#theothin

Re-reading CC's conversation with Ly'lac, I do have to say I get that "Bard of Blood" title guess vibe really strong all over again. The shape-based romantic entanglement talk, the way Ly'lac doesn't take a single declaration of love for her from CC seriously, the way Ly'lac keeps insisting CC not sexualize her relationships and CC doesn't listen... the way CC immediately breaks her promise and prommy to Ly'lac to not tell AA about Ly'lac's dream by the time their conversation is barely finished, it all fits quite strongly.

Also, between Ly'lac telling CC about dreaming on Derse and recent events, I wonder whether CC is already Derse-awake and knew well about this place before Ly'lac joined her in wakefulness, or if she's just sleepwalking. Here, for example:

GC: besides you don't even know what they look like. CC: o ly'lac… CC: the things i know…

--CC might be indicating that she's seen the Derse dreamers in their rooms before, including "the enigmatic fictional maiden" Vriska (Vrissy) that Ly'lac is friends with. Could be CC has no clue, could be that she's gotten impressions from her dreams, or even from other sources. We'll probably see in a sec! (I've been using her for CC since the others seem to consistently refer to her as female outside of her male fictional Satyr front to championsTirade [CT], which, now that I think about it, may very well ALSO cause some serious dramatic fallout between our session players in ways a Bard of Blood might be expected to foster.)

Let's get started... I believe I guessed last time that CC's deadly swipe is going to reap nothing but Hat.

> Menacing Figure: Rip and tear!

OH MY GOD she DOES look the part of a fujo, down to a collared shirt that's practically school-uniform-esque. Does her upper organon NATURALLY look like a Rose-esque purple headband or does she color parts of it?? Which parts??? No wonder she was purple AND teal themed.

Oh, and she's DEFINITELY wide awake. Which was pretty freakin' fast for her to go to sleep so soon after the conversation Ly'lac had with her after Ly'lac woke up, unless CC is double-awake like Dirk Strider thanks to her role or the power of Nymph Upper Organon?

(EDIT FROM LATER IN THE UPDATE: Hold on, when I compare the background from page 978 to 977 and especially to the later 983, it's clear that we've switched perspective to her waking location in this shot with her eyes open, which means she actually MAY NOT BE fully awake on Derse, in fact probably just sleepwalking unless we have full Dirk Strider dual-wakefulness. It's too soon to tell; sleepwalking is just the most likely, not certain. I'm going to cross out references to her having to have for-sure Derse-awoken or taken a nap, further down this post until I realized that, because it's very VERY doubtful she had time to take even the slightest nap between her conversation with Ly'lac previously and with AA upcoming.)

She LOOKS like a total shit-disturber. She's got a very Vriska bent to her design, very "I will cause ALL of the drama and laugh". With a face this pretty and promising, I can absolutely see why the BC team couldn't wait to introduce us to her.

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They're really going all-out introducing us to this ERP addict. (That's not an insult, who am I to judge, a licensed psychologist told me it's a healthy outlet)

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Wait, I didn't notice the change of scenery last panel. Where is this in the waking world, the deep sea of Deltritus? Where does the team get off using a 1.2 MB gif out of nowhere? How do they get it to look that fucking smooth?! And why does what looks like the local sea wildlife carry a... (looks up the wavy dagger thing) kris of all things!? Who forged that weapon for its tiny hand?!?

Sassy kill pose, CC.

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((EDIT 2, MADE AFTER THE POST WENT UP: A friend (dva) pointed out that's the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the background, insinuating that this area ensconces some Satyr ruins, plus this image and later shots use a ton of holding hands imagery in the background construction that might indicate a collaboration between the races, and/or the Blood Aspect. EDIT 7 part 1: Also I forgot Scythes (CC's weapon) and Sickles (Karkat's weapon) share a function.))

