Let's Play Homestuck
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Act 5 Act 2: He Is Already Here.
Part 20: Troll Twilight
Link back to comic: Page 3493
EB: ok then, i guess i will get going.
EB: to keep looking for my dad!
AG: Are you sure you don't have more important things to worry a8out?
AG: We just concluded that I am going to go fight Jack. And there is a possi8ility I will fail! He could kill me easily for all I know. 8ut it's something I have to try.
AG: And if I do fail, your plan will serve as 8ackup. There is a lot riding on you, John. On 8oth of us!
EB: so you're saying i should go get the tumor now instead of putting it off?
EB: wait...
EB: i mean The Tumor!
AG: Yes, you could pro8a8ly go looking for a sanctioned entry point.
AG: Or you could just do what winners in a hurry do.
AG: Cheat!
EB: uh, is that even possible?
AG: I won't tell you how, 8ut I will point out you could start making 8etter use of your powers than facilit8ing noisy joyrides.
AG: Anyway, I'm just saying it's time to do something useful and impressive with your powers, deli8er8ly for a change. You are a god now, remem8er?
AG: That windy thing of yours is more vers8tile than you think.
EB: alright, i will try.
AG: I think it's time for me to get going too. I will prepare for 8attle.
EB: i guess if there is nothing i can say to change your mind, and it's something you really have to do, then i understand.
EB: but, how about this...
EB: can this not be the last time we talk before you go?
EB: it would be nice to hear from you at least once before you leave to fight him.
AG: Yeah! You got it. I will message you 8efore I leave.
AG: That said, there is no need for any sort of farewell right now.
AG: Go do your amazing windy thing, John. 8e cre8tive! I will talk to you l8er.
EB: ok, i will, later!
arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased trolling ectoBiologist [EB]
You be creative.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, a dinner for two is interrupted by a sudden quaking, possibly caused by a giant tornado drill.
The man and woman are at ease regardless, because they know that as long a they are together, they will be able to make it through anything.
Anything at all...
From the journal of Mindfang...
~ On the 14th 8ilunar perigee of the 2nd dim season's equinox ~
The Orphaner poses a caliginous riddle like no other I've met. I am presuming him 8othered 8y jealousy, and it would 8e sickening if it were not so marvelously amusing. 8ut then, who 8ut royalty could have the finned cheek to show disdain for the manner in which his 8lack lover conducts her red conquests?
He surely understands this as my maritime overlord, a superior while through gritting fangs he would concede the expanse of my plunder makes his seem hardly worthwhile to trou8le a map with good ink over. I know he understands. I will take what I want. I expect nothing less from Dualscar, and truly, less would offend me. He's so secure in knowing I can't feel what's in his mind he forgets the tr8torous ways of his own face. His little looks are words to me, interjections in our deliciously 8itter repartee. Is this not our routine? Our dance? What is this look, my dear kismesis? Is it shame? Envy? Contempt for what he knows will follow?
I nod her over. She is fearful and it makes her prettier. He scoffs without a movement or sound. I know there is disgust feeding the shadows in his corner of my 8lock. I take her will, 8ut leave enough of it to enjoy her response. Her hands are in my service 8ut they still shake. They unfasten the first 8utton at my jacket's waist, clumsily. I have masked the line 8etween my puppeteering and her volition exquisitely, and her uncertainty over her own control fuels her fear.
I look again at the face of my slave, imagining for a moment her mind is not an unguarded port to her every dread. I imagine I cannot feel her conviction that it's not merely a matter of whether she will 8e put to the irons, 8ut how hot they will 8e if she fails to please. The heat of her touch tells me the likely range for the color of her 8lood. I wouldn't have guessed it to look at her, not with her sign stripped. What will her fear 8ecome if I choose to show her mercy later? And even, in days, kindness? Will this 8e the red dalliance that 8ecomes fully flushed? Love demands my cunning just as my raids. If it is to 8e, she will never understand how thoroughly she was manipul8ted, her 8ody, her mind, her devotion.
I remem8er Dualscar again. My distraction from our 8anter was momentarily a8solute, and I inquire into the shadows. 8ut he is gone.
Then go, my kismesis. Fume with the indign8tion I gave you. I can only pray it 8lackens our 8ond. Let it 8e a gift of antagoniz8tion to you, my dear rival, on which you may 8rew pitch for me anew.
Alas, it may 8e that I am too good at spurring h8. Too good, at least, for him. I only hope he is not so foolish as to tread a path of less torrid malice.
For if he does........
~ On the 16th ~
My suspicions have 8een confirmed. I'm not grinning anymore, Dualscar.
Our orderly contention has dissolved right 8efore my vision 8fold. It was once a handsome 8lack, 8ut now sits like good strong tea sullied and cooled 8y unwelcome dairy.
Thus my heart was 8roken twice. I was fond of the slave. There was surely promise in her red investment. He had her assassin8ed.
And so I am visited 8y a 8it of 8ad luck for a change. It's not possi8le to evade it forever, I suppose. I will simply have to endure the misfortune of o8serving his 8ase and artless measures of retali8tion.
He's applied his own resources to increase the 8ounty on my head. I wonder if he intends such a laugha8ly ineffectual gesture as anything more than a formality, a sym8ol of his intent.
I've 8roken laws, yes. 8ut what has there 8een to pay for? If any act I've taken should demand a 8ounty, it was paid up front. I foot the 8ill myself with guile and supremacy.
~ On the 20th ~
If only my hoard were as 8ottomless as his desire to disappoint me.
Doesn't he remem8er what he's confided? It would 8e easy to give the evidence to Her Imperious Condescension, and he would 8e killed quickly for his unthinka8le presumption. He's taken a gr8 risk har8oring red am8itions for an empress who will never even know his name.
8ut then, he feels safety in knowing this. My sources say he is en route.
~ On the 21st ~
I've learned Dualscar has reported to the Grand High8lood all the intelligence he has on me and my fleet. It was inform8tion he'd guarded closely to protect our once mutually cherished rivalry. Ah, the shortcomings I manage to overlook for the sake of a lover.
I would have enjoyed witnessing the entertainment he prepared to please the High8lood. His sense of humor was dreadful. It would have 8een a true miracle if he survived the appointment.
Funny, I always imagined a grander entry in my journal for your demise, Dualscar. 8ut I should have realized you would die as you lived. A joke. I am overjoyed to understand now this was always your destiny.
It's 8een nearly a week since Dualscar's fitting end and I'd all 8ut forgotten the matter. It seems the Su8juggl8ors were not particularly inspired 8y his revel8tions a8out my affairs. Sources tell me their response was to commission one of the court's neophyte legislacerators to conduct the investig8tion and 8ring me to justice.
Neophyte Redglare is reported to 8e quite talented. I find no reason to dou8t this. Still, how can I 8e caused any unrest to learn their recourse is to send a lone, inexperienced 8ureaucrat to apprehend me?
I cannot view this as anything other than full concession 8y the High8loods. They now only seek to maintain the appearance of pursuing me.
As for Redglare, it would surprise me if I ever heard her name again. If she finds me then I welcome her challenge.
[S] 3x Showdown Combo.
NEXT CHAPTER: Jack Noir.
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