Homestuck Re-read Part 68: RETCON.
Still not feeling great today. I have some stuff I want to do I think, but I'm not really sure. There seems to be some weirdness going on with the upd8 today but I can't entirely tell. I replaced my SSR JSX implementation yesterday, which is good. Definitely going to make things a lot easier to work with and be less hacky in the future, even if theres still some work that needs doing.
HOMESTUCK.
We are opening with the robot bunny reinserting the cleaned out Act 6 Act 6 Cartridge. We're treated to a walkabout with John on LOWAS. The sky is pure white, this time, and he is seemingly alone. He returns to locations he's already visited and finds them empty of life. That is, until he stars to make his way back to his home, where he sees Roxy.
The. Upd8 seems to end there, currently. Which is kinda unusual.
I'm gonna finish here for now and check back in a few hours.
OOPS I FORGOT TO CHECK ON HOMESTUCK AGAIN
It's currently 23:41 UK time and it appears they sorted out the rest of the upd8. And it seems to be a long one! Oh dear.
Opening the page it looks like it may have been some difficulty with getting the fireflies roaming the page.
We are rejoined by Roxy again! She went to see her denizen 'Nix' She was given the choice and then just told to get her ass to LOWAS. And here she is!
There was, naturally, a price and it was similar to John's.
ROXY: that either i could stay behind and vanish into nothingness forever, and everyone in the new reality would inherit all the bigtime responsibilities, including a version of myself who had no memory of any of this and never experienced all the loss and sadness i just went through
ROXY: or
ROXY: i could go with you
ROXY: but in doing so, everyone i loved would know that loss instead
John has narrowly escaped being the sole survivor and witness to the GAME OVER timeline. They talk while looking over a really, really pretty landscape shot. Jesus. Roxy and John catch up, he explains how he was able to play the breeze. They discuss where they currently are. Or well, the lack of place. Based on my understanding of beyond canon stuff, they're currently 'outside of the narrative.' John describes being there as 'taking a break from their canonical lives.'
Roxy pulls out Dave's Bro's Katana from the stone like a voidy king arthur. John sets out to do his first controlled retcon jump.
ACT 1
Remember when John alchemetized his weird apple entry item? That's where John decides to jump too. 30 seconds out from entry. He then immediately bails, deciding that it's too important to mess with. Really bad luck with a wimdy1 boy getting into a time travel thing. I bet my friend Serena who's a seer of time would have done Great.
INTERMISSION 1
Next appearance is intermission 1, when Hearts Boxcar fucking ate Eggs' head.
ACT 6 ACT SOMETHING INTERMISSION SOMETHING
This time his apperance is as the John who pushed another John out of the narrative for being out of position. The one where he told himself to find Roxy. Remember? John does but he doesn't understand. He might have the use of the powers down but whatever kind of 'theory' there is to it still escapes him. He settles on finding a consultant.
He focuses on the phrase he told to Terezi before and we are taken back to the page where she tries to do the mindy thing. But this time, theres a new option alongside the usual ====>.
[???????]
[A6A6I4] ====>
We're prompted for a password and upon submitting it, we see an alternate version of that scene play out. Terezi is completely shocked that it worked.
DARK CARNIVAL
We take a brief detour. Vriska and Meenah are prowling around the dream bubbles and have come upon what is likely a memory of the 'dark carnival.' They talk for a bit and decide to hang out there for a while. It seems fun. I like Vriska and Meenah hanging out like this, it's cute.
I know it's just an offset and some photobashing but the art in homestuck always kind of surprises me. It's so pretty and can be surprisingly moving. Meenah convinces Vriska to get a tattoo instead.
THE TWO JOHN PROBLEM
The two Johns talk while Terezi just kind of stands there. They start to discuss an actual plan centring on fixing Terezi's mistakes leading up to this point. John monologues about the nature of trying to change the past enough to save everyone, without erasing anyone. Terezi just ignores him. She was busy writing out a list of instructions in her own fucking blood. A hit list of locations and actions. She draws out her own chalk outline before passing the stick to John.
TEREZI: GOOD LUCK, 3GB3RT >:]
TEREZI: NOT TH4T YOU'LL N33D 1T
JOHN: why not?
TEREZI: B3C4US3 W3 M4K3 OUR OWN LUCK
TEREZI: 4ND YOU'R3 4BOUT TO PROV3 TH4T
The seer drops dead into her own outline.
DIVERSION
Jane Crocker walks her way into Calliope's black hole. Meeting Jade and Cali. A long awaited reunion. There is hesitation, but once she knows who it is, Jane is overjoyed.
I really need to make a trollsona at some point. That would be fun.
R3UN1ON
It drops John at that moment when he built a house of cards and had his friends dumped at his feet. He begins delivering a speech to everyone in attendance. He gives Karkat and Dave a hug. He leaves and retrieves the ring from the battleship.
SHATTERED PARADOX SPACE
We're back with Meenah and Vriska. They're sitting on a lonely island out in the middle of paradox space, watching Lord English continue to shatter dream bubble after dream bubble. and the illustration for it is just, gorgeous every time.
It is so adorable seeing them be happy together. I love these two, so much.
FR4M3D
Next up on Terezi's plan, all the way back to her introduction. We enter the password and see John appear at the senator's trial. The instruction this time is:
R3SCU3 TH3 W1TN3SS B3FOR3 H3 1S MURDE3R3D! (DON'T G3T C4UGHT.)
He moves the witness to safety. A confused Terezi searches inside while John contemplates how this will help at all.
MOM3NT
This time, it's Terezi pestering Karkat while sat on her tower. She's discussing the how her lusus woke her up on Prospit after she was blinded by Vriska. He leaves a cryptic message on her wall.
you don't need him.
(this is john by the way, ha ha.)
FAN TROLL
Jane's fantroll has spook and fork horns!!! The trio continue trying to jog Jane and Jade's memories. But all Jane remembers is her time as a trickster. Although Jade quickly cuts her off.
JADE: guys i think weve heard enough about the trickster stuff :|
Instead, they discuss their betrayal of their friends. Their defection to the Condense. Something comes as a surprise to Jade however. She randomly vanished at one point, before she could stop the troll's meteor. The heroes from the meteor attempted a prison break on Derse to rescue Roxy and Jake. Roxy died, saving her mother from impalement. Heroic.
ROXY
She stands infront of an open grave surrounded by a congregation of mourners. Rose is laid to rest in a grave marked with a sword and a bandana.
The last panel of the upd8 shows her sudden meeting with Jaspersprite. Thank you for reading, I am sorry this took so long.