((EDIT 3: Same friend (dva) also mentions her socks make little upside-down skulls (cute!), and that not only does her skirt design resemble Kanaya's (that makes me sad) and her dual colors are almost Kanaya/Rose shipping colors (Blood!?), but also that her overall design resembles that of the scythe-wielding Maka Albarn from Soul Eater, which I really should have noticed.))

She cuts an EXTREMELY Rose-Lalonde-like silhouette. So far, the Nymphs have at least tangentially embodied parts of their progenitor's personality just like the Satyrs have Dirk, not just physical resemblance-- Ly'lac is nerdy and depressed and quietly lonely/insecure, AA is nerdy and wordy and putting-on-airs and knowledge-dealing and meddling, and now CC here is nerdy and fanfic-writing and as lascivious as Rose's choice of chumhandle. I'm sure it's been put that way before, but SEEING her here and putting a face to her almost Roxy-like taunt-ramblings makes it all click together a lot better. More cohesively.

You are now a mysterious seafoam tendrilled nymph in a mysterious new place acting in mysterious lunch motivated ways.

Her color is literally Seafoam Green, in her sign and design, and Ly'lac did refer to her as a "seafoam sucking pervert" to AA.

Is this place related to TWATTS (Those With Ambition Towards The Stars), or is the stars-and-moon iconography everywhere a coincidence? Did CC also have a hand in AA's gift of The Latchkey to Ly'lac?

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It's a beautiful night. The same beautiful night that has been down here for as long you can remember.

I wonder if the sea floor this deep would actually be impacted by a meteor strike of baby-carrying size or if it'd stop and float most of the way down? Probably not.

CC doesn't look too different from Ly'lac, where AA's Upper Organon was definitely stranger and more pronounced... I had assumed Ly'lac was the only one of the three who hadn't had her "Great Metamorphosis" / Morphday yet, just like John and Karkat were the youngest to have their birthdays in their sessions being the lead players? Is Ly'lac still set to, possibly, undergo some sort of physical transformation that the other two have already undergone? Do nymphs just arrive in the staggering variety of looks that the Granny Nymphs clearly have or is Morphday one of the factors responsible? Did AA have a much more 'standard' Nymph silhouette before her own Morphday we know for sure has passed? What the fuck does the Great Metamorphosis do??? Hmmmm.

Ooh, this next link calling AA specifically "Maroon" has potential nautical dual meaning in "marooned". Until we see AA for ourselves though, it'll be hard to tell how specifically much that pun means anything.

> Seafoam Nymph: Respond to Maroon Nymph.

HER NERDINESS INCREASETH STILL!!! LOOK AT THOSE PUFFY SLEEVES.

Okay AA is clearly using a Farsight Orb to view CC as she talks too, unsurprisingly (AA certainly did so before), but portraying it this way puts more emphasis on how Foresighteryish AA likes to go about these things and be portrayed.

I knew something looked a bit weird about her shirt symbol... this isn't the EXACT way her symbol appeared on the Command Console, it's softer and more organic! But it WAS the exact way it appeared in her SPRITE FORM. I'm not sure if this means anything.

It sure feels weird to be getting an in-person view of someone's conversation log without knowing what EITHER of their names are. A possible first?

AA: Hi. CC: haaaaiii CC: wats da haps sista sista AA: Ugh. AA: It may please thee to know I just got off the orb with a satyr.

Huh. Ly'lac DID instruct AA to message TC to relay "tell him to get started without me but i'll be around in a bit.". And unlike the mysterious "be nice to her." instruction the Horrorterrors had for Ly'lac to relay to AA that AA said she was going to ignore, with the "you know who" it was about probably CC but potentially unclear, AA did pretty much promise to go through with it in a more reliable promise-upholding fashion than CC.

CC: oh for realziez? CC: I may be pleased.

CC's not above mocking AA's proper diction and capitalization.

AA: Unfortunately, it will subsequently displease thee to know that now everything is terrible, possibly forever.

