#4356

We have a Light Player! We have your Light Player, Kanaya! Come on, we can sort something out!

ARADIA: but kanaya you still have important work to finish too! […] KANAYA: What Are You Talking About ARADIA: our race is extinct remember […] ARADIA: your job was to see to the resurrection of our people KANAYA: What Real Hope Is There For That KANAYA: The Orb Was Destroyed KANAYA: I Was Never Able To Duplicate It The Grist Cost Was Astronomical

I've got a workable solution for this one, actually.

Four new Lands means four new Grist Hoards.

Since the kids' four-Player session was supposed to make a universe, we can assume that the Hoards of the original four Lands are sufficient to fulfil that purpose. Therefore, the B2 Hoards are redundant, and Kanaya could potentially dip into them to make another Matriorb.

KANAYA: Doesnt Rose Know KANAYA: Cant You See The Path To Victory On This Matter

Alright, now Hussie's just fucking with me personally.

Like, I know for a fact that the phrase 'path(s) to victory' didn't show up in Worm until 2013, so this really is just a bizarre coincidence. Hussie just keeps making these incredibly on-the-nose references that are, nevertheless, provably accidental.

ROSE: It's hard to say. ROSE: Does the repopulation of your species qualify as victory? ROSE: These things aren't always clear cut. Some outcomes are for your own judgment. ROSE: What outcome would you like the most?

I thought that this would be the catch. Rose can see the path to anyone's personal 'victory', but she has no control over what that victory actually looks like. Plus, since we can't really control our own deepest desires, her targets can't manipulate this ability either.

They simply get a path to whatever they happen to want most, at that exact moment - and based on how Rose is describing things, she doesn't even get to know what that is. She sees the path, but not the goal.

KANAYA: I Would Like To Have The Orb Again And To Keep It Safe This Time KANAYA: And I Guess To Not Be A Total Failure

Aw, Kanaya...

If I had to take a guess, I'd say that what Kanaya wants the most is to revive and protect trollkind, including the trolls standing around her right now.

ROSE: If you follow my advice, I can at least promise you will find yourself in the best position to determine whether that may come to pass.

And Rose.... can't even confirm if there is a path to that.

Unlike Contessa, she doesn't get to know if her path is unachievable in all possible timelines - so she'll never know if her current task is fruitless. Not until the very end.

KANAYA: … ROSE: Can you please come? ROSE: Between the two of us, you with your inexplicably heretofore unmentioned phosphorescence, and I with my nigh-reflective traffic cone orange sun-sari, the meteor should never be too dark.

Come on, Maryam, that was so smooth.

Surely you have to come with us now, if only to hear more Lalonde Pickup Lines.

KARKAT: (sollux, oh my god is it me or is everybody already just fucking hitting on each other left and right? oh god i can't take sweeps of this shit, don't leave me alone here, please don't)

ARADIA: this is going to be a wonderful adventure for everyone ARADIA: im a bit jealous honestly! ARADIA: or i would be if i wasnt having such a good time with my death fangirl thing :p KANAYA: So KANAYA: You Arent Coming Then ARADIA: no

Disappointing, but not especially surprising. Aradia's role as Dream Bubble coordinator is extremely important, and she's the only Player we've got who has lived experience with necromancy.

...that being said, she's also the only Player we know can hold back Perfect Jack. Hopefully Dave will learn to do something similar before he catches up.

SOLLUX: yeah, i think i'll hang behind here t0o, if that's 0k with you guys.

I didn't expect this, but it does make a lot of sense. Sollux can finally reconnect with the living Aradia he's been missing ever since she died - and besides, he doesn't actually have a body right now, so he can't physically travel with them.

Well, we've just lost two of the strongest Players on the team. I can't blame them for tapping out, but it does mean we've only got two God Tier Players left. I still think Rose's power can probably turn the remaining Players into a force to be reckoned with - but if we ever lose her, we'll be extremely vulnerable. Come to think of it, Dave probably can't even time-travel out in the Ring, so we'd effectively be down to zero God Tiers, one vampire, and a Terezi.

SOLLUX: i'm just d0ne with this crap, this insane adventure bullshit, it's nothing pers0nal. SOLLUX: i just want to spend time with aa and chill 0ut and catch up with some 0f our dead buddies, is that 0k?

I still can't hold it against Sollux, though. He's been asking to get off this ride since before the session even started.

KANAYA: Maybe I Will Stay Here Too

Hell yeah. Rosemary survives another day!

KANAYA: But Must We Really Leave So Soon ROSE: It's soon or never. But not immediately. ROSE: Even if the route were accessible right now, it would still behoove us to wait. ROSE: There's correspondence from John yet to arrive.

Alright, but how do you know that? Your power's supposed to tell you how to achieve favorable outcomes, not warn you about incoming bucket pranks.

Perhaps Rose is able to glean some additional information from the specific actions she's being advised to take. Her power might not explicitly tell her that John's about to send a message, but her Path's next step might be something like 'retrieve John's message from the bucket', and she can draw the obvious conclusion.

ROSE: And after that, we have to wait for one final guest to appear. ROSE: Then we ride like the solar wind. The race will be afoot. KANAYA: Wait Another Visitor KANAYA: Who

If this guest's arrival starts a race, then it's almost certainly Jack Noir.

Strange that they'd wait for their adversary to catch up with them - but on the other hand, that means he'll be in range of Aradia's time-stop effect. She can give them the ultimate head start.

KARKAT: SOLLUX, WHERE DID YOUR BODY GO??? SOLLUX: hell if i kn0w. ARADIA: oh nooo :( KARKAT: WAIT A MINUTE. KARKAT: WAIT JUST A FUCKING MINUTE, WHERE'S… KARKAT: SHIT KARKAT: VRISKA'S BODY IS GONE TOO!

It was Gamzee. We even saw him eyeing up Sollux's corpse a couple of pages ago.

I'm pretty sure I know what he's up to, as well. Sollux and Vriska are the most powerful dead trolls on the meteor, so Gamzee's making sure they can't be prototyped later. He's clearly still trying to fuck everyone over, so he's taking the opportunity to rob them of a valuable resource before they've even realized what's happened.

KARKAT: OH NO, WHERE'S GAMZEE KANAYA: He Took Them KANAYA: Look At The Trails KARKAT: OHHHH FUCK KARKAT: NO, FUCK NO, FUCK THAT CORPSE HOARDING SACK OF HORRIBLE GARBAGE.