#s47

If Sollux is the one who smells a rat, then maybe the mechanism of the Mistake relates to one of his interests, such as coding. Sollux would surely notice the telltale signs of a botched ~ATH script, or other supernatural programming error. 

Sburb’s source code doesn’t control the Medium - but it did transport the kids there. Maybe they’ll try to reverse this process, opening a gateway out of the Incipisphere to escape their failed session - but since none of them can code properly, the program actually tears holes in unrelated sessions, such as the trolls’. 

FCG: HE SAYS HE'S WORKING ON TRACING THE ORIGIN OF THIS DISASTER.

I love how Kanaya’s sitting right behind the origin of this disaster. 

FCG: IN A WEIRD WAY I'M SORT OF LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVING SOMETHING NEW TO BE PISSED OFF ABOUT. FCG: IT'S NOT LIKE THERE'S ANYTHING ELSE TO LIVE FOR NOW ANYWAY.

I totally get it. The whole team must be...

Actually, let’s think about this. Now that I’m familiar with all the trolls, how do I think each of them is reacting to their failure? 

Aradia saw this coming, of course. Before the session, she was completely 0k with their inevitable failure - but now that she’s partially alive again, that might be about to change. We do know that she’s going to be uncomfortable with Project Trolling - but why? 

Tavros misses Prospit. That aside, he’s probably just happy to get to relax after their month-long campaign. 

Sollux is suspicious. Something has gone very wrong, and he suspects that the cause lies outside the session. Plus, he’s apparently been spending a lot of time with Feferi... 

Nepeta probably misses the outdoors. We don’t know much about her role in the session, so I can’t tell if she’s going to be heavily involved in the current crisis. What’s a Rogue to do? 

Kanaya is surrounded by her scared, confused teammates, and her level-headedness is surely being tested. She’s probably working closely with more reasonable trolls like Karkat, and desperately scanning Rose’s guide for any clues about their situation. Once she realizes the truth, she’s going to be livid. 

Terezi’s skills lie with people. She’s keeping a close eye on her peers, trying to figure out how they’re responding to this disaster, and who might become a problem. She also finds the whole thing kind of funny. 

Isn’t it awful, Vriska, to be forced into a loss through no fault of your own?

Equius probably blames the session’s failure on its lowblood leader. He might try to take command, but I think he’ll be distracted by relationship drama with Aradia. That one ain’t gonna last.

Gamzee hasn’t been paying attention, and still thinks the session is in full swing. He’s just chillin’. 

Eridan doesn’t understand what went wrong, and doesn’t care - he’s still struggling with the fallout of Alternian societal collapse. Unlike Equius, he has no relationships to distract him, and I’m expecting an actual coup attempt. 

Feferi has grown closer to Sollux, who is about to locate the humans. She’s probably involved in this search, since she’s going to unite the two races. 

FCG: LAST SWEEP'S EVE WAS PROBABLY THE LAST HAPPY MEMORY I HAVE IN FACT. FCG: WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO FOR THE LAST HOLIDAY? FCG: ANYONE? FCG: I REMEMBER MY LUSUS HAD BEEN GONE FOR DAYS AND I WAS STARTING TO GET WORRIED. FCG: BUT THEN HE FINALLY RETURNED, TRIUMPHANT. FCG: HE BROUGHT THE FRESH BEHEMOTH LEAVING INTO OUR HIVE, AND TOGETHER WE DECORATED IT. FCG: AND FCG: I DUNNO FCG: THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY, I'M GETTING A LUMP IN MY SQUAWK BLISTER.

Alternia hates its young.

It hates them. It really does. They’re forced to prove their worth in the brooding caverns before they can even speak - and even if they survive, many of them will be murdered by the state for arbitrary reasons. They’re killed for being single, for being mutants, and for standing too close to a body of water, for fuck’s sake. This planet hates the children who call it home.

But they still have holidays. 

If that isn’t the most bittersweet thing I’ve ever heard. Alternia scoffs at art, fashion, peace and family, but in a strange twist of fate, it does not scoff at Sweep’s Eve - presumably, the troll equivalent of New Year’s Eve. On this brutal, pragmatic planet, these kids celebrate the simple joy of a new beginning - just like us. 

There’s a crumb of warmth baked into Alternian society, despite everything its leaders have done to stamp it out. 

FCG: I GUESS I'M DONE. FCG: I'M GOING TO LIE DOWN NOW FCG: ON THE STEEL FLOOR OF THIS FRIGID METEOR DRIFTING THROUGH THE BLACK UNCARING VOID OF OUR NULL SESSION. FCG: NULL, KIND OF LIKE THIS MEMO I GUESS

For its inhabitants, this warmth can be rather hard to find... 