Huh! That's not the result I expected from AA just talking to TC. Perhaps if I'm at all close to right about TC being a Seer of Void or similar, TC just informed her of something of the truth of how their session will unfold or some of its related disasters, dropping it on her because we're getting closer and closer to the point where secrets such as "this game is going to end our civilizations" will be exposed publicly enough to cease to matter as secrets.

CC: lololol you and lylac are sooooooooo dramatic its honestly adorbz CC: werent u jus kickin ur feet squeeing about babz first dream, why is ur bean so freakled?

It's not that odd to square CC's typing style from the way she looks on THIS panel, but it IS a little strange to square her diction with the way her smirk looked just prior.

AA: Feh… AA: Someday thee will understand that happiness is fleeting in this world of false expectations. AA: All that truly remains is fate's furious fist. AA: Forever punching this poor kindly nymph down, down, DOWN. CC: grl u sound like lylac soooo bad rn rofl

Aradia back in Hivebent showed that many sources of foreknowledge of what is to come when someone is about to start their session, aside from Skaia, can give someone a rather grim outlook. Especially if they're a Time player, aligned with the more destructive side of the aspect pair.

CC: wat i wanna know is who u were yappin w CC: waz it my boyo CT? hes p kyuuuuu~te rite? AA: Absolutely not. AA: He is tied for the worst, most unfortunate one.

Most unfortunate? What? Does CT have more weighing him down than we know (I mean, probably)? Or does AA take her farseeing fangirl act to heart so much that she proscribes misfortune to anyone who it's a pain to converse with (...also probably)?

AA: No, it was the impetuous "TC" with whom I had the displeasure of exchanging displeasantries. CC: now why the freak did u go and do that? AA: I was doing a favor for a friend! AA: As I am wont to do, I'll have thee know! AA: And yet, for my kindly deeds, I've been punished in unceremonious fashion. AA: Punished and USURPED!!! CC: get surped AA: THIS IS SERIOUS. AA: He… AA: He spoke prophecy. <8{<:(

HAH!!!!!!

Add a bunch of points onto my "TC is a Seer" pile, kthx. Oh, and a couple bonus points to the pretty much given and long-aforementioned "not an oracle" AA is a non-Seer class pile. Really would suit the classpect situation for the Seer-fangirl to get one-upped by an actual Seer wouldn't it?

AA: I've spent so many turns biding my time, leveraging advantageous ambiguity with the utmost temperance so as not to upset the delicate unfolding of events and for what? AA: To play right into the grotesquely muscled hooves of that conniving wretch!

I wonder if part of AA's, like Nymph civilization's, obsession with foretellings of doom and delicately handling matters of prophetic foresight comes in part from Rose Lalonde being a Seer and the race taking after her? I mean... it definitely does, we pretty much know it does. (Also, some potential casual racism from AA.)

CC: i git hes sposed to b this cryptic supergenius but dont u think u might b overreacting a itty bitty bit CC: liek i doubt he even believes in divinity and alldat jazz CC: waz he talkin apocalypse? CC: gurl waz he talking poc

Abbreviating "talkin apocalypse" as "talking poc" is just, giggle-worthy hilarious here. I would be surprised if that wasn't a common abbreviation across Nymphkind what with the race's ability and fixation thereof.

AA: In a sense… though our conversation stayed confined to the particulars of the upcoming game.

Yep, TC seems like the one person out of everyone who ought to know the most about what's going to happen with The Game in terms of the material world, though it looks like AA knows quite a bit from Prospit dreaming and seeing Skaia's visions... which reminds me that she knows who her fellow dreamers are, too, including TC, Swiss, and two of the Candy Kids. That she's surprised that TC knows more than her ought to indicate that either TC hasn't woken up, or she doesn't know that he's woken up if he has? Though most likely, TC's expectations when it comes to Shurb have no need of Skaia, necessarily.

