Favorite Quotes

[Skyblade]

"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared."

- Eddie Rickenbacker

[Perifaen]

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

-Plato

[Søren]

"I loved her not for the way she danced with my angels, but for the way the sound of her name could silence my demons."
-Christopher Poindexter

"Ever since I've met you, I've dreamt even before I went to sleep. And the sweetest dreams are the ones you dream when you're awake."
-Daniel Saint

"We love each other so much that we have our own personal emoji language."
-Mister Paradoxal

[Gonff the Mousethief]

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - Winnie the Pooh

[Delthion]

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - Winnie the Pooh

"You're smarter when you're pink!" - Winnie the Pooh.

[Dotti Dillworthy]

"The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook." ~William Jones

"The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts." ~Marcus Aurelius

[Skyblade]

"If you don't say anything, the world will never hear."

- a teacher

[Jetthebinturong]

"Find Potter and the Ring and bring them to Narnia; the Death Star is ready for our war against the Time Lords."
"I am Groot."
~ Captain Jean Luc Picard and Batman, Supernatural.

[Dotti Dillworthy]

"Some people stand by you in your darkest hour while others walk away; only a select few march towards you and become even closer friends." ~ Jeffrey Archer, Only Time Will Tell

[Jetthebinturong]

"In Emma's defense, Cameron's annoying, but he's hot." Julian gave her a look. "I mean, if you like guys who look like a redheaded Captain America, which I... don't?
"Captain America is definitely the most handsome Avenger," said Christina. "But I like the Hulk. I would like to heal his broken heart."
"We're Nephilim," said Julian. "We're not even supposed to know about the Avengers. Besides," he added, "Iron Man is obviously the best-looking."
~ Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare.

"Then why are you here?" Emma demanded. "Oh, is this one of those missed-connections things? We met the other night, you felt a spark? Sorry, but I don't date trees."
"I am not a tree." Iarlath looked angry, his bark peeling slightly."
~ Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

"I wasn't planning on dumping Cameron. We were here, and he called, and his face showed up on my phone- well, actually a llama came up on my phone because I don't actually have a picture of him so I just used a llama- and the llama made me so angry I just couldn't help myself."
"Bad time to be a llama."
"Is there ever a good time, really?"
~ Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

"The world is terrible," said Mark tonelessly. "And some are drawn down into it and drown there, and some rise above and carry others with them."
~ Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

"A gentle boy with a gentle soul, but every soul contains its own opposite, and the opposite of gentleness was ruthlessness—the beautiful wreckage of mercy."
~ Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

"Think of what it must have been like in the Scholomance for all those years it was closed," said Dru, her eyes gleaming with horror-movie delight. "All the way up in the mountains, totally abandoned and dark, full of spiders and ghosts and shadows . . ."
"If you want to think about somewhere scary, think about the Bone City," said Livvy. The City of Bones was where the Silent Brothers lived: It was an underground place of networked tunnels built out of the ashes of dead Shadowhunters.
"I'd like to go to the Scholomance," interrupted Ty.
"I wouldn't," said Livvy. "Centurions aren't allowed to have parabatai."
"I'd like to go anyway," said Ty. "You could come too if you wanted."
"I don't want to go to the Scholomance," said Livvy. "It's in the middle of the Carpathian Mountains. It's freezing there, and there are bears."
Ty's face lit up as it often did at the mention of animals. "There are bears?"
~ Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

"Careful, boy," rumbled Gwyn. "You have your Laws and we have ours. The difference is only that we do not pretend ours are not cruel."
~ Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

"What would I know of family? My father sold me to the Wild Hunt. I do not know my mother. I have three dozen brothers, all of whom would gladly see me dead. Mark, you are all I have."
"Kieran—"
"And I love you," Kieran said. "You are all that exists on the earth and under the sky that I do love."
~ Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

"Julian had heard stories-whispers really-of other Shadowhunter children who thought or felt differently. Who had trouble focusing. Who claimed letters rearranged themselves on the page when they tried to read them. Who fell prey to dark sadnesses that seemed to have no reason, or fits of energy they couldn't control.
Whispers were all there were, though, because the Clave hated to admit that Nephilim like that existed. They were disappeared into the 'dregs' portion of the Academy, trained to stay out of the way of other Shadowhunters. Sent to the far corners of the globe like shameful secrets to be hidden. There were no words to describe Shadowhunters whose minds were shaped differently, no real words to describe differences at all.
Because if there were words, Julian thought, there would have to be acknowledgement. And there were things the Clave refused to acknowledge."
~ Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

ROSE: Thank you for returning with my m-
ROSE: My, um.
ROSE: M,
ROSE: My Roxy.
ROXY:
ROSE: Thank you for returning with my Roxy, is obviously the remark I meant to say, and is the statement of a reasonable person.
~ Homestuck

Long and possibly controversial. I mean, it's philosophy, it's got to offend *someone*

