final page. We weren't owed anything by the story; we created expectations Andrew hadn't necessarily intended to nurture. He had a different ending message in mind for the story than us, a message of freedom from all the plot threads I practically worshipped him for keeping so well track of. The fact that I was heartbroken enough to need therapy before coming back to anything Homestuck (EMDR works wonders) shows how much I unhealthily attached myself and my sense of self-worth to what I expected, one-sidedly, out of the story. I was bitter about not getting the answers I wanted, but even more bitter about how I'd thought the author had valued the same things I valued in the story when that didn't turn out to be true, and luckily for everyone else I let that crush me inwardly instead of projecting it outwardly. I'm glad therapy helped me work through that and see the continued works of Homestuck, hopefully, more for what they are than for what I "need" them to be.
I'd like to say I was unrelated to anything detailed in the document, or in Andrew's account of stalkers in the Color Composer post... except I did engage in an instance of something close enough to stalking, once. Decade-plus followers of my blog might remember it, though I'm too embarrassed to link it (and am having trouble finding it besides). I had a Private Message exchange over the MSPA Forums with someone in Andrew's circle at one point, and one of their responses provided what I viewed as some juicy classpect history. So in my hyperfixated excitement, I immediately went to paste screenshots to my tumblr blog and discuss it... without asking if I had any permission to reproduce Private Messages from this person. They messaged me back that they hadn't appreciated what I did, and I quickly apologized and redacted the screenshots from my blog... I recall apologizing pretty profusely, and I also recall them at least appreciating that I'd acted quickly and expressed remorse. But even if I had some degree of forgiveness from them, I don't doubt that I contributed to the atmosphere of being stalked that people in Andrew's circle had to contend with, taken together with all the other people seeking out their every word and hint.
And if **I** made a mistake like that with my intense, emotionally-dependent hyperfixation, I can't imagine how many others I might have inspired to do the same. I can't apologize for that enough.
So please, be reasonable when doing any theory-seeking or classpect-hunting going forward. I'm also newly skeptical of how I've been doing reactions to the Artist and Writer Commentary on Patreon-- while I've made some effort to make sure I don't detail too much of what's sealed behind the paywall to preserve the incentive for folks to pay up to the Homestuck Patreon and see the fun stuff I'm excluding, "making sure I get all the potential theory content" as has been my obsession and the reason I reacted regularly to those posts isn't like... SO goddamn important that I have to be spoiling ANY paid content and potentially depriving Homestuck of funding by reproducing parts of it, y'know? Why does my "need" for early answers override their need to make a living? I've already made the one for this month, but thinking seriously about it now, going forward I may significantly reduce the way I reproduce Patreon content in my Commentary reactions, and perhaps keep things to paraphrasing and actionable bulletpoints in a significantly reduced form. Maybe I'll ask advice from someone anywhere close to the team's circle to see if I've been doing my strictly-partial Commentary reproduction-reactions kosher enough, and if it's fine maybe I'll keep putting in the same amount of elbow grease, but I really don't want to undermine the Homestuck teams in my obsessive search for answers on my silly overanalysis liveblog.
Sorry if this post was a bit of a downer, but as soon as this all started to occur to me last night I realized I had to get some of it off my chest, even if it'd mean harassment going forward. Fundamentally, the biggest reasons I avoided posting about fandom drama were to avoid tainting what I was too emotionally invested in AND even moreso to avoid getting caught in the shotgun-blasts of those who had taken one side or another because I thought I lacked the emotional bandwidth. Maybe I still do, given I'm still unwilling to engage. I'm afraid to be identifiable as a member of a marginalized community, but I can't avoid that forever. Hell, my fears have been reinforced because a dear friend of mine was recently convicted for protesting. I'm a coward who has always lacked the energy and determination to put myself at risk to stand up for what's right, and... I'm probably going to remain that sort of coward for the rest of my life, honestly. But I'm not going to be able to keep out of sight forever if I want to get out there and be myself, and that means that the VERY least I can do is briefly signal boost those who have been living in a position I've always been personally terrified to occupy.
You won't see me drama-post like this often, or like, much of ever really. Unless I really fuck up again and need to apologize for it, which I hope won't be the case of course. Heck, maybe I'm going a little far for apologizing for ages-old sins here, but a broader and more strong-throated apology from me felt overdue, and my chest feels lighter now.
BladekindEyewear's Liveblog of Homestuck^2: FINALLY RESUME
(Previous posts (1, 2, 3) / last story page (407))
> BEYOND CANON
oh god damnit
1N TH3 4LT3RN14N JUST1C3 SYST3M TH3R3 1S NO SUCH TH1NG 4S 4 D3F3NS3 4TTORN3Y, OR 4 D3F3NS3.
I fucking love this cornball comic, it's good to be back. We're jumping from page 407 posted on 12/25/20 to this, page 408, posted on 10/08/23, by the way. Let's continue...
==>
TEREZI: WH3R3 D1D YOU GO ON TH3 N1GHT OF TWO D4YS 4GO FROM WH4T3V3R D4T3 1T 1S TOD4Y
TEREZI: ...
TEREZI: TH3 S1L3NT TR34TM3NT 4G41N, HUH
TEREZI: YOUR HONOR, P3RM1SS1ON TO TR34T TH3 W1TN3SS 4S BOTH MYST3R1OUS 4ND HOST1L3
Are we having a mock trial not-so-subtly over the comic's several year delay or something? (Also I forgot Terezi grew her hair out so much. She did, right? Yep, right.)
