#s168

[thewertsearch]

Honestly, this is a bit of a lucky break for WV. If Jack knew he was in possession of the White Ring, he’d have been Exiled to the afterlife, instead.

Also: good evening, Grandpa Harley.

Fun fact: across the entire universe, you and a handful of very unfortunate astronauts are all that remains of the human race.

PM seems to have found her Exile Station fairly quickly. By the time WV found his, his garb was weathered and dusty, but hers is still in pristine condition.

Was PM just lucky, then? I suppose it would be a lot easier for her, because she could see her station from a distance.

I was originally going to jump straight into Jade's next section, but now that I'm actually assessing the other options here, they're all intriguing as hell.

What, then, do I want to learn first?

What the hell is up with Gamzee? Is this old conversation with Tavros really a flashback? If it's taking place in another Dream Bubble, does that mean he did die off-panel?

What, exactly, is Aradia’s goal in traveling to the Green Sun? Could she actually have a plan to help the Strider-Lalondes escape their fate?

Does Doc Scratch really do his own housework?

...on reflection, that last question demands the most immediate answer.

[thewertsearch]

CG: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FROG BREEDING, I THOUGHT WE WERE ON A ROLL WITH THAT GG: yes, we still are! GG: this little detour was related to that task. we should be nearly done.

Echidna is located on the frog planet, so I guess it would make sense if she offered Choices that related to frog breeding. Maybe she needs to 'approve' the nascent universe, just like she did the Scratch.

CG: WHAT WAS SHE EVEN SAYING TO YOU, I CAN'T UNDERSTAND A WORD OF THAT HORRIFYING GIBBERISH. GG: i can understand her just fine!

It’s reasonable to assume that only the Denizen’s designated Player can understand their speech.

That would probably prevent any Player from completing a Quest that wasn’t assigned to them, which was one of my suggestions for ways to ‘break Sburb’, a million billion years ago.

CG: I STILL DON'T REALLY GET IT. CG: WHY MY DENIZEN WAS SUCH A NIGHTMARE WHILE YOURS APPARENTLY GIVES YOU GUTTURAL PEP TALKS IN SOME BYZANTINE MONSTER LANGUAGE. GG: we already talked about this GG: echidna and i have an understanding now ;) CG: OOH, VAGUE BULLSHIT, IT'S THE EXACT FUCKING THING I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF. GG: well maybe if you werent in such a grumpy hurry all the time you wouldnt have killed your denizen so quickly GG: you might have actually learned something!!!!!!

I'm willing to bet that Karkat shot first, aggroing his Denizen before it had even opened its mouth. Just like Eridan and his angels, the possibility that this NPC wasn't an enemy simply didn't enter Karkat's head.

...granted, the Consorts do to tell you that your Denizen needs to be slain, so the messaging is a little all over the place. Perhaps the game straight-up lies about how the Denizens work, in order to test the Players in some way.

After all, a species which shoots first and asks questions later might not have an ideal temperament to rule over a universe...

...so maybe Sgrub ensures that they can't.

GG: did you ever talk to kanaya about it? […] GG: her situation was very similar to mine

If the kids needed to activate their frog, then so did the trolls. It sounds like Kanaya, at least, had the wherewithal to listen to her Denizen before immediately popping a Fraymotif.

CG: I THOUGHT SHE KILLED HER DENIZEN TO LIGHT THE FORGE OR SOMETHING GG: it doesnt sound like you got the whole story

You seem to have overlooked the fact that Jade’s Forge is lit - and yet, Echidna was available for a second visit. Keep up, Karkat!

[thewertsearch]

Oh shut up.

aaaaaaand of course that's all we're getting.

Alright, then - let's take a peek at Gamzee and Tavros.

If this is a Dream Bubble, then I'm very interested in what will happen when Gamzee recalls his recent past. Will his madness immediately return to the forefront, or will his ghost be entirely free of it?

If Gamzee’s head begins to clear here, this might turn into a very tragic scene. There’s a lot he did that he probably won’t want to remember.

TC: Do yOu hAvE TiMe fOr mY MiRaClEs, BrOtHeR :o) TC: Do yOu gEt yOuR NoTiCe oN Of tHe mIrAcLeS TC: So mAnY FuCkIn mIrAcLeS, tHe mAgIc mOtHeRfUcKiN MiRaClEs TC: HoNk. AT: oHH, AT: hAHA, oH YEAH, tHAT WAS, AT: sOO STRICT, TC: AhAhA, yEaH, bRo? AT: mOST DEFINITELY, yOUR RHYMES, AT: tHEY ARE RUTHLESSLY DISCIPLINARY, aND MY HEAR DUCTS HAVE BEEN NAUGHTY, AT: i THINK, AT: tHEY ARE NAUGHTY FOR MORE, }:)

I really do like these two together. I’ve low-key shipped them since Hivebent, and this conversation illustrates exactly why they seem to vibe so well. Recent events notwithstanding, they’re the two most relaxed trolls on the team, and even pre-session, they had no interest in the performative antagonism that characterized most Alternian relationships.