CC: o okie so this is all just bby frygames and not my prob CC: phew! *stops giving a crumb about all ur bellyachin* AA: Thou hand over that crumb at once! CC: *looks inside wallet and wat will ya know there's not a single crumb left to spare for ur brokey subcutaneous mass* CC: *oh wait it just so happens that i got ONE crumb left…!* CC: *OH NOEZ!* CC: *a sudden swish of undersea current has swept it rite out of my purse and off into the inky black never to be seen againe….* CC: *i guess its gone forever*

Funny how CC is awake on Derse, presumably took a nap in between Ly'lac's conversation and this one with AA, and has no idea that Shurb is connected with Derse at all. Funny AND believable, really.

AA: Then let thee be forsaken, because this is OUR problem. AA: He mentioned you too, whelp. CC: lolz *pees* so scawy AA: Do not pee.

CC is almost intimidatingly juvenile. Like, it takes gumption to be so aggressively immature.

AA: Though it is indeed scary, considering thy name was mentioned, by him (by name.) AA: Instead of that awful alias thou chose, I might add. CC: *le facepalm…* grl CC: way to bury da dang lede (//_-)

Okay, that's interesting.

So. We not only have confirmation that the hidden surnames of these Nymphs are important past their Epitaphic Hexes ("Of the Final Applause" etc), but that TC had some way of knowing CC's. Gee, someone who... understands things that have been hidden/obscured, what sort of Classpect suits someone like that...? (Seer of Void Seer of Void Seer of Void)

Where would he have come across such information? Too many potential sources, even if he wasn't using Skaia's clouds; as Karkat put it, Shurb is a game of a million guides. And wherever he sourced his information has plot implications. Could it have been from the Candy Crew potentially, or more likely perhaps Dirk Strider or Rose Lalonde? We already know Dirk is interfering with the session by putting a hit out on the Candy Kids' dreamselves, so it wouldn't be all that surprising if Dirk was dropping the "lead Satyr" (as he might see it) some hot tips about his co-players and the Game to come.

((EDIT 6: Scratch the HELL out of all that, @theothin points out that I probably obviously misread this and AA is referring to CC's Nymph name as opposed to her SATYR alias "Dagger". Almost assuredly this would be dead easy for TC to figure out from CC's computer with the modicum of hacking skills we already know him to have.))

Also, whether or not Dirk directly interferes with the Satyrs and Nymphs playing -- although I'd assume to keep their competition as interesting as possible (and for the story's sake), Dirk and Rose would have a no-direct-interference pact regarding them so they aren't just being puppeted about, whether or not Dirk decides to shred that pact and just paper over the violation of Rose's sportsmanship with the narrative abilities he's keeping secret that he'd been manipulating her with -- it also makes sense that especially if it turns out he can't excise the Candy Kids (as it WILL turn out), Dirk Strider or both him AND Rose might try and co-opt some of the players into opposing the others or the Shipbound crews who are against Dirk, recruiting some of the new session's heroes to his cause.

AA: It wasn't beyond me that this might be of no small interest to thee, but in my defense, my own suffering takes precedent. AA: I assure thee, however, he did not hear it from either Ly'lac or I. AA: Even if it would bring me untold happiness to see thee embrace thy true name, lovely as it is, rather than continue to besmirch thyself with that twisted surface moniker. AA: "Sic prankz," be damned. AA: OH how I care for thee, despite thine odd and concerning ways. CC: ok ya focus chica CC: wat did he say CC: XACTLY? AA: He foretold I'd be last in the order of entrance! AA: Not only proactively gatekeeping me from the coveted position of Ly'lac's guide, but foiling my schemes to shut these undesirables out completely in one fell swoop!

OH MY GOD. AA, you... really, REALLY suck at foreknowledge, especially for a Time player. Have you really not seen a SINGLE glimpse of the Satyrs in the Game in Skaia's clouds while you were admittedly flying about? Did you think you could shut them into their own unrelated Game Session where you all didn't necessarily meet?? YOU HAVE NEIGHBORING TOWERS ON PROSPIT YOU RACIST TOOL, did you think just ANYONE could inhabit them?!? Er, well, now that I think of it... she would see a couple of Candy Kids in the towers, but-- no no, she knows for certain the Candy Kids are going to play with them or at least Vrissy is, so she has to be a great deal deluded despite all her pretentions if she really, genuinely believed she had the slightest chance in hell of cutting the Satyrs out of her upcoming Session.

