truly an epic for our time
So I'm working on YET ANOTHER HOMESTUCK AU. This time it's a fusion of HS and the Tron movies; I have no idea why I haven't seen anyone working on something like this yet. It's been HOW long since we got a good look at Mindfang? For shame fandom.
Anyway, tonight I talked it over with Tamiko:
iridescentPotato 12:32 am
but yes tell me of gridstuck
CinnabarDrake 12:33 am
I love your fics <>
but yes, Gridstuck
GRIDSTUCK
the major problem I was running into with the beginning was the sheer amount of STUFF I needed to establish
this is a fusion of the two universes, that Grandpa, Nanna, Bro, and Mom are the ones who established the Grid and the ancestors helped them, that Jade, John, Dave and Rose are following in their footsteps
I really wanted a graceful way to establish all that without getting bogged down in a million page prologue like I did with LoM XD not that I don't like how LoM is turning out but you know what I mean
CinnabarDrake 12:36 am
plus I thought beginning in a way that called back to one of the Tron movies would be pretty cool, so I thought of beginning the story with the guardians or Nanna hanging out with their kids, maybe one of them telling a bedtime story about the Grid or something, but it didn't really work
then it hit me that the moment of inciting action in Tron Legacy, the moment when the action REALLY started from a linear standpoint, was the flashback to CLU ambushing Flynn and Tron
iridescentPotato 12:37 am
*nods*
also really quick: http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnqxdh64Aj1qe9bmjo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1309764995&Signature=0tnRMrSxXtI%2F5S2Pv7m28AhkMRw%3D
CinnabarDrake 12:37 am
so now I think I'll begin with the three Guardians plus Nanna meeting up at the end of their latest sojourn in whoa
that is a fraking awesome image
freaking
iridescentPotato 12:37 am
fracking
are you a battlestar fan?
CinnabarDrake 12:37 am
this is what you get for wearing a bird on your head dave
not really XD
iridescentPotato 12:38 am
anyway sorry XD
just had to share that
CinnabarDrake 12:38 am
no that was cool
iridescentPotato 12:38 am
continue
CinnabarDrake 12:38 am
good share <>
CinnabarDrake 12:39 am
but anyway so I'll have Nanna approaching the entry point with two of the Ancestors in tow, probably Madblood and Mindfang, since in canon both Vriska and Karkat have strong feelings for John and I want to preserve that, even though Vriska is ultmately ending up with Tavros
but then on the other hand it would also make sense to have Mindfang hang out with Grandpa, since they're both sailers. Hm.
anyway Nanna will provide exposition about the state of the Grid, how far it's come since her brother first brought her and their other two friends into it
CinnabarDrake 12:41 am
and then she meets up with Grandpa, Bro, and Mom, and their assistant trolls, and they all chit chat a little bit about what they've gotten done this time around, what they'll get to next time, maybe one of them will bring up the idea of bringing the kids with them next time
and then the Empress shows up
she's not by herself, Dualscar and I THINK Deadword and Sollux's ancestor are with her, one because it'll surprise the readers if THEY were the ones to turn traitor and two it'll put an interesting spin on Darkleer later
also three if the Grand Highblood is on the side of the Users in this scene it'll make the twist that he possessed Gamzee's body and is working for the Empress in the present that much more surprising
CinnabarDrake 12:43 am
anyway the four Users know something is up, but they aren't sure what's going on and the Empress doesn't start out overtly threatening. She asks if them if they're really leaving again so soon, but there's so much more they could accomplish and the time between visits always seems so long
gradually it becomes more and more obvious that the Empress REALLY wants them to expand her realm so she in turn will grow more powerful
Deadword and Solluxcestor chip in about how the Users have still told them practically nothing about their world and the machine the Grid inhabits, what's up with that
eventually the tension reaches the breaking point and the Empress demands the Users stay, and when they refuse she calls on the guards she had waiting in the shadows and orders their arrest
iridescentPotato 12:46 am
*nods*
CinnabarDrake 12:46 am
the ten loyal Ancestors tell the Users to flee and face off with the traitors and the guards
I'll have Madblood rush into the fray, possibly kill Dualscar right off only to get stabbed by the Empress
and end the scene
TWELVE YEARS LATER IN THE REAL WORLD
*cue soundtrack*
iridescentPotato 12:49 am
which was madblood?