Hold on a sec, one of my goddamn plugins is making the site flash between light and dark themed at strobelight speeds like it's trying to give me a seizure and it isn't even my darkreader. Resuming in a few minutes, gotta reboot my browser and seriously plumb the settings...
Okay SO FOR CONTEXT, I left off at what let's just call the Homestuck^2 Gigapause before it traded hands again. I didn't even finish up all the bonus content because I was going through some medical issues. The LAST PAGES I READ of Homestuck^2 were the update where Roxy and Calliope show John some very important device is under a sheet in their secret lab in the Outercanon (Candy) timeline, and an investigation post on The Device that I made asking if there was a Hiveswap connection or some other purpose for it.
WHAT I AM NOT CAUGHT UP ON:
I have not played Chapter 2 of Hiveswap, any of the Pesterquest or Friendsim games, or Psycholonials!!! I have no idea when I'm going to get the energy to get to any of that stuff if ever, but I still might eventually! Send no info or spoilers about Hiveswap, Friendsim, Pesterquest or Psycholonials, please!
I have not finished catching up on the last of the Bonus Content that came out just before they went on pause years ago, and I DO NOT PLAN TO continue bonus content until I am both caught up on Homestuck^2 proper and successfully KEEPING UP with Homestuck^2 blogging because my (non-dangerous but annoying) medical issues might not let me keep pace! Send no info or spoilers about bonus content, please!
To reiterate, I have only read Homestuck^2 up to exactly THIS PAGE! Send no spoilers about anything newer than that, please, I'll get to it!
WHAT I HAVE DISTANTLY HEARD BUT AM STILL VERY NOT SPOILED ON AT ALL, EVEN THOUGH I'VE BEEN STAYING AWAY FROM SPOILERS ASSIDUOUSLY:
Stuff that gives us new classpect info has happened! I don't know what!
I've seen hints of some sort of interactive page or two, with no other details!
I saw possibly-misleading panel-link titles lately called "Vriska: Enter" (just the title) and "Begin Session" (just the title which (again) I have reason to believe is intentionally misleading), and any possible implications of this did not surprise me because of predictions I've already made, which I will detail below! I think there hasn't been enough of Homestuck^2 for such a session to start so those page titles are probably just red herrings, and I may or may not have received indications from friends that they are-- but that doesn't change my opinion that there may VERY WELL BE a new session over in Candy land, kicking off a chain of new universes outside Paradox Space free from Lord English's influence.
BIG THINGS I ALREADY PREDICTED AND/OR EXPECT TO HAPPEN REGARDING HOMESTUCK^2:
It's probably been a while since you've seen my liveblog of Homestuck^2, so here's a quick catchup on my current attitudes towards the themes and outcomes the comic is going for and what exactly I had already assumed or guessed is going to happen:
Vriska is TRYING to start a new Sburb session in the Outercanon (Candy) timeline (the Black Hole outside Paradox Space) where I assume Vrissy, Harry, New Tavros, and Yiffy will be among if not the main players. She's been pretty transparent about that goal, and I'm not sure she'll pull it off QUITE as planned because usually that would mean the death of new Earth C just as they're trying to fix it.
(Although in the Innercanon (Meat) Timeline, the bonus material I've already blogged about implies Jasprosesprite^2 is guiding the likes of Jane Crocker to govern Earth properly by in fact NOT governing Earth-- by actually ceding control of Earth to its new citizens instead of trying to rule over it as President when she's really not right for the job, which is a great way of not overembracing her Maid of Life role and a Good End for her and for Earth C too.)
All of the kid characters (Vrissy, Harry, New Tavros and Yiffy) are written in a way that I believed implies that the authors have Hero Titles in mind for them while writing them, supporting the idea of an eventual session they'd play, though you ought to know from my old theories that it's my longstanding view that even non-players like Carapacians were written as if they could have hero titles themselves (like Prince of Blood for Jack, Heir of Blood for WV, Knight of Breath for PM, Rogue of Doom for CD). I said based on Harry's room and some text hints that Harry Anderson is a lock for a Heart Player for instance, the tailoring and theatre and outfitting-others interests possibly indicating a Page of Heart who helps arm others to exploit the aspect (or was it a Knight who mainly uses those outfits himself? I could have sworn he tailored fashion for others too but I can't remember). Oddly enough, and possibly in recognition of the relationship between Vriska and Terezi, there are serious indications that Vrissy is actually a MIND player in her actions, dialogue, and even background coloring hints, always focused on her outward persona and front and those of others. (I forget if I had any specific Classes locked in my head for any of them, the aspects are the only things I'm sure about, and I don't remember what Yiffy's would have been... if every session has a Time player, Yiffy's destructiveness and action-oriented onscreen behavior as well as the black-fur-to-Jade's-white-fur contrast would make the aspect a good fit for her as little as we've seen her.)