AA: All we had to do was enter right after one another and when the time came, you would connect to Ly'lac instead of one of those nobodies, closing the loop and ensuring our victory. AA: Devilishy clever, yes? CC: ya ur like the smartest prettiest best lil acolyte ever no matter wat anyone says CC: n the part abt me? AA: He said thou should be expecting a message soon, more than likely from thy benefactor. CC: from whomst? AA: That bastard said "she'll find out soon", but obviously it won't be me, so who cares! CC: hmm~! ic

The term "benefactor" is potentially one of the most loaded terms there is in this situation. I don't think it's referring to CT, because... well, CC's relationship with CT doesn't really work that way. It could be, though. TC also says CC will find out soon, meaning she isn't necessarily going to EXPECT the person who messages her... that's more than a little ominous to me. It could be Dirk or Rose alike, in the worst case. Depending on how far Dirk carries his game with Rose and when he cuts competition short in favor of opposing the interfering heroes trying to stop them, it could be that Dirk gets to lend tips to Satyrs and Rose gets to lend typs tips to Nymphs even, though that would seem incredibly biased in a Seer of Light's favor if it was within the competition's scope. If you didn't take the true strength of Dirk's narrative powers into account especially... (I still wonder if Rose is truly blind to how she's been manipulated even after all this time. It feels like at some point she MUST have figured it out, accepted it, and fully joined the opposing team, but I'm not sure if Dirk knows that for sure, and I'd also be plenty glad to be wrong.)

AA: This is all so wretched… AA: All I wanted was to enjoy a fun game with my friends as fate crescendos about us. AA: Instead, I'm left ignored, irrelevant, hounded by the Archmage and her atrocious golem, AND I forgot how to mute that stupid groupchat so I'm stuck getting notifications everytime the ugly grey blowhard says anything.

Feel left irrelevant after talking to the presumed Void player hm? And I assume the "ugly grey blowhard" is the Archmage? (There doesn't seem to be a number-of-letters pattern going on with guardians or antagonists, here.)

((EDIT 4: Strike that, friend (dva) points out AA's referring to SWISS blowing up the Cha.OS admin groupchat, LOL!!! Because light-grey text, and "ugly" because... well, AA's quite bigoted I guess.))

AA: Why is life so hard… why is everything so shit? CC: wrow ive never seen ur jimmies so wrastled liek this b4 CC: pick ur dome up bby lets just do sumthing about it AA: There's nothing to be done… it has been written, so it must be… CC: *pinches ur buccal blubber HARD* CC: stop crying!!! AA: I'm not crying. I was never crying. AA: I'm lamenting. CC: (//_-) AA: I'm wallowing in the miasma of my melancholia. CC: *pets ur pointy head*

I wonder if CC is the sort of friend who makes a habit of calling her other friends to action like this? Even if we're right about her being a Bard of Blood, a Blood player is still a Blood player. They bring people's heads out of the clouds and down to brass tacks. (Interesting idiom btw.)

CC: dis DOES got me thinking… CC: i was always mad curious wat his deal w lyly was CC: but now that purple nurple is rooting around my personal deets liek a hungry lil truthhog CC: i got suspishies… AA: Suspicions?

Dammit, these are going to be shipping suspicions aren't they.

CC: oh man CC: oh man OH MAN CC: this… could b bad AA: What? AA: What is it? AA: What could be bad? CC: nah ur already stressed out mang CC: idek if u could handle it CC: this … this is real bad AA: Huh??? CC: IM SCARED AA: TALK TO ME!!!! CC: OH IM SO SCARED CC: okie. ill tell ya CC: do u know… what a harem is?