DAVE: karkat what are you doing
KARKAT: WHAT!
KARKAT: I'M TALKING, QUITE CASUALLY, ABOUT SOME STUFF THAT'S NOT A BIG DEAL.
KARKAT: AND THE *POINT* IS THAT IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL ANYMORE, SO I'M JUST CASUALLY SAYING THAT! GOD.
DAVE: ok its not an unreasonable conversation to have but like
DAVE: we JUST started friend-jamming about past anecdotes to get us all up to speed or whatever
DAVE: and youre already trucking out these guns
KARKAT: GUNS? WHAT GUNS!
DAVE: just sayin, it doesnt sound that casual and no big deal if you keep saying its casual and no big deal oh and also its the first thing out of your mouth to john in three years
KARKAT: SORRY!
KARKAT: I'M SO TRULY SORRY. I FORGOT THERE WAS SUCH AN OUTSTANDINGLY SMOOTH JERK IN A CAPE WITHIN MY JUDGMENT RADIUS!
JOHN: no, i mean, i think i remember.
JOHN: i think you were um, "black flirting" with me or something, but in backwards order, and while constantly yelling.
JOHN: and i didn't really even know what that was.
JOHN: and then i told you i wasn't a homosexual, so it was kind of a moot point, but also, you didn't even know what that was either?
KARKAT: YES!
KARKAT: THAT'S BASICALLY WHAT HAPPENED
KARKAT: AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS *TRYING* TO SAY I WAS OVER, AND WASN'T A BIG DEAL ANYMORE, BUT NOW IT'S A BIG DEAL AGAIN I GUESS?
KARKAT: THAT'S GREAT! THANKS DAVE!
DAVE: yo im hardly one to talk here since i am a geyser of hilariously self-pulverizing freudian bloopers
DAVE: at this point i cant even pretend to keep a lid on any stuff ive got in me cause i know sooner or later during one of my rad soliloquies ill just pratfall butt backwards into an embarrassing admission and i just have to be like yeah... yeah ok thats my stuff thats what im about lets just get the hell on with our lives
DAVE: so when johns like hey man and youre all locked and loaded with some stuff about how youre 'over him' and go on and on about it its like some way obvious protest-too-much stuff and everybody knows it so i dont see how it salvages any of your dignity or whatever to pretend thats not whats happening
KARKAT: OH MY GOD...
DAVE: so what im saying is if youre so eager to push this out there-
KARKAT: I'M NOT "PUSHING THIS OUT THERE"!
DAVE: if youre pushing this out there which you are then maybe we should rap about it
DAVE: i mean discuss it critically and earnestly not drop ill rhymes or anything tho that could be sweet too
KARKAT: UEHRNGH.
DAVE: so are you SURE you still dont have these unreconciled blackrom feelings about john
DAVE: i say we air this out before it ferments into some rank and hella unexamined feeling sauce
JOHN: dave, i think you're making karkat uncomfortable!
JOHN: are you being a wise guy and trying to make us uncomfortable?
DAVE: no!
DAVE: i dont do that to bros thats huge uncool
DAVE: i dont see what has to be uncomfy about chattin out our true ass thoughts and emotions
KARKAT: YEEUURHNGHGHH.
DAVE: dude you clearly had a spades thing for john but i dont recall you ever bringing it up
DAVE: is this something you been thinking about all this time or
KARKAT: NO!
KARKAT: NOT... NOT REALLY
DAVE: yeah we coulda talked about this
DAVE: i have all KINDS of stuff to say about john seeing as he was my number 1 dude for approximately the majority of 13 years
DAVE: the main dead end here man is like, nothing personal at all its just that he is literally incapable of hating anyone
KARKAT: I KNOW THAT!
KARKAT: THAT IS THE *EXACT* THING I KNEW AND UNDERSTOOD, AND WHY I FELT SO STUPID ABOUT IT IN HINDSIGHT!
JOHN: well...
JOHN: not that i really want to egg on this train of thought, but i dunno if that's quite true.
KARKAT: IT'S NOT?
JOHN: i can get really angry and hate stuff too, just like you. but i think only in extreme cases?
JOHN: the skull guy in suspenders i got REALLY angry at...
JOHN: but i am a hundred percent sure that hate was platonic!
DAVE: gettin angry at a suspender dude sounds like just the sort of yarn i wanna be all ears for some time
DAVE: but ok thats something to work with
DAVE: hey karkat maybe theres some hope yet maybe its not a total lost cause
KARKAT: NERGH!
JOHN: ok, dave, it definitely sounds like you're trying to own us now!
DAVE: own
DAVE: what
DAVE: no way
DAVE: im being real as a [word unreplacable]
JOHN: being able to hate things i think is...
JOHN: the smaller part of that equation?
JOHN: what about the other part? don't you think that's, uh...
JOHN: a little more significant?
DAVE: what part
JOHN: the part about not being a homosexual!!!
DAVE: john
DAVE: dude i gotta say
DAVE: when you talk about being or not being "a homosexual" you kinda sound like a corny old man
JOHN: what! why?
JOHN: no, that's a normal way of putting it!
JOHN: i mean... it's a pretty normal thing to say, right? when that's... how... you are?
KARKAT: SOMEBODY KILL ME.
DAVE: what does normal mean though
DAVE: normal was some stuff that ruled our dead civilization
DAVE: we left that behind years ago
DAVE: its all a huge pile of stuff that doesnt matter anymore
JOHN: oh. kay?
