#s162

AG: Now what do you make of these 8lank white eyes of mine? What do you think THAT could mean, hmmmmmmmm? GT: i don't know. aliens usually have big spooky eyes, don't they? […] AG: […] normally, we have 8right orange eyes, with gray irises. They fill in with our 8lood pigment as we get older.

Badass. Now I’m picturing an adult Karkat with solid red eyes, or an adult Kanaya's eerie emerald gaze drifting toward her victim's neck.

Also, was Mindfang a lot younger than I thought, then? I guess we don't know how long it takes a troll's eyes to change, but hers haven't even started filling in...

...oh my god, you ridiculous fucking 8itch. You were like... twenty-two, tops, weren't you? You were a baby.

AG: So you don't remem8er anything a8out the game at all, then? The destruction of your planet? 8ringing your ancestor 8ack to life as a clown woman? AG: Putting a huge flaming ocean out with your magical wind? Jack Noir? Dying, resurrecting, and possi8ly dying again? Is any of this tickling your sponge? […] GT: nope. sounds cool though.

He doesn’t remember Nannasprite, but he does remember the wall scrawlings, even though he saw them after he met Nannasprite?

John’s recollection is all over the place, here. I suppose Earth's world champion of repression would take the longest to awaken suppressed memories.

AG: Fuck, I cannot 8elieeeeeeeeve how cold it is on this planet. How can any species possi8ly 8e a8le to survive somewhere like this?

Well, you've got a point, Vriska.

It is awfully hard to survive Earth's winter alone...

GT: yeah, i thought you looked pretty cold out here. GT: so i brought you this jacket.

The Quests have fallen by the wayside a little - but to be fair, the kids don't actually have any reason to complete the Quests of a doomed Medium. We're about to spin up an entirely new session, and that session's Quests are the important ones here.

DAVESPRITE: so DAVESPRITE: after laying low for a while DAVESPRITE: i just went and did whatever i could myself

Sounds like our boy's just looking for something to do.

I'd argue that Davesprite would serve the session better if he worked directly with the kids, but I completely understand why he’s not doing so. The poor guy doesn’t feel like the ‘real’ Dave anymore, and those emotions would only be intensified if he was interacting with a friend group which includes Dave Prime.

Come to think of it, that’s probably why he seems more comfortable with Jadesprite. They both understand the uniquely uncomfortable feeling of being treated like a 'backup' version of yourself.

DAVESPRITE: got caledfwlch DAVESPRITE: the fuckin welsh sword dave broke DAVESPRITE: went to look for hephaestus again DAVESPRITE: figuring there wasnt much hope in beating him this time either especially being injured and all but what the hell right

If he actually fought Hephaestus in this state, there was only going to be one possible outcome - and Davesprite knows it.

This guy really isn't ok. In a Medium full of emotionally traumatized children, Davesprite might just be the most haunted Player in the session. We just haven't really noticed, because he's been deliberately isolating himself for most of the Act.

God damn it, Isn't there something we can do to help this kid? The other Players are all busy with their own crises, but maybe being around Jadesprite will be good for him. I can only hope.

I'm just very worried that he's going to do something else pointlessly suicidal, and won't be able to take it back.

DAVESPRITE: thats when you lit the forge somehow JADESPRITE: i did? […] DAVESPRITE: not you other jade […] JADESPRITE: shes a lot more brave than me i think JADESPRITE: she brought me back thinking i could help her and all i did was disappoint her and everyone else JADESPRITE: you came back as a sprite and youre managing to do important things… JADESPRITE: but i just feel so scared and helpless

Helpless? Girl, you're as powerful as Doc fucking Scratch.

You could tear this entire Medium asunder, and it wouldn't even be hard. You literally have the whole world in the palm of your hands. I straight-up do not have the hyperbolic vocabulary to describe how un-helpless you are, but it seems you've come down with a nasty case of Tavros Syndrome, and are unable to perceive your own strength.

Look at Rose just standing there, hypocritically holding her ball of knockout-wool. She’s lightly chastising Dave for demanding to be the pilot, immediately after stealing the mission for herself.

She calls martyrdom 'greatness' - but in the end, she cared too much for Dave to allow him the 'honor' of a meaningful death.

TG: so im thinking obviously i have to break the sword somehow TG: because thats all i fucking do is break swords TG: but as im thinking of how to do it i put my hand on it

TG: and it just snaps off with this comical shattering noise

Weird.

Well, as I said, shattered swords do feature heavily in Dave’s Quest, so maybe they’re just programmed to break when he needs them to.