CinnabarDrake 12:49 am
the Sufferer
sorry
XD
iridescentPotato 12:49 am
ah okay
CinnabarDrake 12:49 am
I am stealing that name
iridescentPotato 12:49 am
i like it
CinnabarDrake 12:50 am
cool ^^
I kind of want to kill off Dualscar in the beginning because I have this scene planned towards the very end where Feferi and the Empress fight while physically inside the Mother River
so it's a matter of both fighting their opponent and trying not to be swept away and dissolved by the current of information
and it'll turn out that the Empress has been keeping Dualscar's code around in a semi-lucid state
JUST IN CASE something like this happened
CinnabarDrake 12:51 am
so he'll suddenly reach out of the current and try to tear Feferi's face off
iridescentPotato 12:52 am
D:
On a side note, the Mother River is basically an AU stand-in for the Mother Grub. Gridstuck trolls don't reproduce sexually; their code coalesces from the River, which flows through the sky, and as they age and amass life experience their code becomes more complicated. When they die their code returns to the River and is dissolved by the current, then recombined with other codes to create new individuals. Establishing strong emotional attachments in life (the concupiscent quadrants) ensures that in death, your code will seek out the codes belonging to the people you cared about or loathed. The conciliatory quadrants are still concerned with keeping society running in an orderly fashion.
The Empress is able to commune with the Mother River and influence what sort of new individuals will be created. Obviously there is no possible way this could be abused by a power-hungry harridan. No way.
CinnabarDrake 12:52 am
but then just when it seems he's going to tear her to pieces ERIDAN suddenly shows up, or rather his ghost. You might recall that he tried to sell the Users out to the Empress in exchange for Feferi's safety, only for the plan to backfire on him
the Empress killed him once his usefulness came to end
but now his ghost is given the chance to redeem itself by attacking the Empress, which causes Dualscar to release Feferi and go after him
CinnabarDrake 12:53 am
the Empress is dragged into the current by their combined weight, and dissolves, leaving Feferi victorious
iridescentPotato 12:54 am
that's really great!
well I mean sad and such
but it's a really good way to do it
CinnabarDrake 12:54 am
thank you!
both Eridan and Dualscar suffered from the same fatal flaw in this AU
CinnabarDrake 12:55 am
they let their love for Feferi and the Empress, and their hope that their beloved would some day return their feelings, blind them to everything else
Dualscar betrayed his creators for the Empress, even though he knew she was in the wrong, and Eridan tried to sell out the new Users and all his friends in an effort to protect Feferi from her own destiny
iridescentPotato 12:56 am
*nods*
CinnabarDrake 12:57 am
in fact if I can figure out to slide in there gracefully I'll note that Dualscar's love for the Empress was so strong that he retained it even after he'd lost his life, his will, even his mind
CinnabarDrake 12:58 am
the Empress ordered his ghost to destroy Feferi, but when he saw her in danger he rushed to her aid -- and in the process hastened her destruction
I might have the ghost of Nepeta's ancestor explain all this to Feferi just before she seizes control of the Mother River and takes the Empress's place. Without a balanced heart even good things like hope or love can turn evil, or something like that
at some point I want to give all the Ancestors at least a short appearance
iridescentPotato 1:04 am
makes sense
and yes
CinnabarDrake 1:05 am
Deadword is a code ghost living inside Darkleer's old lab
she's even creepier than Aradia because Darkleer DIDN'T try to replace the lost bits of her code, he just kept searching for them inside the river
so whereas Aradia is kind of creepy and spacey Deadword is just
dead
no emotion at all
CinnabarDrake 1:06 am
I think Darkleer eventually crossed the event horizon of abject despair and tried to destroy her, so she killed him
because she has things to share with the second generation of Users
I think probably the Empress killed her at some point, which is why she's 0kay with betraying the Empress in turn
iridescentPotato 1:09 am
makes sense
CinnabarDrake 1:09 am
anyway there'll be some exerpts of Darkleer's audio diary lying around something, in which he'll talk about how he doesn't care that Deadword betrayed the Users, he'll brind her back anyway, and once she sees that was HIM and not Solluxcestor that resurected her she'll love him back
both incredibly arrogant (of COURSE she'll love me!) and pathetic at the same time
and then gradually growing despair as he fails to turn Deadword in an actual person. She's just this horrible dead...thing.
thus triggering Equius's realization that yeah, he really did do something horrible to Aradia when he tried to bring her back
so that's Deadword and Darkleer, and the Sufferer/Madblood is of course playing Rinzler in this fic
CinnabarDrake 1:11 am
the Grand Highblood is possessing Gamzee, the Empress is on the throne, Dualscar is hanging out in the River being a code zombie
Vriska has Mindfang's diary
I kind of want Solluxcestor to be like
some kind of Grid-cyborg or something
like his life's goal was to understand the inner workings of the computer in which the Grid itself was hosted, and so as he felt himself aging he tried to make himself part of that structure
so the kids will finally run into him and he's like halfway encased inside a wall or something
What you should all be taking away from this is the fact that I have a HUGE thing for unrequited love. That is like the fastest way to ensure I will sympathize with a character.