JOHN: so then, you're saying...
JOHN: what are you saying?
DAVE: im not sure i guess
JOHN: ...
DAVE: ok i guess what im saying is
DAVE: i dont think its all as simple as you think it is
DAVE: or maybe not like ACTIVELY think it is but continue to assume it is on account of NOT thinkin about it much
DAVE: due to a lot of junk about the subject that gets shoved into our brains from movies and stuff while we were just dumb kids
JOHN: i,
JOHN: hm.
DAVE: im just saying it probably isnt as absolute or simplistic as the way youve been framing it
DAVE: or maybe it is for you personally i dont know
DAVE: im just guessing you havent spent much time thinking about it if only cause all the stuff we read and watch suggests that like even examining your honest thoughts about it is perilous road to go down
DAVE: cause if you actually think too much about it without always having that undercurrent of haha nope nope nope THEN what happens
DAVE: what if it turns out youre like...
JOHN: ...like?
DAVE: like not exactly the way you thought you were
DAVE: or maybe not so much that, as old presumptions about what you were turn out to be not that relevant?
KARKAT: (WHY. WHY ARE THESE WORDS HAPPENING TO OUR CONVERSATION.)
DAVE: i dunno man
DAVE: not sure what youve been doing the last 3 years all riding a large boat, then saving everyone from apocalyptic whatever
DAVE: but ive had a ton of time on my hands to think about stuff
DAVE: about stuff ive said and done in the past why i said and did them
DAVE: a lot of things i once would have insisted were like part of my brand and helped me come across cool and smartassy
DAVE: but now im not so sure
DAVE: we used rip on each other all the time for being gay even though we knew we werent which of course is what made it "funny" remember
JOHN: yeah.
JOHN: i dunno, it was pretty funny, sometimes.
JOHN: it was just a lot of joking around!
DAVE: yeah i know
DAVE: it frankly IS funny to say how gay something is sometimes and lets face it sometimes someone or something is just flat out REALLY gay and theres no two ways about it
DAVE: its more like that through the preponderance of all that jokey stuff is an underlying implication that its all lame stuff for pansies but not like us no were not lame and ha ha thats the joke
DAVE: which thrives on this like double-buried implication that the REAL COOL STUFF is founded on this absurd wacky ideal about masculinity which if you think about it is 1. dumb as hell 2. the male adulation of masculinity to that extent TO BE HONEST is pretty gay unto itself and 3. was always some totally impossible stuff for us to live up to anyway
DAVE: i think all thats mixed up with the same phony ideals about heroism
DAVE: like living up to the storybook idea of what a hero to me feels almost interchangeable with living up to societys snapshot of what a hard manly dude should be
DAVE: i stopped pretending i could ever live up to either thing a while ago
DAVE: and mainly have spent time looking back on the sheer magnitude of all my "joking around"
DAVE: i used to lambaste people left and right grinding them into the pavement over how gay they probably were and how much they were quite possibly jonesin to kiss some dudes or such
DAVE: and i dont really feel bad about it in the sense that it was jerky or like "insensitive" necessarily even though i guess it maybe was
DAVE: more that i feel like it was probably transparent
DAVE: a massive front of outrageous snark to disguise a lot of insecurity
DAVE: like a coverup
DAVE: as long as i kept clowning hard about it i didnt actually have to think about it or face my actual beliefs
JOHN: dave, um.
JOHN: all that's cool and all, and...
JOHN: i think i mostly agree?
JOHN: but...
JOHN: ummmm, how do i put this.
JOHN: are you...
JOHN: are you gay now?
DAVE: what no
KARKAT: (THE WORDS. WHY WON'T THE WORDS STOP. DEAR GOD.)
JOHN: i dunno, it sounds to me like you're trying tell me something here!
DAVE: man no look
JOHN: i mean, it's ok if you're gay now!
JOHN: that's totally cool, if true.
JOHN: i just think...
JOHN: you turning gay would be kind of a weird consequence of me changing the time line around?
JOHN: ok, not "weird"...
JOHN: just, unexpected!
JOHN: i dunno what i did that would account for that.
JOHN: maybe saving one of terezi's plush toys did some goofy homosexual butterfly effect thing on you?
JOHN: jeez, who knows!
DAVE: dude you arent listening
DAVE: although a gay butterfly effect is a pretty funny idea lets not dismiss that as a concept altogether
DAVE: anyway maybe what im tryin to say is sorta getting lost in the weeds here
DAVE: the fact that you were wondering if i "turned gay" makes me think maybe youre still not quite on the wavelength im tryin to ramble on here
DAVE: maybe we should wrestle this topic to the ground another time, theres a lot more id wanna say but this is probably not the venue
DAVE: i mean not literally wrestle to the ground because that is maybe literally the gayest course of action we could possibly take but you know what i mean
