Ashes

[melannen]

So those of you who aren't fans of Homestuck but have carried on reading this journal regardless may not have picked up on this yet, but one of the reasons I love Homestuck fandom so much is that it has a completely different concept of romantic relationships than any other fandom I've been in. In Homestuck canon, "romance" does not mean "two people of the same (or opposite, if not slash) gender fall in love, have sex, and commit to be in a relationship only with each other." While there are some other SF fandoms where the canon has an opening for this kind of thing, Homestuck is the first one I've encountered where the majority of the active fandom seems to have really embraced the possibilities instead of falling back on standard monogamy.

And I don't just mean the fact that at least two-thirds of the main characters come from cultures where homosexuality "isn't even a thing" - where a few of them have an expressed preference for partners of one gender, a few of them have an expressed preference for partners of another, but it isn't the most important thing about them, and the vast majority of the characters simply don't care.

It's the fact that in Homestuck fandom, "romance" can mean a lot of different things. There is sexual romance and non-sexual romance, romance based on hate, and romance based on compassion, and romance based on necessity, and romance based on lust; romances of two people and romances of three people; romances that fit the normal human ideas and romances that are compromises between people who have different needs and preconceptions; and romances that transcend all definition. And it is ordinary and expected that everybody will be in several romantic relationships of different types, with different people, at the same time. And if you start having romantic tension with somebody, the first step is flailing around about exactly what kind of romantic attraction you have for them and if it matches the kind they're feeling. And all of these forms of relationships have 'romantic' and 'platonic' versions, and people actually remember to specify which one it is.

And Homestuck accepts this as how you do romance. It understands that romance is not a simple concept that only means one thing. And in Homestuck fandom, a 'ship in which the partners have sex and stare dreamily into each other's eyes is given exactly the same status and consideration as a 'ship in which the partners gag at the idea of sexual contact with each other, but make sure they get enough to eat and sleep and cry on each other's shoulders and die at each other's side. And it is perfectly okay to 'ship a character the first way with one person and the second way with another person, and it doesn't mean either 'ship is 'less important'. (And in fact the two most-beloved canon ships in all Homestuck are the non-sexual kind.)

And Homestuck fandom has a whole, vibrant, functional vocabulary for talking about all these things; and forget about / vs. & - Homestuck fic hearders regularly use six different pairing delimiters. People write black flirting and pale porn and ashen infidelity and flushed cuddling and everybody knows exactly what all of those things mean. And the terms work, and people accept them instead of arguing about them, and talk about all of this stuff (and write it in fic) in a nuanced way, and none of the terms make me cringe and want to page away. (okay people's attempts at spelling them yes, the terms themselves no.) Basically, Homestuck fandom on romance is what the asexual community wishes it was. And they do most of this on Tumblr.

(Or possibly it's just what I wish the asexual community was. Can we please appropriate 'moirail' and stop using the terms 'zucchini' and 'queerplatonic' and so on? Please?)

Anyway, all of the above is to say that I've written ashen pwp. Or possibly "have been writing it", since I put up the first one on bucketlist a few weeks ago and then just finished the second one last night. They're up on AO3 now, so here are the links:

Intercession (1702 words) by melannen
Fandom: Homestuck
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: The Handmaid ♣ The Grand Highblood ♣ The Sufferer
Summary:

The Sufferer is the Auspistice of the World, for his cloak is Ashen, and he standeth amon9st us, and sayeth, Peace. 6y which he meaneth, shut the fuck up, for I am Sick of dealin9 with your Shit.

--2nd Testament of the Disciple, 4:13

(for a kinkmeme prompt wanting anything involving the Grand Highblood and another (or more) of the ancestors that's either ashen or black. Given the choice, I obviously had to figure out who I shipped him ashen with! And now this is my favorite ancestor ship of all.)


Passion (4089 words) by melannen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Homestuck
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: The Handmaid ♣ The Grand Highblood ♣ The Sufferer, Darkleer/The Handmaid, Darkleer ♦ The Disciple
Summary:

You cock your head, pretending to think this over. And then you lean over the table, your face bare inches from hers. "Nah," you say. "I DECLINE THE HONOR. Bright fuck-off scarlet DON'T ALL UP AND MATCH MY DECORATING SCHEME."

(Or, the Ancestors do Easter.)