The innercanon (Meat) timeline is designed to complete the loop and tie up the loose ends that result in the game of Sburb being created in the first place, with all its rules and themes and challenges, the creation of Carapacians and possible creation of the Cherub race, and Ultimate Dirk's Orange versus Ultimate Rose's Purple culminating in the push-and-pull contrast between Skaia and the Horrorterrors that serves as the main stage for characters to have a fulcrum between their influence to prove their wills important in influencing the unfolding of reality. Ultimate Rose has had plenty of opportunities to rethink her actions, but Dirk keeps SUPPRESSING THEM, ruining her potential to take any turn back towards the right thing as the Destroyer of Heart he is, instead allowing her soul to indulge all of its worst proclivities, which isn't entirely how he hoped this would turn out... I'm honestly not sure whether the colors are an intentional misnomer to be flipped and Skaia is meant to be akin to Rose (guiding players) while Dirk akin to the Horrorterrors (challenging players) even though Rose is most likely to be the one who created Horrorterrors in the first place. This could all lead to a bad end of sorts for Ultimate Rose, or at least part of Ultimate Rose if Kanaya succeeds in saving any facet of her, possibly leading to such a bad end that we get my old Soul Powered Jujus theory of them meeting the undesirable fate of being transformed into items akin to Horcruxes like Lil Cal, ie. Ultimate Rose's soul or power (or Ultimate-ness?) stripped becoming the Magic Cueball, Ultimate Dirk's soul or power (or Ultimate-ness?) stripped and becoming Crowbar's Crowbar, Aradia's soul or power (or Ultimate-ness, did she reach that I forget?) stripped and becoming the Crook of Frailty, even the creation of the still-mysterious Ring of Life/Void that's probably just the same exact ring, etc.
The main theme of Homestuck^2 is that Void outweighs Light and the fans outweigh the author: Specifically, that (1) Dirk Strider is an author avatar like old Andrew insisting that all the characters must suffer (in the Meat timeline) and remain trapped in the very story they escaped in order to tie up all the loose ends and BE IMPORTANT (Light), that the story going his way and completing itself takes priority over the characters' happiness. However, (2) the fans and their myriad interpretations and crazy, less "canon"-seeming takes on the characters (Candy timeline, the untethered plethora of possibility of Void out in the black hole outside Paradox Space) is actually a better and more satisfying story than the one Dirk intends to tell, which is Dirk's greatest fear and antithetical to his philosophy. That the characters deserve the ending they were supposed to get in the original Homestuck: AN ESCAPE from Paradox Space, AN ESCAPE from the constrains of a STORY whose plot would traumatize them, and an escape from THE AUTHOR who would ultimately be forced to rope them into painful plots. Andrew said in the bonus material (I think) to Dirk that Yiffy Longstocking Lalonde was a threat that should make Dirk feel afraid, because such a ridiculous premise of a character becoming more enjoyable and compelling than anything Dirk Strider had to offer in the Meat timeline should make him afraid that he will ultimately lose and the "IMPORTANT" story, the one trapped in Paradox Space instead of outside it, the one that ties up all the loose ends... isn't actually the one the readers will love and care about compared to the infinite possibility outside the story that actually allows for absurdly-origined characters like Yiffy and for the happiness of most or all of the characters we came to know and love without trapping them in more terrible tribulations and trials.
I forget what I thought Roxy and Calliope's all-important machine was going to do -- maybe it'll send Vriska back into Canon (Meat) or exchange her for someone else there, or sendificating the kids the Ultimate Frog that helped them create their universe, stabilizing the Candy timeline and maybe even the whole Black Hole by making it crucial to the original plot and Paradox Space's very existence -- but I love how Roxy's little-seen background efforts are going to save everything and everyone because that's perfect for her role and I love Roxy Lalonde so damn much.
Homestuck stuff is starting to blow up a bit on tumblr and twitter I hear because the latest updates give us some bangers and surprises. So now that my medical issues are FINALLY under control and Homestuck isn't giving me nearly as much anxiety anymore (thank you psychological and psychiatric progress!!!), I'm going to start liveblogging again and try to catch up before anything else can accidentally jump out at me from somewhere! Wish me luck, I probably won't get too far today but expect a handful of posts every couple of days until I'm caught up with the present! Then we'll see if I have energy for any bonus content but I'm going to pace myself so I don't burn out or overwork myself, especially since I'm taking it easy and concentrating on some other fun priorities to keep my mood up. :)
So, I'll get to blogging the next page of HS^2 from where I left off shortly!
Some thoughts from Discord I had on how well I was warming up to HS^2 lately, specifically how it was handling Roxy. Spoilers under the cut, concerning HS^2 all the way to the current pause point:
BlastYoBoots — Today at 2:46 PM
I realized just in the back of my mind, a handful of days ago, how before HS^2 paused it had been coming around strong on one of the biggest things that'd annoyed me about it
in the Candy side, Roxy seemed to have resigned herself to housewife-- and raising a child is noble and all, but she was
a GOD and a capable scientist-minded person all wrapped into one
and the world was falling into chaos, with her barely even taking a side compared to everyone around her
she looked weak, ineffectual-- I was delighted to hear that she at least TRIED to introduce flight to the world, to make some change to make the world better with her power and talents (the status of godhood conferred in part because they prove WILLING to go that far for it), and dismayed that it failed, though at least I had a mental picture of someone who had tried to leverage her power and mind and found that the world didn't want her to :(
that depressed me throughout HS^2
until the very last update
I was blogging when that request from Roxy for John to help her move some heavy furniture was given, and I was like, COMPLETELY outraged
for a moment
at the idea that they maybe, possibly, had forgotten that Roxy was powerful enough to at least lift a bed with her top-of-the-echeladder god strength
but
it all eventually played out, in those last update or two
and it turned out that Roxy and Callie were working happily together, without anyone knowing about it, looking as meek as possible -- truly Voidy -- on what is probably the most important move in the entire plot, to save their world and possibly the other. with a sick-ass underground science cave at the heart of the universe. just like, yeah. chill. on the down low. just lettin' John know about it maybe a little.