I also really like it when living characters are partially and painlessly encased inside walls. It just looks cool.
Anyway, tonight I talked it over with Tamiko:
iridescentPotato 12:32 am
but yes tell me of gridstuck
CinnabarDrake 12:33 am
I love your fics <>
but yes, Gridstuck
GRIDSTUCK
the major problem I was running into with the beginning was the sheer amount of STUFF I needed to establish
this is a fusion of the two universes, that Grandpa, Nanna, Bro, and Mom are the ones who established the Grid and the ancestors helped them, that Jade, John, Dave and Rose are following in their footsteps
I really wanted a graceful way to establish all that without getting bogged down in a million page prologue like I did with LoM XD not that I don't like how LoM is turning out but you know what I mean
CinnabarDrake 12:36 am
plus I thought beginning in a way that called back to one of the Tron movies would be pretty cool, so I thought of beginning the story with the guardians or Nanna hanging out with their kids, maybe one of them telling a bedtime story about the Grid or something, but it didn't really work
then it hit me that the moment of inciting action in Tron Legacy, the moment when the action REALLY started from a linear standpoint, was the flashback to CLU ambushing Flynn and Tron
iridescentPotato 12:37 am
*nods*
also really quick: http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnqxdh64Aj1qe9bmjo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1309764995&Signature=0tnRMrSxXtI%2F5S2Pv7m28AhkMRw%3D
CinnabarDrake 12:37 am
so now I think I'll begin with the three Guardians plus Nanna meeting up at the end of their latest sojourn in whoa
that is a fraking awesome image
freaking
iridescentPotato 12:37 am
fracking
are you a battlestar fan?
CinnabarDrake 12:37 am
this is what you get for wearing a bird on your head dave
not really XD
iridescentPotato 12:38 am
anyway sorry XD
just had to share that
CinnabarDrake 12:38 am
no that was cool
iridescentPotato 12:38 am
continue
CinnabarDrake 12:38 am
good share <>
CinnabarDrake 12:39 am
but anyway so I'll have Nanna approaching the entry point with two of the Ancestors in tow, probably Madblood and Mindfang, since in canon both Vriska and Karkat have strong feelings for John and I want to preserve that, even though Vriska is ultmately ending up with Tavros
but then on the other hand it would also make sense to have Mindfang hang out with Grandpa, since they're both sailers. Hm.
anyway Nanna will provide exposition about the state of the Grid, how far it's come since her brother first brought her and their other two friends into it
CinnabarDrake 12:41 am
and then she meets up with Grandpa, Bro, and Mom, and their assistant trolls, and they all chit chat a little bit about what they've gotten done this time around, what they'll get to next time, maybe one of them will bring up the idea of bringing the kids with them next time
and then the Empress shows up
she's not by herself, Dualscar and I THINK Deadword and Sollux's ancestor are with her, one because it'll surprise the readers if THEY were the ones to turn traitor and two it'll put an interesting spin on Darkleer later
also three if the Grand Highblood is on the side of the Users in this scene it'll make the twist that he possessed Gamzee's body and is working for the Empress in the present that much more surprising
CinnabarDrake 12:43 am
anyway the four Users know something is up, but they aren't sure what's going on and the Empress doesn't start out overtly threatening. She asks if them if they're really leaving again so soon, but there's so much more they could accomplish and the time between visits always seems so long
gradually it becomes more and more obvious that the Empress REALLY wants them to expand her realm so she in turn will grow more powerful
Deadword and Solluxcestor chip in about how the Users have still told them practically nothing about their world and the machine the Grid inhabits, what's up with that
eventually the tension reaches the breaking point and the Empress demands the Users stay, and when they refuse she calls on the guards she had waiting in the shadows and orders their arrest
iridescentPotato 12:46 am
*nods*
CinnabarDrake 12:46 am
the ten loyal Ancestors tell the Users to flee and face off with the traitors and the guards
I'll have Madblood rush into the fray, possibly kill Dualscar right off only to get stabbed by the Empress
and end the scene
TWELVE YEARS LATER IN THE REAL WORLD
*cue soundtrack*
iridescentPotato 12:49 am
which was madblood?
