#3695

It's weird. This really isn't any more violent than Slick was in the Intermission - but the framing makes it so much worse. We were in Slick's head when he was killing Felt members, and most of his actions were petty, and played for comedy. This is more like a hunt.

Plus, the Felt weren't helpless victims. They were a rival gang who were trying to kill him, but these are just terrified bystanders. Like I said, the War has long been forgotten, and all its deserters wanted to do was live.

A tiny light in the darkness. All this destruction, but he can't even harm a symbol of Jade.

Wow, John. Props to you for finding the worst possible moment to bring this up. I'm not going to pretend it isn't darkly hilarious that this is when you broach the topic, but... hot damn, man! You can't even understand her!

...yup.

This is so twisted. He needs to know, but Rose's only option is to show John, even though she'll have no way to prepare or comfort the poor guy. All she can really do is be there.

It does mean that John will join Rose on her warpath, though - so I think it's time to see what a God Tier can really do. He's probably safe from dying, too, since 'arriving too late to save your father' could hardly count as heroic.

Rose isn't a God Tier, though - and Jack has to get that bloody arm from somewhere. She'd better be careful, or the Tumor will have lost its pilot.

Continuing the environmental foreshowing from earlier, this area presumably represents the podium which forms at the end of a successful session. Unlike the trolls' podium, this one contains a frog - confirming that, at the end of Homestuck, we will get our universe.

Oh my god.

Oh, we’re really dragging this one out, aren’t we?

In defiance to my expectations, Rose actually seems fairly lucid. Her expressions and body language make it clear that she's trying to explain the situation, but the Horrorterror magic coursing through her body has rendered her as incomprehensible as her patrons.

I spent a couple of minutes trying to translate her Horrorspeak, but I didn't make any progress. I'll probably run some more analysis after the flash.

He's entirely unbothered by Rose’s transformation - which, to be fair, is entirely in keeping with what we know of him.

You might want to savor that feeling, John...

...because there's still something terrible on the horizon, and you can't outrun it forever.

Yeah, this is pretty clearly "John, our parents are DEAD!"

I'm really tempted to pause the liveblog, and try to use this as a mini-Rosetta Stone for Horrorspeak, but I'll resist the translation.

The - the velvet pillow?

One of the greatest bits that you and your mother ever shared?

You’re still holding onto it?

There you are.

Better rev up those wands, Rose.

We seem to have a set of curtains for every Act...

Apart from the current one, which is instead split into Curtain 5 Act 1 (Threadbent) and Curtain 5 Act 2.

Finally, we reach the true ending of Act 5, and begin the Scratch.

Then, it seems the reboot session will feature six green Acts. The old colors were representative of the story's two main universes, so does this color change imply the existence of a third relevant universe?

Anyway, I'm thinking that these Acts will feature remixed versions of their predecessors' events - with Scratched!John entering the session at the end of Neo-Act 1, and so on.

Oh, dear.

I'm sorry, John - but I think it's time to rip the band-aid off.

Really?

We're really going to do Rose like this?

She is apparently swooning over a hero of lore shared by the two kingdoms. A great man who united opposing sides against his tyrannical king.

Talk about a working-class hero. The fact that WV was prophesized by both kingdoms was probably how he was able to unite them as effectively as he did.

His status as a pan-Carapacian legend is probably fairly unique. When both sides of the Battlefield hailed the Vagabond simultaneously, something probably clicked in a lot of their brains.

Wait a minute. We're the same, aren't we?

...hey, I just realized something.

Those murdered Dersites can't have been part of WV's army, because Jack killed his entire goddamn army. The Dersite above might revere WV now, but she and her companions remained loyal to their kingdom during the battle.

And yet... here, in this room, with the apocalypse at the door, everyone's thrown their old allegiances aside, and they're peacefully sharing space. For the little time they have left, there is no more war.