KARKAT: (YES! LATER! TALK LATER, BECAUSE THEN THE WORDS WOULD STOP! OH WOULDN'T THAT BE LOVELY.)
JOHN: that's fine, we can talk about anything you want, any time.
JOHN: i'm just still confused about what you're getting at, is all.
JOHN: like, what is the bottom line here?
JOHN: are you actually attracted to boys now?
JOHN: do you...
JOHN: um.
JOHN: did you...
JOHN: like, date any boys?
DAVE: uh
JOHN: but there weren't even that many boys on the meteor?
JOHN: well, there's the clown guy, but i don't really see you and him...
JOHN: that really only leaves...
JOHN: um, were you and karkat...
JOHN: ARE you and karkat, like.
JOHN: hmm.
...
DAVE: um anyway
DAVE: as you can see ive been spending probably way too much time with trolls
JOHN: ha ha.
DAVE: it messes with you
DAVE: gets you thinkin about... stuff
DAVE: you know?
JOHN: i can imagine.
JOHN: i think life was a lot more boring on the ship.
JOHN: but we talked about you all a lot!
JOHN: we would always wonder how you and rose were managing to get along with all those crazy trolls.
JOHN: i think mostly we pictured a lot of arguments.
DAVE: thats not too far off
JOHN: i'm still getting used to having such insane, limitless powers that let me go anywhere i want...
JOHN: it's tempting to go to time periods like yours and find out what i missed.
JOHN: but i don't want to mess with too much anymore, since it seems like i got the time line to a nice stable place as it is.
JOHN: so i guess i just have to do what any regular guy does, and imagine fondly what it would be like if i got to travel with you guys.
JOHN: i wonder if i would have gotten like... absorbed in troll culture too? or troll ways of thinking.
DAVE: its really inevitable
DAVE: you pick up the lingo they pick up yours
DAVE: its like a stupid cultural melange after a while that barely makes any sense from either frame of reference
JOHN: i wonder if i would have learned to understand black romance?
JOHN: it's such a goofy idea, but it seems pretty important to trolls.
DAVE: they take all their quadrants pretty seriously tbh
JOHN: yeah.
JOHN: years ago when we first met the trolls, i remember being pretty fascinated by all our cultural differences, when karkat and vriska were telling me about them.
JOHN: i remember really sincerely trying to understand it all from their point of view! it's hard though.
JOHN: i still think about the idea of black romance sometimes, and try to imagine how that really works... or "feels"... i don't know.
JOHN: do you understand it?
DAVE: yeah ive spent enough time talkin about it where i think i "get it" but
DAVE: ive never had cause or any real inclination to put it into practice or anything
JOHN: mainly the idea of hating somebody, and translating that into attraction, or some kind of romancey feeling... it feels so alien to me.
JOHN: and you're right, i have a really hard time even hating anyone in the first place!
DAVE: word
JOHN: i mean, i get ANNOYED by people, sure.
DAVE: like who
DAVE: me?
JOHN: no, not really.
JOHN: well, sometimes, but not much. i always tended to exaggerate my grievances with you, for the sake of laughs.
DAVE: heheh
JOHN: a better example is, more recently, when i was doing my retcon mission...
JOHN: i was getting REALLY annoyed with terezi and her mind games.
DAVE: yuuup
JOHN: it definitely never crossed the line to "hate" though, because we were working together to try and fix a dire situation, and even though she's weird and insane, she's otherwise a pretty good friend.
JOHN: but all her needling and japes at totally inappropriate times, when there was so much on the line...
JOHN: argh, it was SO FRUSTRATING.
KARKAT: EGBERT, I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU.
DAVE: whoa hes back!
DAVE: all right side up and everything
KARKAT: I HEARD YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT QUADRANTS, SO I DECIDED TO PAUSE MY TANTRUM.
KARKAT: JOHN, ALL YOU'RE DOING HERE IS DESCRIBING THE SUBTLE FEELINGS WHICH PLANT THE SEED FOR HAVING A CALIGINOUS CRUSH ON SOMEONE.
JOHN: what??
KARKAT: YOU HEARD ME.
KARKAT: YOU ARE NAIVELY ADMITTING TO STRUGGLING WITH SOME BLACK FEELINGS FOR TEREZI.
KARKAT: SO, THERE YOU GO. QUESTION ANSWERED.
KARKAT: TURNS OUT YOU ARE PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF BLACK ROMANCE.
JOHN: n... no!
KARKAT: A FAIR REBUTTAL. HOWEVER, CONSIDER THIS COUNTERPOINT:
KARKAT: Y... YES???
JOHN: but i don't HATE her, and i'm sure i never will!
JOHN: i'm just saying i find her, like, somewhat annoying, and REALLY aggravating a lot of the time, but that's it!
KARKAT: BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THE FEELING IS!
KARKAT: IT DOESN'T START OUT AS FULL BLOWN ANTIPATHY, AND IT RARELY EVEN REACHES SUCH AN EXTREME LEVEL OF HOSTILITY EVEN OVER LONG TERM BLACK RELATIONSHIPS.
KARKAT: THERE ARE PEAKS TO IT, BUT OTHERWISE A GENERAL EBB AND FLOW TO THE DARK FEELINGS, JUST LIKE WITH FLUSHED RELATIONSHIPS.
JOHN: ok, but...
JOHN: i don't know if i'm expressing myself clearly.
JOHN: i felt aggravated by her a lot, but that doesn't fully describe...
JOHN: like, there were those "negative" feelings, but also...