and all that just fills my heart with joy.
so yeah, just had to get that off my chest
omg you're still here. hello! its been years. it brings me joy that your blog still looks the same. like walking into a memory
I do wish I had more free time to keep working on some loose ends here, but work has me tied up and exhausted more than I expected with what low energy reserves I have; and that PS5 beckons in the downtime, even if I’m mostly just playing Warframe on it. :o
I really need to take a weekend and revise the hell out of the Aradia inversion post to be LESS FUCKING SMUG, for example.
There's been speculation that the background colors on page 214 signify each Candy kid's aspect, making Harry heart, Vrissy mind, and Tavros breath. What do you think of that?
I have to admit it’s possible. Harry was already a lock for Heart, there were too many hats. (Plus other evidence besides. :p ) And Vrissy’s relentless concern for her outward appearance and self-serving deceptiveness could pretty easily be Mind player traits instead of just Thief of Light traits. (Tavros, so far, hasn’t done anything particularly Breathy besides being the one with the hovercar.)
However, it would certainly be odd to have the completely-genetically-different “spiritual successor” to Tavros be a Breath player like the original, but have the almost-genetically-identical and so-personality-similar Vrissy have such a different Aspect focus. Granted, Vrissy is only almost genetically identical, and was never proven to be exactly the same as Vriska biologically.
It’s possible that IF Vrissy is a Mind player, it’s meant to tie into them not being genetically identical... BUT, it’s also possible they’re going to say she’s a Mind player AND genetically identical, and that this is HS2 sending a message that that’s possible. Conventional bladekindeyewear classpect wisdom (whatever THAT bullshit is worth!) says that your hero title reflects your true potential and the way you would most effectively operate to affect reality around you... this has always been held to mean theoretically the same titles for any genetically-identical people, as that “potential” would lump in every manner and environment you could have possibly been raised in. And for what it’s worth, the pre-Scratch and post-Scratch Trolls kept their effective hero titles from all signs despite their wildly different growing-up circumstances, beyond some purely thematic allusions to their new descendants’ titles that never lined up as well with their actions as their original titles.
However, those could easily have been kept consistent on both sides of the Scratch through circumstantial-thematic means because these were the same people across tightly-linked game sessions, even if your title COULD be different if you were raised elsewhere. It was never a 100% hard line, just an assumption we made based on available evidence, and something some members of the fandom always imagined could be fudged (although usually by saying the pre- and post-scratch guardians and ancestors could have had different titles, which I always viewed as incorrect -- their cross-universe titles were clearly the same in Homestuck proper). A whole lot more divides Vriska and this coincidental “clone” of hers than was possible in the original Homestuck, given how far they’ve travelled outside the bounds of Paradox Space before Vrissy was born. As similar as they are, and perhaps even genetically identical, I could imagine Vrissy and Vriska MIGHT not share a Heart -- that if either Vrissy or Vriska ascended to their Ultimate Self, they might not share each others’ lives in their memories. Would THAT be enough to make the true Hero Titles emblematic to their individuality different? Wouldn’t it be?
Figured an upd8 was coming, it’s felt like enough time has passed for one.
Huh, looking at my last post I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to play through Pesterquest sometime... work is busy and stressing me out a bit, I’m not sure when I’ll have the energy on the side to do that. (Maybe I’ll livetweet it like I did Undertale a while ago, but this time not looking at my twitter replies so I don’t get spoiled by One Guy™?)
Also, including bonus commentary on A Threat Sensed.
Okay, going in completely blind. I’d guessed from context that we’re hopping over to Meat side to get a chapter there before we can come back to actually see Yiffy?
Yep. Okay, what is this about exactly?
(Agh, dammit, I’ve been copying and pasting so much at work remoting into Windows lately that now I’m automatically trying to hit control-C instead of command-C to copy.)
> CHAPTER 9. How Goes The Eulogizing, Dear?
CONTENT NOTE: This chapter contains Child Abuse.
Which one???
Wait
JANE: (Where is he?)
JANE: (It's a question I've found myself asking many times in recent days.)
Holy SHIT we get two Candy chapters in a row??? So we might see her right away?? No, it’s gotta just be another tiny glimpse.
(Has two Candy chapters in a row happened before? Future Boots, scroll back up and put this here. FUTURE BOOTS: “I forgot to scroll back up and put that here.” EDIT: Also, not the first time with two in a row, but it IS the first time with THREE in a row, huh.)
So Jane has to be talking about either Tavros or Dave. --Oh, if this was a Candy Side chapter title, I guess Rose or Jade is eulogizing Dave for John?
> (==>)
JANE: (Where now is our merry savior?)
JANE: (Where is the horn that was honking?)
JANE: (Where is the cape and the codpiece, and the...)
JANE: (The...)