CinnabarDrake 12:49 am
the Sufferer
sorry
XD
iridescentPotato 12:49 am
ah okay
CinnabarDrake 12:49 am
I am stealing that name
iridescentPotato 12:49 am
i like it
CinnabarDrake 12:50 am
cool ^^
I kind of want to kill off Dualscar in the beginning because I have this scene planned towards the very end where Feferi and the Empress fight while physically inside the Mother River
so it's a matter of both fighting their opponent and trying not to be swept away and dissolved by the current of information
and it'll turn out that the Empress has been keeping Dualscar's code around in a semi-lucid state
JUST IN CASE something like this happened
CinnabarDrake 12:51 am
so he'll suddenly reach out of the current and try to tear Feferi's face off
iridescentPotato 12:52 am
D:
On a side note, the Mother River is basically an AU stand-in for the Mother Grub. Gridstuck trolls don't reproduce sexually; their code coalesces from the River, which flows through the sky, and as they age and amass life experience their code becomes more complicated. When they die their code returns to the River and is dissolved by the current, then recombined with other codes to create new individuals. Establishing strong emotional attachments in life (the concupiscent quadrants) ensures that in death, your code will seek out the codes belonging to the people you cared about or loathed. The conciliatory quadrants are still concerned with keeping society running in an orderly fashion.
The Empress is able to commune with the Mother River and influence what sort of new individuals will be created. Obviously there is no possible way this could be abused by a power-hungry harridan. No way.
CinnabarDrake 12:52 am
but then just when it seems he's going to tear her to pieces ERIDAN suddenly shows up, or rather his ghost. You might recall that he tried to sell the Users out to the Empress in exchange for Feferi's safety, only for the plan to backfire on him
the Empress killed him once his usefulness came to end
but now his ghost is given the chance to redeem itself by attacking the Empress, which causes Dualscar to release Feferi and go after him
CinnabarDrake 12:53 am
the Empress is dragged into the current by their combined weight, and dissolves, leaving Feferi victorious
iridescentPotato 12:54 am
that's really great!
well I mean sad and such
but it's a really good way to do it
CinnabarDrake 12:54 am
thank you!
both Eridan and Dualscar suffered from the same fatal flaw in this AU
CinnabarDrake 12:55 am
they let their love for Feferi and the Empress, and their hope that their beloved would some day return their feelings, blind them to everything else
Dualscar betrayed his creators for the Empress, even though he knew she was in the wrong, and Eridan tried to sell out the new Users and all his friends in an effort to protect Feferi from her own destiny
iridescentPotato 12:56 am
*nods*
CinnabarDrake 12:57 am
in fact if I can figure out to slide in there gracefully I'll note that Dualscar's love for the Empress was so strong that he retained it even after he'd lost his life, his will, even his mind
CinnabarDrake 12:58 am
the Empress ordered his ghost to destroy Feferi, but when he saw her in danger he rushed to her aid -- and in the process hastened her destruction
I might have the ghost of Nepeta's ancestor explain all this to Feferi just before she seizes control of the Mother River and takes the Empress's place. Without a balanced heart even good things like hope or love can turn evil, or something like that
at some point I want to give all the Ancestors at least a short appearance
iridescentPotato 1:04 am
makes sense
and yes
CinnabarDrake 1:05 am
Deadword is a code ghost living inside Darkleer's old lab
she's even creepier than Aradia because Darkleer DIDN'T try to replace the lost bits of her code, he just kept searching for them inside the river
so whereas Aradia is kind of creepy and spacey Deadword is just
dead
no emotion at all
CinnabarDrake 1:06 am
I think Darkleer eventually crossed the event horizon of abject despair and tried to destroy her, so she killed him
because she has things to share with the second generation of Users
I think probably the Empress killed her at some point, which is why she's 0kay with betraying the Empress in turn
iridescentPotato 1:09 am
makes sense
CinnabarDrake 1:09 am
anyway there'll be some exerpts of Darkleer's audio diary lying around something, in which he'll talk about how he doesn't care that Deadword betrayed the Users, he'll brind her back anyway, and once she sees that was HIM and not Solluxcestor that resurected her she'll love him back
both incredibly arrogant (of COURSE she'll love me!) and pathetic at the same time
and then gradually growing despair as he fails to turn Deadword in an actual person. She's just this horrible dead...thing.
thus triggering Equius's realization that yeah, he really did do something horrible to Aradia when he tried to bring her back
so that's Deadword and Darkleer, and the Sufferer/Madblood is of course playing Rinzler in this fic
CinnabarDrake 1:11 am
the Grand Highblood is possessing Gamzee, the Empress is on the throne, Dualscar is hanging out in the River being a code zombie
Vriska has Mindfang's diary
I kind of want Solluxcestor to be like
some kind of Grid-cyborg or something
like his life's goal was to understand the inner workings of the computer in which the Grid itself was hosted, and so as he felt himself aging he tried to make himself part of that structure
so the kids will finally run into him and he's like halfway encased inside a wall or something
What you should all be taking away from this is the fact that I have a HUGE thing for unrequited love. That is like the fastest way to ensure I will sympathize with a character.
I also really like it when living characters are partially and painlessly encased inside walls. It just looks cool.