JOHN: but...
KARKAT: YEAH, THAT'S IT, RIGHT THERE!!!
KARKAT: THE "BUT" IS ALWAYS PART OF IT.
KARKAT: WHAT YOU'RE *TRYING* TO SAY IS, YOU HAD FRUSTRATED, NEGATIVE EMOTIONS TOWARD HER, BUT THEY DON'T COMPREHENSIVELY ACCOUNT FOR YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD HER.
KARKAT: MEANING, THERE ARE SOME THINGS ABOUT HER YOU ACTUALLY LIKE, BUT THE NEGATIVE FEELINGS MAKE IT HARD FOR YOU TO PUT YOUR FINGER ON THEM, OR EVEN WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEM.
KARKAT: THAT IS ABSOLUTELY STANDARD. WHAT GOOD WOULD IT BE HAVING A KISMESIS WHO DIDN'T POSSESS QUALITIES YOU ACTUALLY ADMIRED ON SOME LEVEL?
KARKAT: THAT WOULD BE BORING, AND IT WOULDN'T EVEN WORK. THERE'D BE NO TENSION, NO PUSH AND PULL IN THE TURBULENT EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPE. THE SUBTLE POSITIVES ADD FUEL TO THE NEGATIVE FEELINGS, OFTEN GIVING THEM A REASON TO EXIST AT ALL. THEY INFLAME THE AGGRAVATING FACTORS, REMINDING YOU DEEP DOWN HOW MUCH YOU WOULD LIKE AND ADMIRE THIS PERSON IF IT WASN'T FOR ALL THEIR INFURIATING FLAWS, AND THE INCREDIBLE SENSE OF FRUSTRATION THAT CAUSES ALONG WITH ALL THE ASSOCIATED HOT-HEADED FEELINGS, THAT'S THE ESSENCE OF BLACK ROMANCE.
KARKAT: AND THE POSITIVE QUALITIES YOU SEE DEEP DOWN IN A KISMESIS ALSO SERVE AS THE BASIS FOR RED FEELINGS TOWARD THAT PERSON, ASSUMING THE RELATIONSHIP EVER STARTS TO VACILLATE.
KARKAT: IT'S ALL PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD, REALLY.
JOHN: no... this is messed up!
DAVE: i dunno john it all sounds pretty logical to me
DAVE: karkat knows his stuff when it comes to quadrants
JOHN: argh!
JOHN: it can't be true though...
JOHN: it feels so messed up!
JOHN: what if you're right though... erg! no...
JOHN: no, no, no, no...
KARKAT: THAT'S PART OF IT TOO!
KARKAT: THE "NO NO NO" IS ALL PART OF THE FEELING. THAT'S HOW IT *ALWAYS* GOES.
KARKAT: THIS SENSE OF SELF INCRIMINATION WHEN IT'S DAWNING ON YOU THAT YOU HAVE THESE CONFLICTING FEELINGS TOWARD SOMEONE WHO BUGS YOU SO MUCH.
KARKAT: OH MY GOD, THIS WHOLE REACTION IS SO TEXTBOOK. IT'S HILARIOUS, REALLY.
JOHN: it's messed up though!!!
KARKAT: IT'S SUPPOSED TO FEEL MESSED UP!
JOHN: aw, man.
JOHN: i just wanted to have a nice catch-up chat, not get so transparently owned at the trollmances.
DAVE: it happens to the best of us sooner or later
DAVE: this stuff is kind of old hat to me by now but i get why youre kinda freckling at the implications here
DAVE: you didnt have years of livin with trolls to kinda normalize this stuff
JOHN: i don't think i want it to feel normalized though!
JOHN: i'm not ready to...
JOHN: like, admit that... i have some warped spade crush on her, based on...
JOHN: some feeling i don't understand and makes no sense to me!
JOHN: oh god... what if it's true??
JOHN: i have to try as hard as i can to suppress this feeling and make sure i never think about it again!
DAVE: ok sounds like a weenie thing to do but sure have fun with that
JOHN: dang.
JOHN: yeah, probably.
JOHN: just...
JOHN: please don't tell her about any of this, ok guys?
KARKAT: JOHN, YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMIND US ABOUT ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL STATUTES OF THE BRO CODE, WHICH IS PRACTICALLY SCRIPTURE ON MY PLANET, DATING BACK HUNDREDS OF MILLENIA.
KARKAT: DAVE AND I SLEEP AND BREATHE THE BRO CODE AND ALL OF ITS CLAUSES, NO MATTER HOW FINE THE PRINT.
KARKAT: FEEL FREE TO COME AND TALK TO US ABOUT THIS ANY TIME. YOUR SECRETS WILL ALWAYS BE SAFE.
DAVE: dude that sentiment is well and good but
DAVE: when youre pledging a vow of secrecy maybe you should try to keep it down a little
KARKAT: DANG. YEAH.
KARKAT: SORRY.
JOHN: this is really confusing though.
JOHN: assuming you're right, and i am "busted" on having those feelings... and i'm not even saying you aren't.
JOHN: but...
JOHN: i thought humans weren't supposed to be able to feel stuff like that?
KARKAT: LIKE WHAT EXACTLY?
JOHN: like, perceive and feel romantic stuff, in the same way trolls do.
JOHN: because we're aliens to each other!
JOHN: well ok, humans can feel the gay stuff pretty often, i guess.
JOHN: i didn't think we could feel the spade stuff, though.
JOHN: i dunno, i just thought it was some screwy biological difference?
DAVE: nah i disagree
DAVE: both humans and trolls are emotionally versatile sentient beings that can feel many hells of different things
JOHN: you're probably right.
JOHN: you would know better than me, at least.
DAVE: thats always a smart fallback position btw
DAVE: especially on rap
DAVE: i could school you on rap too are you confused about rap
JOHN: no dave, i think i'm pretty squared away on rap.
JOHN: at least for now. :p
DAVE: so uh
DAVE: this has been a hell of a reminiscence so far
JOHN: yeah...
DAVE: seriously though i wasnt actually intending to fork this like instantaneously in the direction of some like
DAVE: legitimately sincere dialogue on sexuality and romance
DAVE: i didnt plan on this dude you gotta believe me
JOHN: i believe you!
JOHN: it's been cool though.
~ Homestuck