JANE: (Oh, fiddlesticks.)
What? Is she reading a childrens’ book? --Oh. She’s eulogizing Gamzee. So that gives us a third option, where the rebellion crashes the funeral somehow, probably audiovisually rather than in person. (Which would make sense, given Candy practically began with Gamzee crashing Dirk’s funeral.)
> (==>)
Ah never mind, she’s still writing it.
That sure is a single button drama-remote that’s going to be pressed at some point. Oh, and who the fuck keeps a spork in a pen cup??? --No no, don’t say it’s one of those pens with a spork at the eraser end, either ready-made or rubber-banded to the side. That would make sense. You totally know it isn’t that and is just a spork.
JANE: (Okay, poetry is out.)
JANE: (What else?)
JANE: (Hrm...)
JANE: (I've always been pretty good at crying on cue.)
JANE: (Could I try staging an emotional breakdown?)
JANE: (That could work; playing to people's humanity.)
Why were you crying in Jake’s arms about his death if you didn’t care that much? Did you just want him to hold you and kinda make him feel in on things again? Or did you just cry yourself out about him?
JANE: (Or whatever is the more inclusive term.)
I bet the rest of Earth C figured out a more inclusive term millenia ago FUCK I accidentally added millennia to my dictionary misspelled instead of correcting it hold on--
...There, killed the entry for it. ...Huh. Take a look at my Chrome dictionary’s custom-added words over the years, apparently:
Okay back to reading. Millennia. Phew! Where was I.
JANE: (One really good and calculated weep could do it, I think.)
JANE: (But then there's the danger that I might get carried away and do it for real.)
JANE: (And I can't risk that.)
So still feeling something, just too used to calculating over the past years.
JANE: (What can I say about him that will stir up their emotions?)
JANE: (Do I mention the stuff about the milk?)
JANE: (Think Crocker, think.)
WHY would you-- how much did Gamzee normalize adult breastfeeding?!
JAKE: Ahoy over there!
Not the best time.
(The thing with the divorce papers from the Epilogue and John implying he was planning with Jake to execute something that sounds like a divorce... is that going to be sprung here? Did her lawyers send the divorce papers way back when she was in a fit of pique, and he just had them available to sign now at the tactical moment? Or... let me pull the exact text...)
JOHN: now, harry anderson, i know that you and tavros haven't always gotten along.
JOHN: but i am going to have to ask you to try and look out for him for the time being.
JOHN: your uncle jake and i... well, i'll explain later.
JOHN: let's just say that gamzee isn't the only family member jane is losing today.
(So is John going to submit the papers? Or did they already go through a while ago and default custody to John or something who’s going to adopt him too or some nonsense? And did he plan this out with Jake NOW, or a while ago, and if only a while ago, is Jake going to KNOW whatever John’s about to pull in that respect is about to happen??)
> (==>)
Butte
Janepalme
> (==>)
JAKE: Er... how goes the eulogizing, dear?
Gah. I completely forgot again that capitalized-first-letter chapter names don’t mean KANAYA is saying them. That probably makes a lot more sense out of my wondering about the chapter title earlier to those of you who didn’t realize I was making that mistake.
JANE: It turns out that it's mighty difficult to find touching things to say about a person, the relationship with whom was predicated on deep-seated mutual loathing.
Hah!
--A loathing you regarded as largely more important to you than Jake ever was, by the way. You asshole.
JANE: I imagine this is one of the reasons no funerary tradition was ever established on Alternia, besides the barbarism of their culture.
DIRK: Jesus christ.
JANE: Not only did a significant proportion of their interpersonality depend on romance in the form of hatred, but it was a society based on cruelty and violence.
JANE: What reason could they have had to provide for the dead?
JANE: What kind of last rites could they have even imagined?
I wondered for a moment why (bg!)Dirk of all people would react to a single line of her starting to bring up prejudices, but then I realized that (1) Brain Ghost Dirk is a little more Jakey, and (2) Dirk knew that more ranting would follow the first line.
JANE: I can't think of anything good to write about him because deep down, I hated his guts.
JANE: But he was and is beloved of the multitude, so I have to think of something regardless.
JAKE: Im not sure i understand.
JANE: Don't worry your pretty little head about it.
JANE: This is politics, Jakey.
JANE: Lying through your two front teeth about people you hate is about as good a definition as it's possible to get.
JANE: But, by gum, is it tiring work.
Mm. It’s a position Jane put herself in, but it’s still a legitimate position once you’re there.
JANE: The funeral is tomorrow, after all.
Got it.
DIRK: Dude, the bowl.
JAKE: Hm?
JAKE: Oh, right.
JANE: What is it now, Jake.
JAKE: I brought something for our guest as well.
JANE: You mean the prisoner.
JAKE: Y...es.
Wait, bowl?
Oh god damnit which of you had the idea to feed her with a DOG BOWL. Either of you could have thought of it, and either of you would be horrible for it.
> (==>)
Huh, that outfit on Yiffy looks familiar, like a reference to something. And a black tail? This definitely isn’t quite the look I was expecting from Jade Plus Rose, but I suppose the snazzy tie is a Roseish vibe. Also reminiscent of Jade’s old Dead Shuffle dress. Formal wear and soccer cleats??
JANE: She's over in the corner.
JANE: Don't worry, she won't bite.