TG: then i took it and sliced the chain […] TG: the moon started drifting away TG: and i was going to fly up TG: and take it to the sun TG: and i said something to you TG: or i was going to TG: like say bye or something TG: but you were just standing there not saying anything

TG: holding that ball of yarn

Save your brother, Rose.

It is fate.

Now that is some real shit you just said. The kids didn’t ask for these Titles, and they’re too simplistic to fully encompass who they are as people.

Dave is not the Knight of Time. Rather, the 'Knight of Time' is just one facet of the infinitely complex mosaic of personality that we call Dave Strider. He's also a friend, a brother, a shitty rapper, an amateur photographer, and above all, a boy who wants to stop dying repeatedly.

Sburb doesn’t get the last word on who you are. You do.

TT: These really do not sound like the words of someone ready to face his own death.

Well, no – but that’s kind of a good thing, Rose. No child should ever have to be ready to face death, even if the game they're playing demands it.

TG: guess i failed my quest then TG: so im like TG: now what bitches TG: to nobody in particular i guess TT: The unseen bitches callously conspiring to expect greatness from you?

Furthermore, it is not greatness for a child to martyr themselves. It is a tragedy.

It should be avoided, Rose.

TT: If that's how you feel, TT: Then why did you insist on going on the mission to deliver The Tumor?

Perhaps he's trying to spare someone he loves from a similar fate.

Not that you’d know anything about that, right?

TT: What happened after we decided you'd go? […] TG: we were trying to figure out a way to detach the moon TG: so i could pilot it out there

TG: then out of nowhere this sword appears in the thing

Looks like Jadesprite’s up to something. She appears to have sent the Deringer directly to Derse.

Which is odd, actually. I don't see how she can meaningfully contribute to the mission. She has no reason to sacrifice her life, and doing so will deprive the kids of a powerful combat asset.

Hopefully that's a sign that she's got something up her sleeve to protect herself - and Rose - from the Tumor. You saved us once before, Liv. Can you make it a twofer?

TG: the bunny or the actress

lmao. It's nice to see that even this isn't enough to kill Dave's sense of humor.

TG: so youre not dead TT: Not yet. TG: then youre dreaming TG: what youre taking a little nap on the moon in the middle of nowhere TT: Afraid not! TT: I am wide awake.

Just like Aradia, Rose is physically standing before him in person. She’s travelling through the Ring, presumably visiting Dave’s bubble on her trip.

It's her last chance to see him, after all.

Davesprite’s still got his Sprite Pendant, I see. I was initially wondering if he would respawn from it after losing to Jack - but if he had, I don't think he'd have retained all this battle damage.

It’s not like Jack to leave a victim alive, so my guess is that Davesprite escaped through time, before his opponent could finish the job.

Jade’s default expression looks so out-of-place on Jadesprite.

She hasn’t been that cheerful since long before she was prototyped – but because she’s ‘a Jade’, she’s stuck with a sprite that was originally drawn with a silly, whimsical girl in mind.

Try as she might, she continues to be herself.

JADESPRITE: what is that? […] DAVESPRITE: legendary sword JADESPRITE: how did you get it? […] DAVESPRITE: shenanigans mostly JADESPRITE: yes i figured shenanigans were probably involved

I guess. In Jade's defense, though, she had no way of knowing that reviving her Dream Self would turn her into a separate person. She'd spent her whole life perceiving Dream Jade as a second body, rather than someone else's body.

As far as Jade was concerned, she was her Dream Self. That only stopped being the case after she was prototyped, and by then, it was too late.

JADESPRITE: i dont know if i would have if i had the chance JADESPRITE: but i would like to not feel so useless to everybody DAVESPRITE: i think everyones on top of this DAVESPRITE: theres not much for us to do anymore

Really don’t like where Davesprite’s head’s at, here. He’s essentially treating himself as an NPC whose role in the story has ended, rather than what he is: a three-dimensional human being, whose life's inherent value has not been diminished by spritedom.

Davesprite has a right to exist, and I don't care what he or Sburb say to the contrary!

JADESPRITE: what about your sword? isnt it important? […] JADESPRITE: what does it have to do with my volcano? DAVESPRITE: thats a bit complicated DAVESPRITE: see it turns out DAVESPRITE: i had no idea how the denizens worked at all

Ooh, interesting!

Well, we already know that Hephaestus and Echidna are more than just world bosses - the former is the lord of the Forge, and the latter is the gatekeeper of the Scratch. Perhaps all the Denizens have unique roles, beyond their duty as Quest bosses...

...or, perhaps they were never supposed to be bosses at all.

Oh, Nanna. :(

I hadn’t even considered the fact that Dad would be mourned by more than just his son. I think we’re about to see another side to this mirthful old woman.

...

No fucking way.

Zellige 162 - Rombo 1/12