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

[sara]

I had such bad insomnia this weekend that I started reading Homestuck fic (without having gotten through canon, not that that's unusual for me because you know how I hate things that aren't texty or that move, moving shit is not recreational) and then I went to the grocery store just now and thought for a moment that I was buying a loaf of Oregon Troll whole-grain bread.

I'm not sure if that was a disturbing thought or not.

[melannen]

Homestuck fandom gets into your brain. And then starts dripping out your ears.

...and I'm pretty sure I've read the AU where they all live in a commune somewhere in the Pacific Northwest and make their own organic whole-grain bread.

Although real Alternian troll bread is probably made of troll.

[cypher]

...have you really

was it good

can you link me to it

[sara]

It is easier than you might think to end up in the PNW, living communally and making organic whole-grain whatsits. Technically today's was a poundcake but we raised the eggs in the backyard so that probably makes it worse.

I draw the line at making bread from sentients, though. ;P

[amaresu]

The more I hear about Homestruck the more I wish I could get into it. But I've tried, several times, and the medium is just not a good one for me. Which is weird because it's comprised of a number of things I love, but apparently putting them all together does not equal love. IDEK.

[melannen]

By 'medium' do you mean the format that Homestuck canon itself is in? Because, yeah, I bounced off of it about three times myself, before I finally managed to get into it. While feverish with what was probably flu.

I keep thinking maybe someone should do a "Homestuck fandom for people who have been unable to read the comic" primer, but then honestly I am not sure I would feel right about that. :P Because Homestuck fandom is full of good stuff and does amazing things with its medium and I love it! But as I have been repeatedly protesting, it is also dangerous and brain-devouring and run by a person of chaotic evil alignment and you are probably better off staying well away.

[sara]

See, I am a great fan of comics and online comics, but I have totally bounced off HS canon hard, repeatedly.

I hate anything remotely like video games, though, which is probably a big part of why. I do not want to solve puzzles or whateverthefuck as part of my entertainment experience.

[amaresu]

Yeah, the canon. It's weird because I like comics, I like 2nd person, I'm not even opposed to text based games. But HS just fails to hook me. I suspect that it has something to do with having the appearance of a Choose Your Own Adventure without actually being one because I love Choose Your Own Adventures.

Perhaps next time I have the flu I'll attempt HS rather than learning how to work Fanlore.

I think a primer would be awesome. It sounds so interesting. Perhaps with a read at your own risk disclaimer at the beginning? Right now I'm not sure anything could be more brain devouring than my obsession with DC comics. It's like everytime I think I'm done obsessively reading everything I discover a new branch to obsessively read.

[cypher]

...zucchini?

oh dear.

More seriously, I have been loving this about HS fandom too; the variety of relationship types that are normalized and the way that the quadrant system means no one person can fill all of someone else's emotional needs, omg, there is an idea I would like to see ported outward in as many directions as possible.

Basically I want to cosign that whole thing.

And also cry again over your ashen Ancestors; I had a feeling that was you on the meme.

[melannen]

Yeah, of all the random vegetables one could pick to signify "non-sexual relationship", zucchini would not have been top of my list. But people I agree with on basically everything else are in love with that term and invested in spreading it, and, well, the alternatives are variations on 'platonic' which I hate with a fiery passion in that context because I had a run of so-called platonic relationships turn into the Rennaissance definition of "platonic love" - that being "put the pretty girl on a pedestal and obsess over her unavailability" - and, just, why can't we all be like Homestuck fandom?

The troll system isn't perfect either, but it's so much more workable, and by adding the concept of sloppy interspecies makeouts Homestuck has subversion of both kinds of shipping built in.

...and I had a feeling I was being fairly transparent on the meme. :D

[dancesontrains]

Nepeta <3

[jadelennox]

So I keep trying to get into Homestuck for the reasons you list, and am thrown out because (a) the canon is not for me, at least not right now, and therefore (b) I have no comfortable entrypoint into the vocabulary, and everytime I try I need a glossary. Are there good Homestuck-for-beginners stories? Keeping in mind that I'm slow at new concepts?

[melannen]

I am trying to think of homestuck-for-beginners stories, but this is a fandom where I'm really in it for the worldbuilding, so nothing is coming to mind right away. :/

If you look for stories tagged "humanstuck" on AO3, they're mostly stories set in an AU where all the characters are humans who live on our Earth and thus don't used the specialized vocab and stuff, but those stories usually don't have all the nifty stuff that I like most about the fandom.

If the vocab is your main problem, though, the entries at the mspa wikia are pretty extensive; I was flipping back and forthf rom there a lot when I first started reading fic.

...or possibly I will just write a short glossary lalala.

[verity]

I am going to go read these stat despite the fact that I am still NOT EVEN IN THIS FANDOM.

cleverthylacine and I are moirails (there is no better term for "person with whom I cohabit who makes me me feed myself actual food and not start flame wars on fandomsecrets") and it is the best term. :)

[melannen]

FTR, these are not fics I would recommend for people not in the fandom. :D So I understand if you have no clue what's going on.

And yes that is exactly what a moirail is! And we need a word for that, yes.

[verity]

I was confused but enjoyed them anyway! And recced them to people who may properly appreciate them. :)

[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.)

[dancesontrains]

Idle thought: I wonder if filling a quadrant with two different people at the same time would be possible, or seen as a deviant act?

(Not asking this because I happen to have two moirails, not at all, ahem.)

[melannen]

I don't think there's any canon on it, but there seem to be a small cadre of fic writers who believe that Sollux should get two simultaneous fills for every quadrant. :)

[lannamichaels]

That sounds *amazing*. Is there a "So you want to read Homestuck fic without reading the canon" guide?

[melannen]

Not that I know of! There seems to be a certain amount of demand though. I might end up doing one in the next week or so. If you read through comments above though I've tossed around a little advice.

[mllesays]

I haven't read far enough yet to learn about troll relationships in canon, but I keep trying to explain what little I know to my bf and throwing up my hands and saying melannen describes it all so well, it's really amazing, you just don't even know.

Which is to say, I'm reading as fast as I can and you're the inspiration for that. TY.

[melannen]

People need to stop blaming me for reading Homestuck! I keep telling people they would be smarter *not* to! Dammit. :P

I am glad you are enjoying it anyway.

[levanera.livejournal.com]

...YES. YES. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS. I absolutely LOVE how the homestuck fandom treats their ships. It's not entirely without faults (what fandom is?), but it's pretty amazing. All of a sudden we have words for relationship that we already have and know intimately (for example, someone being a dick but that's just making them MORE attractive? Black attraction, I cry), and no one is disputing them and telling you they 'aren't real' and and it's pretty amazing and makes me realllly happy. And I love the basic tenant of troll romances: that sex isn't what makes you happy, it's the relationship. Your close friendship/moirallegiance is just as important as your flushed partner and yeah. I just love it.

*cough* Ok, enough babbling. Basically, I love you for articulating all of my thoughts, only better. Hopefully I haven't embarrassed myself too too much by babbling at you.