Homestuck Re-read Part 32: Doc Scratch.

It has been a bit of a rough night. I talked to someone I've not spoken with in a long time and just. Something I cannot specify, not to protect anyone's privacy or confidence but due to a lack of ability, disturbed me in a way I cannot explain. It is just, severely thrown me off today and I don't really know what to do about it.

Today's upd8 may be a bit brief just because I am not, really in the mood to talk too much at the moment.

homestuck.

We are unable to be Doc Scratch, but he's going to be hijacking narrative control for a bit. I don't know if this is where the pages are going to turn green and show some story in banners along the top, but it might be. Either way, we're stuck with white text on light grey backgrounds for a while.

He's waiting for someone, and he's taking a lot of pleasure in using it to remind us of his near-perfect omniscience. How he has no need for doorbells or peepholes. In his opinion, people who need either are suckers.

He lets Spades Slick in, who proceeds to start beating the shit out of him. After bending his horse hitcher, Jack is temporarily placated with more scottie dogs.

Scratch is going to beat Jack into submission momentarily. First however, he needs to communicate with Rose. An awful reminder that she is working with white text. He does, however, supply a fair bit of information. Rose is near the construct Bec Noir and Dave's brother fought on for the first time. It's called the Beat Mesa and it's an emergency mechanism for causing The Scratch. He also lets slip some rather interesting information. Dave's brother is

...the keeper of [Doc Scratch's] ectobiological father...

It isn't expanded on what this means at all. Causing the scratch needs needles from Jade's denizen, Echidna. He also reveals the 'true' purpose of the scratch: It resets the game. Not to the same conditions, granted. It rerolls the RNG essentially. The players will be different people and have lived different lives. Unfortunately, remaining in the session when the scratch occurs resigns the players to oblivion. The only reason for it is in hopes the next time around the new players in their place will succeed.

We learn Rose has another Quest Bed, and that god tiering does confers a conditional immortality. Death is only permanent if it is heroic or just. We even learn the reason Scratch wants to die: bringing in his master requires his death. His master is Lord English.

Lord English's warpath across paradox space is 'sanctioned' and 'expected', whatever that means. This is unlike Bec Noir who is, well, not. I guess this refers to outpacing the rate universes are propagated at?

A consort has bought Rose a cueball which she cannot see below the surface of with regular vision. Scratch promises that it will tell her the future. He then tries to seemingly, talk down Rose from whatever fate is about to befall her. Knowing Scratch however, this is some reverse psychology ploy.

Her seer of light powers let her see below the opaque surface. An answer rises in the fluid.

ANSWER JADE

Unfortunately, however. Jade delivers the bad news. Rose's mother was cut down by Bec Noir. A further question is asked of the cue ball. Are the gods of the furthest ring evil?

Instead of an answer, Rose finally goes dark. Something else arrives: Grimdark Rose.

JOHN

Back to John, he's located the tumor at the heart of the battlefield. A giant black and white bomb. Inside a timer counts down. 10 hours, 25 minutes. John entrusts the tumour to Wayward Vagabond, charging him with taking it to the moon of Derse. He also entrusts them with his only means of communication. By accident.

Another walkabout, this time as grimdark Rose. She descends on a castle to hunt Jack. The floors are covered in dead and dismembered Caripacians from both sides. We get references to a yellow yard the heroes are to cross. We pull apart a number of curtains and step atop a disk. We step through open green curtains. John is here and he has no idea what we're saying.

We backtrack with him, but the surviving solders we encountered have been slain. All but one banner was destroyed.

We lead the heir of breath to the bodies of our parents. Their killer has returned and stands over them. The three prepared for a battle which ends before it begins. Jack drives a sword through John's heart from behind. Rose and her magic put up a better challenge.

DAVE

We're back with Dave and Terezi. He's stood over his brother's body. Dave is getting manipulated by his exile which I am pretty sure is the aimless renegade.

I wish I wasn't feeling so low energy to write today. I feel like there is a lot you could dig into here with Terezi's dialog about Vriska embracing her societal role. Terezi is dealing with the exact same feelings Vriska is, but Vriska is in essence trying to 'power through' them as it were. Terezi just assumes she's doing it normally.

We reach the end of year 2 and we. Remove disc 1? We don't seem to have, disc 2 however.

Ummm. I guess we'll have to come back to it tomorrow.