God damnit, CC. You're definitely not scared at all, either. You're just trolling and/or fantasizing.

AA: Oh hell nay. AA: I swear to you, by all the moons, I will never let this happen.

AA just HOW CREDULOUS CAN YOU BE, oh my god!!! XD Why, WHY would you buy CC's opinions on relationships?? Just purchase in, flat out, because it's suggesting something bad about someone you have a grudge against?

I mean, I guess they are teenagers, and this is pretty standard Homestuck player tomfoolery.

CC: but u said it urself CC: degen or no its prophecy CC: if kisses be written so must kisses be given CC: badda bing… badda boom… (//_;) AA: NAY… CC: poor pure innocent sweet lylac… shes already so tangled up in his twisted schemes she wont have a clue waddah heck is even happening until its too late CC: n lil ole me… CC: i say a lot of silly, weird stuff but i dont want this CC: not like this CC: IM A GOOD GRL I SWEAR AA: I KNOW THIS. I KNOW THIS LIKE IT IS MINE OWN FLESH. CC: ILL DO BETTER I WONT WRITE OR READ NONE OF THAT DIGUSTINGNESS ANYMORE CC: SO PLS PLS PLEASE DONT LET HIM GET ME CC: HALP!!!!! AA: I WILL REDIRECT THE VERY TIDES THEMSELVES IF I MUST… AA: TO USHER FORTH A NEW PROPHECY. WHERE NOTHING BAD EVER BEFALLS THEE.

Oh CC is absolutely enjoying the hell out of herself right now. Look at what she's doing! I can't see anyone discounting the idea that she's a Bard of Blood after this conversation, my god.

CC: IM ONLY A TEENY LITTLE FLOWER I DONT WANT TO GET PLUCKED CC: I DONT WANT TO BE TURNED OUT!!! AA: Turned OUT? AA: LIKE INSIDE OUT???????? CC: PROBABLY! AA: BY THE NINE!!!!! CC: *faints* AA: I'm trembling with rage, the schemes are flying through my mind. CC: *reaches out weakly towards u from where u r ignorin me on da ground* im feel so cold… AA: *Falls to my knees and swaddles thee in my tendrils.* CC: *is hold* CC: aw yus

CC is definitely loving every goddamn second of this.

AA: …. Yes. AA: Yes, I see…. CC: wut do u c CC: its so dark… (//.x) AA: It's all clear to me now. AA: I was so caught up in my own bullfish I completely forgot I've already thwarted him BAHAHA! AA: She just needs to open that last present and we'll be free from his conniving.

How? Would Ly'lac be so indebted to you by the wand gift that she wouldn't listen to... no, wait, wait a minute. This ISN'T about the wand, she opened that in their preceding chronological conversation. This is about the SECOND giftbox that AA sent Ly'lac, which we haven't seen her open yet. What exactly could it be that AA thinks could possibly throw off TC's prophecized connection schedule, which it won't? A Farsphere that only connects with Nymphs or something?

I also can't tell from context if CC was potentially on to something about AA maybe, possibly having something for Ly'lac. She seems utterly and completely invested in Ly'lac's well being and sure did freak out quite credulously at the idea of TC manipulating her or others to fawn over him, like someone blinded about Ly'lac's feelings or others' designs for her by a crush might be, but I don't want to romanticize their relationship without proper suspicion. Even if that suspicion came, in part, from a Blood player, who to be fair had highly motivated reasoning to suggest it.

AA: Wait… CC: (//3o) ? AA: What? -- auguryAside's [AA's] orb has exploded. --

This is the second orb in AA's possession that has exploded, so I'm guessing it has something to do with her fleeing-the-feds situation. Otherwise I might suspect TC was cutting off her so-called-plans by hacking her computer to explode at key points to keep her from being Ly'lac's Server Player. Which, to be fair, is still an option. Especially if he turns out to be a Void player.

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How can someone so sinister looking simultaneously look so cute being sinister???