[close]

DAVE: do you like rap
ROXY: kinda!
ROXY: dirk loves rap so i...
ROXY: ummm haha never mind
ROXY: forgot we werent talkin about that
DAVE: well what do you like to do
ROXY: i like...........
ROXY: cats!!!
DAVE: ok that is a fair opinion but cats arent actually an activity or anything
ROXY: theyyy kinda were for me though!
ROXY: i uh
ROXY: used to clone them
ROXY: i may have um
ROXY: gotten a little carried away
DAVE: cat cloning huh
DAVE: that sounds like a pretty dope hobby
DAVE: i think were getting somewhere
DAVE: so you had access to that kind of stuff becaused you lived in a scifi world
~ Homestuck

ROSE: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
ROSE: I'm sorry! I can't sit here and pretend to take this seriously!
DAVE: rose
DAVE: you ok
ROSE: I guess so???
ROSE: Yes. I'm FINE! This is just SO DUMB!
ROSE: My powers let me see fortuitous outcomes, but I didn't see this coming AT ALL.
ROSE: It doesn't register as fortuitous or otherwise. You know why?
ROSE: Because it's COMPLETELY MEANINGLESS!
ROSE: HAHAHAHAHA!
DAVE: i mean
DAVE: sure
DAVE: i thought so too when bird dave happened
DAVE: but that turned out to be like
DAVE: a whole thing
DAVE: and important stuff happened as a result... kinda
ROSE: NO!!!!!
ROSE: THIS ISN'T LIKE THAT!
ROSE: Trust me, Dave. I'm not grasping at straws here.
ROSE: My abilities tend not to leave such things to speculation.
ROSE: This development makes absolutely NO SENSE!
ROSE: Not for us as a group, and DEFINITELY not for me personally, or HER for that matter!!!
ROSE: How could this possibly mean ANYTHING for my growth or personal development in ANY WAY?
ROSE: This almost makes it official.
ROSE: I have no comprehensible path. There's nothing to overcome, no lesson to learn, no cathartic light at the end of this preposterous tunnel.
ROSE: Not for me, at least!
ROSE: I seriously have the DUMBEST arc anyone could conceivably imagine.
DAVE: rose we dont have "arcs" we are just human beings
~ Homestuck