JANE: I've seen to that already.
WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN. I don’t see anything over her mouth! Did she stick something in it, or drug her? File her fucking teeth???
I mean I did forget the Child Abuse trigger warning to be fair. Hoping whatever would be on her mouth is just not shown in-panel yet for stylistic reasons.
> (==>)
JAKE: Its only mac and cheese, sorry.
JAKE: Its all I know how to make, haha.
JAKE: ...
JAKE: I um... hope you can safely partake of cheese?
JAKE: ...
JAKE: Well,
JAKE: Bon appetit.
How the fuck did Jake eat on his island then? --Oh right, preserved food cans that Grandma Jade stored up, I think I remember. Why would cheese not be a thing for them, if it’s fine for Jade? I know he’s probably not just worried about lactose intolerance.
Either way, if she’s drugged here, that’ll mean we won’t get a good idea of her for a while, so which is it...
> (==>)
DIRK: Bon appetit.
DIRK: Seriously dude?
JAKE: (What? Did i pronounce it wrong?)
DIRK: Jake.
DIRK: You put the food in a fucking dog bowl.
JAKE: (It was all there was, ok???)
JAKE: (I feel awful enough as it is without you getting on my case about it.)
Ah, missed the bone pun. AND, yeah, Jake, you’re a fucking idiot, you could have put it in a cup or something.
JAKE: (So far ive yet to see anything come of that brilliant plan of yours.)
JAKE: (Are you sure sending that message to the others was enough?)
Okay, so he IS coordinating this slightly.
> (==>)
Horrifying image to contemplate, eh Jane?
Or anger-inducing?
> (==>)
Seems about right!
> (==>)
Oh that’s a GREAT exasperated Jane face.
JANE: I hope you're not expecting dessert, young lady.
I like how Jane didn’t notice, comment on, or care about the bowl. How can you hate a kid so much??
> (==>)
Oh I know why I felt like I recognized the outfit style, it’s because it’s ANIME AS FUCK. Feels like some Persona 4 Arena nonsense, and I say that not having played any of those games or even remembering what they looked like. Also, white hair, black fur’d dog parts? Nice change of pace.
YIFFY: GRRRRRRRRR...
JANE: Oh no you don't.
Red text? What color exactly... “#D00009”? Huh. That’s nowhere near Alt-Callie’s #FF0000, and darker than Dave’s #E00707. In fact, let me go back and check those spilled color pins the commentary pointed out from an update or two ago... no, the red pin is #E63225, closer to Dave’s color. (Also, is Yiffy blocking the doorway out? That’s a pretty slack chain then.)
Did Jane see to it that she wouldn’t bite with like, a water spray bottle?
(EDIT: Oh my FUCKING GOD, THAT's why it's #D00009...)
> (==>)
FUCK I didn’t notice the shock collar in the Yiffy image! FUCK YOU, Jane.
> (==>)
Keeping someone in line with collars, especially ones that punish whenever one strays out of line, has always been a decent way for her to mix in some Doomy control of others to show how she’s “grown” to balance her main role and her Tiara-controlled-like inverse for more power. Doom in part represents boundaries that you can’t cross without getting hurt or punished.
> (==>)
FUCK, those little buck teeth!? D’:
JANE: That's more like it.
She HAS to have more of a reason for hating her than hating her parents, right? Like, more than that and general racism applying to partdogfolk?
> (==>)
Hey fuck off with that!
> (==>)
This is a pretty cool ima-- are those piercings on her dog ear? I didn’t notice that in the first shot, neat.
JANE: You've been a thorn in my side ever since I agreed to enroll you at the academy, little madam.
JANE: Back then, I was doing a favor for two old friends who made a disgusting mistake.
JANE: I'm no longer going to play nice with you just because of your parents, however.
JANE: That truce is over.
JANE: Do I make myself understood?
What the fuck? WHY would you do that? Why does Jane run "Ms. Paint’s Home for Inconvenient Girls”? What did Yiffy do to piss her off so much there, how much trouble could she have caused?
I don’t know if she’s referring to the behind-Kanaya’s-back part as disgusting or she’s just being MORE racist.
> (==>)
JANE: We don't want you passing out during the ceremony, do we?
Oh, just showing the hostage off during the clown funeral, huh? Classy much?
> (==>)
JANE: Now, be a good hostage and get some rest, Yiffany dear.
JANE: We've got a big day tomorrow.
For a politician, Jane’s not good at looking at herself in a mirror.
> (==>)
JANE: Night night.
JANE: Hoo hoo.
> (Yiffy: Lights out.)
Huh, dream stuff is gonna be relevant out in Candy then? *click*
Okay, dark background all of a sudden. Properly dramatic? You even have to highlight the non-link “>” part of the Next link to see it.
> (==>)
-- thespiansGlamor [TG] began pestering adamantGriftress [AG] --
Well, I don’t know WHY it’s happening, but the white-backed pesterlog suddenly on the dark site framing is certainly evocative. Of like, a mood, or something.
TG: i thought he was pretty quiet down there.
TG: we'll make a rebel of him yet!
AG: Lol.
AG: I think it's more that he can't sleep.
AG: I know how he feels.
TG: yeah.
TG: today was a lot.
AG: ...
TG: do you wanna talk about it?
AG: Ugh, not you as well.