Because once I had the Sufferer and the Grand Highblood and the Handmaid in a quadrant together, I couldn't not do the Sufferer's version of the Passion story. (Which, uh, it's an Easter fic, it's not spoilers to warn that the Sufferer dies, right? No graphic torture or death scenes though. Also I think despite writing a fic based around the Passion story, I only made one bingo on all those cards I wrote up last entry, and that one uses a free space. This story pokes at entirely different kinks than the version with Human Sufferer in it.)

And now that that's written and posted, maybe I can actually concentrate on some other creative project now. Any other creative project! That wasn't even the Easter fic I was supposed to be writing.

---also, while I am here, I want to whine about the fact that various male relations are allowed to get online during the family Easter dinner, so that they can check on their fantasy baseball teams, and not only that they put the game on, and nobody says anything about it, but I'm can't check to see if the new fic I posted to AO3 has any new comments, because it's a family dinner. It's not that I want to be able to check AO3 instead of playing with younger cousins, it's just, dude, if fantasy baseball is more important than your kids' Easter, why are you even here? And why do they let you get away with that?

Comments

[sineala]

I nth all the people who would definitely read a Homestuck primer if you put one together. I have read a couple stories with the vague sense that I am missing A WHOLE LOT OF WORLDBUILDING. (Including yours, which I liked very much, but I am completely clueless about all the pairing-relations or characters or really everything except I hear there are trolls and sometimes fandomsecrets is mad about how one character might or might not be gay according to the creator but I don't know which one.)

I would start by reading canon, but I don't even know how to read the site. Is it part of MS Paint Adventures? Is there a separate thing? Are there other things I need to read first? I am not even sure how to read the comic. I mean, I know how to read webcomics, and I have been playing interactive fiction games possibly since Infocom was still making them, but is this some kind of game like IF or does "interactive" mean the guy just solicits reader suggestions and is there a linear story or something? SO CONFUSED. Also the bit where the fandom on Tumblr probably doesn't help because I also don't understand Tumblr.

...is there someone/something I can ask about this?

[melannen]

Augh, okay, I guess I shall have to do a primer post then. :P

For your specific questions: MSPA is the creator's web sit with several different stories by him, all of them in more-or-less the same format, but you can read Homestuck as a self-contained adventure. (It has some references back to a couple of the previous stories, but they're all more like in-jokes than anything really relevant.)

It started out being "interactive" as in the reader suggestions thing, but he doesn't do that any more. However, every so often, the comic panels are actually interactive flash minigames (including two that are small early-rpg-style games where you control a character exploring a map and talking to other characters). Also there are a few place where you're given multiple options for which order to read the story in. However none of these actually change the story outcomes. Each page has a number and if you go through in numerical order, you get the whole thing, more-or-less as intended. (It has a linear story as much as story about time travel and multiple timelines and alternate universes and a missing fourth wall can have a linear story.)

[sineala]

Oh, thank you! That actually helps; I think I will try it again.

(Also, on an entirely unrelated fandom note, am I the last person in Rihannsu-verse fandom to figure out that the storyline more or less *is* the founding of Rome up through the revolution and beginning of the empire? I am, right?)

[melannen]

But Roman, remember you well that your own arts are these others: to govern the nations in power; to dictate their rule in peace; to raise up the peoples you've conquered, and throw down the proud who resist...

Ask Lieutenant Kerasus. ^_^ I'd like to think that Ael's reign ends better than Caesar's though.

[sineala]

There is that. :)

I'm thinking that Ael is more like Augustus, though -- or at least Julius with a better ending. I can't think of any Romans who came back from exile who weren't just, you know, poets. (The old Ruling Queen was obviously Tarquin the Proud and S'task is Aeneas.)

(I also cannot figure out what translation of the Aeneid it is that Kerasus quotes; if it's not Duane's own work, it at least isn't searchable on the internet.)

[melannen]

I suspect it's her own - or at least a substantial alteration of existing translations. All else aside, that would get around the copyright issue...

ETA: I'm not too good on my early Roman history in general, sadly, but clearly somebody needs to write Sutcliff Rihannsu AUs. I particularly want the one where Alexios is Rihannsu and Hilarion is at least half Vulcan, but the Eagle ones would probably be easier to come up with a plot for.