They can be romantic, platonic, neither, both, or anything in between. Just let them hang out, and we'll see what happens!

[thewertsearch]

I'm still not sure what CD's obsession with the wallet is. Has he just completely forgotten about his Harley assassination mission?

Maybe I should give him a little more credit. The guy has shown a penchant for surprisingly crafty plans before. Maybe he really does have a big brain plan to kill-

...ok, maybe I’m overestimating the Deuce a little.

Put it on, WV! Wield the Ring against your hated enemy!

... I mean, I know you won’t, but damn, I wish you would. Fight of the century, right there.

The Villein’s Exile has been inevitable from the start, and it’s been waiting for him for thousands of pages.

Bon voyage, Wayward Vagabond. We haven’t seen the last of you.

[thewertsearch]

GG: listen fuckass GG: i am going to need a password before we continue GG: plz <3

There’s those passwords again. Karkat’s returning to his old habit of non-linearity, and Jade is having absolutely none of it. It’s still possible for a future Karkat to pop in with an old password, but no past Karkat can break the sequence with a future one.

...unless he gets a password from his own future self, I guess. But I Don’t Want To Yadda Yadda

GG: do you even remember the right password? CG: SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF GRATUITOUS SELF DEPRECATION FORCED INTO MY MOUTH, INVOLVING REFERENCE TO SOME KIND OF WEIRD HUMAN COUPLING RITUAL? GG: youre being deliberately dumb GG: it was… GG: IF I HATE MYSELF SO MUCH, THEN WHY DON'T I HATEMARRY MYSELF?

lmaooo

Yeah, Karkat. Jade ‘forces’ you to be self-deprecating.

wheeeeeeeee! :D

GG: i wonder if we will ever be able to start a conversation without having a ridiculous argument about the password system? CG: IF YOU WOULD DROP THE PASSWORD SYSTEM AND LET FUTURE ME TALK TO YOU, HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU AN ANSWER.

Future Karkat could jump in here. Like I said, he knows all the previous passwords - but he hasn't shown up, and I think that's because Karkat does respect what Jade's trying to do here. He might complain about it, but he understands her logic.

GG: you have no patience to do things the right way, youre always just looking for the shortcut! GG: even if doing so has brought you nothing but trouble a hundred times before

Sounds like Karkat's been taking lessons from Vriska. He might want to ask her how this approach has been treating her, lately.

I definitely agree with Jade’s point. We shouldn’t be trying to short-circuit the normal flow of causality, because that’s how you get self-generating ideas. I want real ideas, damn it!

[thewertsearch]

CG: YOU WON'T TALK TO FUTURE KARKAT UNTIL I JUMP THROUGH YOUR FUCKING PASSWORD HOOPS AND BECOME HIM EVENTUALLY CG: BUT YOU'LL TALK TO FUTURE KANAYA JUST LIKE THAT. DOUBLE STANDARD ANYBODY??? JADE SAYS YES PLEASE. GG: you are so ridiculous, i have kanaya using the same password system as you

And she has no problem respecting it, either - but that makes perfect sense for Kanaya. As a fellow Space girl, she's probably just as sick of Time bullshit as Jade is.

CG: I HAVE STUFF TO ATTEND TO HERE. MY TEAM IS FALLING APART. CG: AND I CAN'T FIND GAMZEE ANYWHERE. I'M WORRIED HE MIGHT HAVE WANDERED OFF SOMEWHERE AND GOT HURT. GG: aw GG: well… GG: youll find him

Ouch.

See, this is why it’s hard to blame Vriska for being evasive about Dad. Jade’s in the same position here, and Karkat does ‘deserve’ to know, in some abstract sense – but what can she really say?

If she tells him about Gamzee now, the timeline would doom itself – and even if it didn’t, it wouldn’t actually help Karkat’s situation. He’d just feel even more helpless than he already does, powerless to prevent Gamzee’s inevitable breakdown.

GG: she says youre important to consult on the matter, but the you from her time is too busy CG: BUSY WITH WHAT?

...don’t worry about it.

GG: she is opening a memo

Oh, now this is a trio with some serious comedic potential.

Karkat’s angry, Kanaya’s calm, and Jade can match energy with them both. Bring it on!

It’s a little hard to click on this last image; I kept getting inadvertently sent back to Rose and Dave’s conversation.

Anyway, let’s catch up with Team Vagabond.