It’s really jarring to transition between Homestuck’s “kids jarringly mentally resistant to freaking out about the end of the world” to HS^2′s more realistic “kids traumatized by their first firefight even though it was an overwhelming victory-escape”.
TG: but seriously, do you?
AG: Not really.
TG: not even about... you know?
TG: her?
AG: No.
TG: ... are you sure?
AG: A8solutely.
AG: What are you, my moirail?
AG: Just leave it, Harry.
TG: ok.
Are they about to have an “I wonder what Yiffy’s like” talk?
> (==>)
Very similar Tav/Vrissy convo to the previous one.
GG: I havent ever shared a bedroom before,,,
GG: Not even for a slumber party,,,
AG: Tavvy, you are just a8out the saddest person I've ever met.
Well, we have an even better idea how horrible Jane can be with kids, now. From Nanna to THIS is quite jarring. I wonder how the double Nannasprites that must still be around here somewhere feel?
> (==>)
TG: nothing about my dad is cute.
TG: what are you even saying.
AG: Lmao.
TG: seriously!
TG: i think he has something against that word, even. he gets super weird about it.
AG: He's a strange and funny m8n.
TG: yeah.
TG: ...
TG: i think something bad must have happened.
...um. What? Why would John have some sort of trauma about the word cute or being called it?
Did John dress up as a hint of his buried June ambitions as a kid and Dad lavish him with “SO CUTE” praise in an epic supportiveness backfire that caused him to shelve the idea of wearing non-masc clothes and being happier on the flipside of gender ever again??? Because if that’s how June gets canonized as promised, it’s a little harsher than the back of my mind was hoping. I guess it kind of had to be though from the premise of how it was read into his childhood for the original idea, though. Fuck, I hope this Cute business is about something different from that (like a Terezi reference or such) just to get less John Sads. (But still June. Definitely still want to get June.)
> (==>)
Oh, and now Vrissy is doing nothing but talking about what she said she didn’t want to talk about, of course. (Also I like how JANE’s now being called the Batterwitch.)
AG: And the worst part was they didn't even fight a8out it!
AG: That made me madder than 8nything else.
AG: It felt like I was the only person who even W8S mad!
GG: I dont think thats true,,,
AG: What would you know a8out it?!
GG: Maybe nothing,,,
GG: Sorry,,,
GG: Its just,,,
GG: To me,,, all the way through the conversation,,, aunt kanaya looked even angrier than you,,,
AG: ...
AG: Adults are so fucking weird.
Guh, I don’t want to be reminded how hurt a good chunk of the fanbase is by Kanaya getting hurt this badly.
Original Tavros was always SLIGHTLY perceptive of others sometimes, but maybe perceptiveness is being hinted at as a Tavros specialty? We still don’t know his classpect/hero-title or have any firm guesses based on purely him evidence. (Also, frightened kids of abusive households tend to learn to get perceptive pretty fucking quickly I hear.)
> (==>)
TG: dad was sitting in the cafeteria with aunt jade and your moms.
TG: it looked like they were discussing something important... they were whispering and stuff.
[etc etc] Alright, the what-happened-to-Dave bit. And I imagine they’re kind of helping John grieve there, since Rose and Jade have talked that out already.
TG: aunt kanaya's was the only face i could see.
TG: she was standing next to them, but she wasn't looking at what was going on.
TG: almost like she couldn't bear to.
AG: I doubt it. Kanaya's got a8out as much Emotivity as a very reclusive stone.
TG: ok, i think that is bullshit but whatever.
TG: she saw me standing there, but didn't say anything. she just shook her head slightly, and pointed back out into the hallway i came down.
Yep, giving them some space to grieve. Also-- gosh, shouldn’t Vrissy have the same emotive senses that Aranea implied Vriska shared with her? Kanaya isn’t that EXPRESSIVE but she’s certainly full of emotion. Also, I hope part of her not bearing to watch wasn’t lingering anger toward Jade and Rose mixing with that, but there probably was a bit of that too, though Dave being gone is so much harsher than that. --I just realized they might not have broken the news to Karkat yet, either.
AG: I guesadxcxzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
TG: vrissy?
Put to sleep by someone slumping down on your phone keypad, or surprised by something about the other conversation?
Oh shit, “other conversation” reminded me I didn’t look at Tavros’s chumhandle:
I really don’t understand what that chumhandle or any of its entendres should signify in this context.
Also, this means for our new four kids we have TG, GG, AG, and ??.
> (==>)
GG: I think she might have succumbed to sleep quite suddenly,,,
GG: It would explain the,,,,,, interesting messages I've been getting for a while,,,
TG: hehe.
TG: i guess that tracks.
TG: she does that from time to time.
That’s... strange. Homestuck’s taught us to be suspicious of that.
TG: ...
TG: tav?
GG: Yes,,, harry anderson,,,?
TG: what does it feel like to know someone who's died?
Who is Harry referring to? (EDIT: Yes I know Gamzee for Tavros, but I meant Harry talks like he's worried he'll have to feel that way soon?) Is he just kind of inferring that something bad might have happened to Uncle Dave? Got that perceptive “parents are about to tell me about a death in the family” vibe? Or did he overhear more than he let on to Vrissy?
...alright, that’s the last page of this update. Looks like this chapter is going to continue to have a good bunch of grieving, or talk around it.