[sineala]

I had been assuming it was public-domain (of which there are plenty), but it didn't match any that I could find.

Oh, man, now that you have said it I definitely want the one where Alexios is Rihannsu and Hilarion is half-Vulcan (are you thinking that he's one of those children of Hellguard that mostly keep their mouths shut about their parentage?) and they're all posted to some backwater monitoring station where nothing works right. Is that the same one you wanted? (Also, why do you think Eagle AUs would be easier?)

[melannen]

It seems to be the translation that TV Tropes quotes. :D I wonder with troper is a Rihannsu fan.

Because with an Eagle AU you could just write the one where Esca is an undercover Federation agent Marcus buys him! And then they're sent back into Federation territory undercover because Esca was Federation before his world was conquered! And you wouldn't have to do nearly as much of your own worldbuilding. :D Frontier Wolf's relationships are slightly less archetypal. However I enjoy your Hellguard idea! Is there anything already out there that's figured out how to make the Hellguard story work seamlessly with Rihannsuverse?

[sineala]

I wonder with troper is a Rihannsu fan.

Could even be Duane herself, to judge by her Tropes page... :)

Now I really, really want that Eagle AU! All the undercover ever! I do not think I could write it, though. I am not sure I quite understand how they would have to both end up back in the Federation, though -- like, what motivation would Marcus have for going and how would he know Esca was undercover?

And I haven't seen any references to Hellguard in the Rihannsu-verse other than the (brief) one in Rihannsu canon; I guess one can hypothesize that the Vulcans didn't take all the children? I would have to reread whichever novel that is to refresh my memory about Hellguard. But if you stayed Romulan after that, that would be a pretty good way to, well, kill all future hope of power and influence. I would think.

[melannen]

Oh, right, Hellguard is in Rihannsu canon! Sorry, I always get that mixed up with the mess with Sela in TNG.


And, no, Marcus wouldn't know Esca was undercover! See, he's injured in some skirmish on the Neutral Zone, and he's recovering on some conquered planet on the outskirts of the Empire where his uncle and last-of-his-House retired, and somebody suggests he buy a (non-Romulan) slave to help him out, so he picks up Esca from a slave market that specializes in subject races. Then he gets visited by tr'Annhwi or one of his ilk, who mentions an important cultural artifact that has gone missing and that there might be all kinds of mnhei'sahe available to one who was willing to go on an officially-unsanctioned mission into Federation space to recover it, especially one who conveniently has a native guide who could go along.

...I think Marcus has to pretend to be a Vulcan, which has all kinds of possibilities. Also I suspect the artifact they're looking for is the Sword from the Empty Chair, which gives them an excellent excuse to run in to Spock et. al.

I don't know who if anyone on the Rihannsu side ever finds out that Esca is an agent! I don't know how it ends! but that's more fun than just having him be a slave, and fits better with the Star Trek stories, plus he can do a lot more to secretly smooth Marcus's way. :D I suspect he eventually tells Marcus at least, because, well, Marcus and Esca.

Also they have a pet thrai that they raised from a cub. :D

[sineala]

...so you're writing this, right? Right? What do I have to do to make this happen? :)

[melannen]

I am not good enough to write this! :P I'm supposed to be luring you into writing it....

[sineala]

You are totally good enough to write it! And it's your idea and everything!

(Besides, I'm already writing Eagle/Vorkosigan, among other things...)

[melannen]

If I wrote it, it would want to be a novel-length slash epic that also had all sorts of commentary on the nature of republics and freedom and mnhei'sahe and the perils of working undercover, and I just showing awareness of my capabilities to say that I can't write that. Maybe in another couple years if I keep improving at the current rate.

(Besides I'm supposed to be finishing my Yuletide fic! ...and the one from two yuletides ago. And that other Homestuck fic. And the overdue Dresden Files fest fic. And those WIPs from the DF meme. And the next part of the wolfbonded Sherlock Holmes story. And my poem for poetry month.

....also if I start an epic Duane crossover right now, it has to be the one where the Gay Deceiver is looking for Barsoom and finds Kit Rodriguez's Mars instead, I checked out the background reading from the library and everything!)

[sineala]

Well, I will read it, should you write it. :) Though now I really want Frontier Wolf in the Rihannsu-verse too...

And that epic crossover sounds epic!