ROSE: So what happened?
CALLIOPE: not mUch.
CALLIOPE: my presence there essentially freed her from that place, according to a pact she made with echidna.
CALLIOPE: she and jade then left. to do what, i do not know.
CALLIOPE: that is when roxy foUnd me. ^u^
ROSE: So, you were only there to release her?
ROSE: Are you sure there isn't something important for you to do, now that you're alive and with us?
CALLIOPE: i doUbt it.
CALLIOPE: for one thing, i have virtUally no UsefUl abilities. u_u
ROSE: I don't mean to badger you. I'm just wondering how you fit into all this.
ROSE: Getting to wear a one-of-a-kind ring, and returning to join a group about to wage a pivotal battle,
ROSE: That strikes me as the profile of someone meant to do something important.
ROSE: What do you think you'll do?
JOHN: maybe it doesn't have to work that way though?
JOHN: what if those are just some facts about her, which let her come back to life, but they don't have to mean anything other than that.
JOHN: like anything about having to do some huge fancy thing.
ROSE: I guess so.
ROSE: First Dave tells me human beings don't have "arcs", and now you're telling me the culmination of an epic doesn't require a messianic archetype to return from the dead, thereby providing the key to everyone's salvation?
ROSE: I wonder what sturdy and time-tested narrative construct Jade is going to debunk whenever she wakes up. Maybe she will lay waste to the notion of endgame ships?
ROSE: Karkat won't be happy about that.
~ Homestuck