---
Now for Bonus Commentary for A Threat, Sensed. For some reason I have a dim memory of like... reading this myself without commenting on it? Or skimming it? But I’m pretty sure I didn’t do that. Weird. Must have imagined doing it.
Ah, I think I saw the opening paragraph scrolling Patreon, and my mind kinda filled in the blanks, this is still looking new to me.
Okay, mostly banter and japes in the commentary here. About Dirk “throwing a huge tantrum in his philosophy cave”.
We’ve had quite a bit of speculation on whether this is “really” Andrew. To that, I think we’d say that it doesn’t “really” matter.
Really? That was speculated about? :/
Here we discover that Dirk has not, as some people have speculated, been directly intervening into the Candy timeline, or influencing it in any way. In fact, he has a very hard time seeing anything going on there at all.
Mhmm, and that was a pretty important thing to learn.
A couple of years ago I might have agreed with the take that everything happening in Candy is simply too outlandish to ever happen naturally, without direct, villainous interference, but that was before literally every fucking batshit insane thing that has happened on Real Life Earth started going down, and now I will believe literally anything.
This is a nice bit of distraction from the idea that at least the opening parts of the Candy story were written/narrated by Original, Alive Calliope over on meat side. To refresh your memory of what was pointed out to me:
ROXY: back when jade first got all effed up callie saw somethin and it made them freak out
ROXY: it took me weeks to convince them that it was safe to come home
ROXY: but now we got the opposite problem and they arent leavin the house at all
ROXY: they stay home all day with the blinds drawn paintin some weird ass shit on the walls
TEREZI: WH4T?
ROXY: its not as bad as it sounds i promise
ROXY: some of it is like
ROXY: weird and violent??
ROXY: like lotsa nasty purple blood and um
ROXY: nudity????
TEREZI: >:?
ROXY: yeah yikes
ROXY: but MOST of it is cute stuff like... various combos of all of us being happy and gettin married and shit
ROXY: anyway thats kept callie kinda busy
Which tracks with the initial out-of-character-seemingness of almost everyone at the start of Candy, and how they kind of tried to railroad things back onto the “Happy??” track after Dirk derailed it with his weird self-accumulation suicide, along with some of the flowery-idyllic descriptions of characters seeing each other bathed in a halo of light and such.
Of course, they’re not going to out-and-out STATE that Calliope was at fault for that narration, helping the Candy story not necessarily fall out the way it did “naturally”, until we finally get a glimpse of her on the heroes’ ship in Meat probably still painting the continuing Candy events, inspiring them into the void of the singularity with her latent powers. Til then, it’s a bit of misdirection whenever the topic is to be brought up. Along with a mix of Roxy’s late-Candy point to John of more or less “why COULDN’T we have done this naturally? you don’t know”.
He might even think that he has more direct power over the narrative than Hussie does himself. Surprise, motherfucker, you are a fictional character.
:p
I’ll quote this next part in full:
There’s been talk of whether or not this bonus was written in the two days between its release and the Yiffy reveal chapter. The answer is--no. It was written over a month ago. But I think the things it addresses were not difficult to suss out. Obviously, Dirk is highlighting the issues that the readership are having with Yiffy, in his typical Dirk fashion. If it seems a little defensive, well...I suppose it is. Yiffy is one of the two hard lines drawn in the sand, and all of us love her, and we’re hoping that everyone else will love her too. But more than that, it focuses on the fact that update culture has a rhythm to it--shock, revulsion, acceptance (or not), and then excitement (or not). Will it follow that pattern this time? Who knows. I guess we’ll find out.
Yeah, given what was going to be dropped on us I expected they would have had exactly this lined up, especially because Andrew specifically mandated Yiffy. --I wonder why they aren’t mentioning that somewhere in the commentary and only on one of their Twitters?
Also quoting this:
There’s something both incredibly “cringe” and self-indulgent, as well as philosophically intriguing, about the author arguing with his villain, especially since he’s writing both halves of the conversation himself. You are, for all intents and purposes, trying to solve a problem that you have created for yourself. You are looking an aspect of your personality in the eye and asking, hey, what the fuck, man?
But in the end, isn’t that what every story is? Trying to untie knots that you put in the rope yourself?
Since it’s part of the central struggle of this story, and kind of the question Andrew’s tried to imply with every Homestuck work about what right we have to keep these characters trapped in a story, and if they’d be better off escaping it.
I’m really trying to avoid quoting so much of this, since the commentary is paid... but I think we can make an exception here? I’ll have only quoted about half of it; just, the really plot-important half. Plus, I left out a LOOOT of japes.
Dirk has a certain idea of how stories are supposed to go. That’s pretty much what the Epilogues is about. The audience also has a certain expectation of how a story is supposed to go. In a way, the Epilogues were also about that. They were taking a story that had reached the traditionally “acceptable” happily ever after, and saying, wait, no. What happens next? Thinking past happily ever after in any story is a terrifying prospect. Once Cinderella marries the prince, what then? Sure, she got what she wanted, but who knows that it will be everything she dreamt it would? What if she changes her mind, if not today, what about ten years from now? What if the prince dies of malaria?
And I’m...
Yeah I don’t have anything else to add here, I’m kind of out of brain juice to think about this tonight. BUSY day I had. Y’all take care!