It seems like all these girls do is explode. That should keep her busy.

While you, what? Hammer out some harem fic? Contact TC, who you've possibly been in contact with this whole time despite pretending you don't even know him, to collude about the situation? --Does he know about your real name FROM YOU??

Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to judge. But if CC is a Bard of Blood...

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OH DANGIT!!!!! You turned your back on the body.

Or you don't care and you just wanted more lunch. (Nice callback btw, etc.)

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Talk about making these Nymphs resemble Rose Lalonde, they specifically scrunched the hell out of CC's face to make it a perfect ancient callback to Rose's Act 2 facepalm (and FACEPALM x2 COMBO) even though it left CC relatively off-model here compared to both Homestuck's and HS:BC's evolved artstyle.

Looks like it's a one munch lunch today. Stupid, stinking hag. Sometimes it's more like you're the caretaker around here. At least your chores are technically done and you can go back to your beautiful reclusehollow.

Just what IS Ly'lac's caretaker, anyway? A separate species, or a really callback-styled metamorphosis-path of Nymph? CC's caretaker is doubtless going to be different, I would imagine? ((EDIT 5: Again, (dva) chimed in to let me know the HS:BC team have said in the Discord circa this message (link to Homestuck Discord don't click unless you're sure) that the Caretaker IS a Nymph and that she was designed to look different because her mantle and face are fused together more vividly ala the design principle of Guardians being more featureless, but I expect this will either be elucidated soon in canon or in Patreon Commentary I guess. I'm highly surprised it hasn't come up in Patreon Artist/Writer Commentary before this, but I checked back and they neglected to say a thing!))

And how much or little of the gorgeous architecture surrounding CC is her reclusehollow? (I'm glad she can recognize it as beautiful, that's healthy at least.)

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I mean... if I had that sight to swim down past every day of my life, I guess I'd hopefully have enough gumption to middle finger that sight for fun-- oh god damnit I just realized thumbing back and forth through tabs that the shot of CC with open wakeful eyes wasn't on Derse so she might not be fully Derse-awake. (Going back up and editing that into a spot earlier in my post from here.)

That looks like the light-ball at the center of a star projector or planetarium projector toy to me.

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Oooh, a dramatic zoom-out while she swims down!!! :D

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Oh she's pretty darn deep down there. (EDIT 7 part 2: And the two faces kissing twice here (more Blood!), I missed that-- another friend suggested this depthsbound place is a monument to love between a Nymph and Satyr, probably the famous pair of legend, but also doubling as a metaphor for how Rosebot buried her relationship (Kanaya/Rose) in the depths for this task with Dirk, making it all the more relevant that CC practically bears both their colors.)

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Whoa, this is the coolest place the HS:BC crew has designed for us yet by far. A self-contained organic-styled community, porous and with its own light source radiating out from the center. Fuckin' rad.

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And it only gets radder! Looks like the holes might be styled to not let the largest and most dangerous sea life inside. It's braced by tethers against parts of the ocean floor, or at least styled that way. If those happen to be ACTUAL tethers, then we should acknowledge the possibility that if CC is indeed a Bard of Blood, in the process of joining her session she might instigate those tethers being cut, Prince of Blood Jack Noir cutting the moon free of Prospit style.

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I had expected more communities like this one surrounding it, but nope. And uh... just how far are we zoomin' out? I almost expected us to arrive in AA's farsphere by now if it hadn't exploded.

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My Digital Color Meter tells me that's #000000 from end to end with no variation I can find.

"Life is but a dream within a dream" - 2,290,384th tide necromantic poet, Wen'dy Sqwilliams, Foreseer of The Killer

Hopefully "The Killer" isn't particularly relevant. Cross your fingers. (The quote itself is most likely referencing Edgar Allen Poe because of course his works are ensconced in Lalonde's personal mythology. I don't know anything about the celebrity they're referencing apart from how they saw the opportunity to make a Spongebob pun with her name.)