👀👀👀

Magic is tricky to define. Personally, I’d consider a fictional phenomenon to be ‘magical’ if the story ignores any scientific principles which may underpin it. If the story presents a phenomenon as something that doesn’t need to be explained to the reader, then that phenomenon is, or may as well be, magical.

FCG: WE CAN ALCHEMIZE PRACTICALLY ANYTHING WITH THE RIGHT MATERIALS AND GRIST. FCG: WE CAN, AND DID, MAKE SUPER POWERFUL WEAPONS AND ITEMS THAT CAN DO PRACTICALLY ANYTHING. FCG: WHAT ADDITIONAL ADVANTAGE COULD MAGIC OFFER? ALL THIS SHIT IS PRACTICALLY MAGIC ANYWAY. FCG: BUT MORE LIKE FCG: GOOFY SCIENCEY MAGIC. YOU KNOW?

So I agree with Karkat - and actually, I’d go even further. Sburb’s basic mechanics aren’t practically magic - they are magic. 

That’s not to say these mechanics have no rules. Alchemy is well-defined, and I can happily theorize about it - but the comic will probably never explain how an Alchemiter creates matter from nothing. That’s magic. 

CGA: I Need To Figure Out A Way To Stoke This Volcano CGA: In Case You And The Others Are Successful In Recovering The Queens Ring

What, are you going to pull a Frodo?

Oh my god, you are! 

So that’s what the Forge does. It probably melts it - and given that this is the Forge, the metal is probably used to make something else. Raw material for the Ultimate Alchemy, perhaps? 

CGA: Still Baffled By What Would Conceivably Cause Such A Crisis In Awesomeness Post-Victory FCG: WELL FCG: FOR STARTERS FCG: HAVE YOU SCROLLED UP TO THE TOP OF THE TIMELINES YET?

Whatever this is, it takes place hours in post-session Karkat’s future. After a certain point, Trollian completely flips out, and refuses to load anything past this position on the timeline. 

The simplest explanation, of course, is that there’s nothing to load. 

I prefer the boots, but that is pretty sick. I award it second place on the podium of Sburb mobility devices. 

DRAGONSPRITE: sniff sniff DRAGONSPRITE: hey terezi! DRAGONSPRITE: heeeeeeeyyyyyyy! DRAGONSPRITE: hiiiiii terezi!

The intelligence of a sprite is proportional to its ingredients. Dragons are typically rather clever, but this one is just a wyrmling, so she’s probably comparable to Jaspers. 

If sprites age, that could change - but I’m not sure she’ll have the time. The trolls’ sprites are conspicuously absent from the Veil.

CG: OK I GOT YOUR MESSAGE CG: THANKS FOR NOT HASSLING ME ABOUT IT IN ONE OF THE MEMOS TO GET MY ATTENTION, I APPRECIATE THAT. CG: UNLESS YOU DID, BUT IT WAS IN A FUTURE MEMO I HAVEN'T WRITTEN YET, IN WHICH CASE HAVE A BIGTIME FUCK YOU ABOUT THAT IN ADVANCE. [...] GC: M4YB3 1 W1LL ST4RT MY OWN BULL3T1N BO4RD GC: 4ND 3V3RYON3 W1LL B3 4LLOW3D TO R3PLY 4NY T1M3 TH3Y W4NT GC: 3XC3PT FOR GUYS W1TH NUBBY HORNS, OH NO, TH3Y W1LL NOT B3 4BL3 TO R3PLY 4T 4LL

These two are pretty messy, but here’s my full read. 

I’m fairly sure that Karkat was referring to Terezi here. He has a flushed crush on her, but her personality mildly annoys him sometimes. His irritation, paired with his genuine attraction to her, is confusing him, making him wonder if this is actually a blossoming kismesissitude. He’s therefore started forcing himself to insult her, even in places where it doesn’t naturally fit. 

You see in the paragraph above, where he sincerely thanks her for her tact, and then immediately pivots to flaming her for potential rudeness? That’s clumsy pitch flirtation, from someone whose heart isn’t really in it. 

Terezi, meanwhile, is harder to crack. I’m pretty sure she’s attempting both pitch and flushed flirtation, but I can’t tell what she actually feels. She definitely likes Karkat, but I don’t know what direction. There’s a decent chance that she just doesn’t know herself - which is, if nothing else, pretty realistic. 

CG: THIS IS AN EMPTY THREAT, BECAUSE IF YOU MADE A BOARD AT ANY POINT ON THE TIMELINE I WOULD BE ABLE TO SEE IT RIGHT HERE AND READ THE WHOLE THING ALREADY. CG: WAIT... CG: OH GOD, YOU ACTUALLY DID.