This is long. It's also a child talking about how his guardian was abusive to a teenaged, alternate universe version of said abusive guardian who is talking about how much he hates himself

DAVE: i dunno why my friends got to have adults around who cared about them
DAVE: they complained bitterly about stuff so i guess i convinced myself they were all in the same boat as me
DAVE: but thats not how it was
DAVE: their complaints were trumped up nonsense and i bought it cause... i dunno
DAVE: i didnt have any frame of reference
DAVE: but his dad and her mom no matter what they said it was so obvious they cared about them deeply
DAVE: even jades weird grandpa who died when she was young obviously would have done anything for her
DAVE: why did i get such a raw cut of the jerk deck
DAVE: and why did it take me so long to figure that out
DAVE: and like hes dead now so thats that
DAVE: so all thats left to do is look back and try to put the pieces together of my first 13 years
DAVE: and all i can think is what the hell WAS that?!
DAVE: i dont come away with the impression i used to try convincing myself of, that he was like "mysterious" or "stern" or "aloof"
DAVE: the only feeling left is this insane impression that i was raised by somebody who HATED me
DAVE: and the whole act of even "raising a child" was some totally messed up game to him
DAVE: like parenthood was one of the highest tiers of irony in his solemn bro-ninja code
DAVE: so he went through those motions and did whatever he thought was "funny" or "badass"
DAVE: but under that weird stylistic and totally sociopathic approach to parenting i cant even IMAGINE there was any emotion toward me other than some sort of loathing
DIRK: What...
DIRK: Did he do?
DAVE: i dont want to get out the laundry list
DAVE: but for reference laundry wasnt one of those things
DAVE: that was just one of the many little domestic things i just had to sort of FIGURE OUT
DAVE: sorta like i eventually had to learn what the REAL purpose of a refridgerator was from movies
DIRK: Wait.
DIRK: What??
DAVE: i dunno theres too much to even get into
DAVE: just
DAVE: i dont remember the atmosphere ever not being nerve wracking
DAVE: all havin to sneak around and...
DAVE: ugh my childhood spider senses are tinglin just thinking about it
DAVE: it was "training" you know
DAVE: but you know what it really was it was some vicious stuff that was bad and sucked and i hated it
DAVE: it didnt make me stronger
DAVE: it did the opposite
DAVE: it made me never want to fight
DAVE: it made me never want to see blood or be near danger or hear metal sounds
DAVE: it made me hate the idea of being a hero cause he was a hero and he ruined the idea of heroism
DAVE: i dont even want to be fighting this version of jack but hey nobody else has secret welsh powers so i guess i have to
DIRK: ...
DAVE: what gets me is how long it took me to put all this together
DAVE: to stop seeing it as some kinda roughhousey and eccentric life i had but was otherwise normal
DAVE: it took years to deconstruct it all and put it back together to understand how mad i should be
DAVE: and in particular how stone cold deeply uncared for i was my whole life
DAVE: like... being merely "monitored" by a violent robot
DAVE: i only started getting it after spending a lot of time in person with a bunch of people who actually did care about me
DAVE: and i could start feeling like
DAVE: actually somewhat human for the first time
DAVE: instead of...
DAVE: some sort of runty afterthought to a household cabal of smutty puppets
DIRK: ... Puppets?
DAVE: the puppets!!!
DAVE: i know how it sounds but i am NOT joking and there is NO shred of doubt in my mind that he loved all those puppets more than me
DAVE: honestly it is very possible that he was just insane and thats that
DAVE: i guess it didnt help either that we lived with what we have come to understand may theoretically be the most evil doll to exist in any universe ever
DAVE: in fact its my tenuous understanding that he came down to earth with that thing and like actually grew up with it
DAVE: maybe...
DAVE: maybe spending 30 some years being unseparable from that hell puppet had some effect on him??
DAVE: maybe if it hadnt been casting a pall over our apartment 24/7 since he took me in...
DAVE: grinning...
DAVE: glaring...
DAVE: laughing in my sleep...
DAVE: maybe our lives wouldnt have been quite so...
DAVE: maybe we would have...
DAVE: ugh
DIRK: What?
DIRK: You ok there?
DAVE: .....
DAVE: .....
DAVE: yeah
DIRK: That doll.
DIRK: That was Cal, right?
DAVE: yeah
DIRK: Right.
DIRK: My version is "empty", apparently.
DIRK: Whatever that means.
DAVE: huh
DAVE: how do you know that
DIRK: A source.
DIRK: One supposedly knowledgeable in jujus.
DIRK: I never quite knew what that meant, though.
DAVE: well
DAVE: whatever his was
DAVE: "empty" is never how i would have described it
DIRK: Hmm.
DAVE: man
DAVE: i dunno if i figured something out here
DAVE: like um "explained" something or
DAVE: if im just driving myself crazy with this talk and nothing even needs explaining
DAVE: it doesnt change my past or how i feel about him
DAVE: he was still pretty much awful no matter what the reason
DAVE: and im sure thats the only feeling ill ever have about him
DAVE: so who cares why it was like that
DIRK: Yeah...
DIRK: That...
DIRK: All sounds really bad.
DIRK: I don't know what to say though.
DIRK: Maybe I shouldn't say anything.
DIRK: Since I just remind you so much of him, for, uh. Obvious reasons.
DIRK: I don't want to make you feel worse, or make it sound like I'm offering a defense.
DIRK: For him, or me.
DIRK: Because I don't have one.
DIRK: For either of us.
DAVE: come on man
DAVE: YOU didnt do anything
DAVE: this was just some ##:1090 bag with your exact dna, who happened to grow up to be my bro
DAVE: you had a completely different life full of like
DAVE: different choices and actions and stuff
DAVE: and even if you were gonna turn out like him youve barely cleared the half way mark on actually chronologically gettin there
DAVE: in some way ranting about all this is probably just uncool of me because...
DAVE: you arent him
DAVE: youre not resposible for any of this stuff but im sorta implicitly tacking it on you anyway
DAVE: so
DAVE: sorry about that
DIRK: I'm not sure it's true though.
DIRK: At least, I don't feel that way.
DAVE: what way
DIRK: That I'm not him.
DIRK: The fact is, I am.
DIRK: It's something I've come to understand about myself.
DIRK: All splinters of me are basically me, no matter how much I want to resist that truth.
DIRK: Or pretend they aren't reflecting my own qualities back at me.
DIRK: I bear a certain responsibility for all of them.
DAVE: splinters...?
DIRK: Yeah.
DIRK: I guess the concept isn't that unique to me.
DIRK: We've all got other versions of ourselves running around here and there, throughout the various compartments of this messed up cosmos.
DAVE: right
DIRK: I just happen to be particularly connected to mine.
DIRK: I've felt...
DIRK: Haunted by them.
DIRK: And what that really means is, I'm perpetually haunted by my own bad qualities.
DIRK: So, when I hear about stuff I did in another reality,
DIRK: I'm not sure what my adult self might have ever tried to do to atone for that stuff, if anything...
DAVE: pretty much jack squat
DIRK: Yeah. But in any case,
DIRK: I'm sure I was completely in the wrong, and I'm sorry I messed up your life.
DAVE: ...
DAVE: thanks
DAVE: but
DAVE: it still feels a little odd accepting an apology from somebody who i just met and technically had nothing to do with my life
DAVE: even if you do feel guilty splinterways or whatever
DAVE: it is just a messed up situation
DAVE: and i guess i had to vent
DAVE: and there was never anyone i wanted to say all that to
DAVE: and the only thing that was gonna drag it out of me i guess was like a teen stand-in phantom of my dead bro
DAVE: just some perfectly innocent dude havin to take the brunt of this stuff
DIRK: I'm not particularly innocent though.
DIRK: I've messed a lot of things up.
DIRK: With my friends.
DIRK: Honestly, that's why I wasn't that bent on sticking around, when I showed up.
DIRK: And pretty much jumped at the offer of flying here to get ready for some yet to be explained battle.
DIRK: Battles are easy. Just you, a sword, some bad guys... it's a lot simpler than having to answer for things you did.
DIRK: For the most part, I feel pretty bad about the role I played in my friends' lives.
DIRK: Especially Jake.
DAVE: what happened there
DIRK: I don't even know.
DIRK: An unmitigated disaster for which I'm entirely to blame.
DIRK: It's not any one thing. I think I was just a completely toxic element in his life from day one.
DIRK: I don't know what he's doing now.
DIRK: I wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to avoid me as much as possible.
DIRK: I'm sure that's for the best.
DIRK: I think I need to stay out of his business for a good while, so I don't risk poisoning another innocent kid's life.
DIRK: Like I did with you, apparently.
DAVE: yeah
DAVE: i mean
DAVE: maybe its a little different cause relations between peers is a whole other thing
DAVE: its tricky stuff and youre both figuring stuff out on a relatively equal footing and youre both at the same point in your lives
DAVE: its not like when one person is older and supposed to be a lot more...
DAVE: never mind this is a messed up thing to think about
DAVE: but the bottom line is yeah laying low while you sort out your stuff cant hurt
DIRK: Right.
DIRK: The thing with that, with my adult self's...
DIRK: Ways.
DIRK: The sad thing is,
DIRK: I can really see it.
DIRK: How someone like me can go unchecked in life, and turn out to become a much worse person than I already am.
DIRK: I guess I'm just relieved I still have some time to make sure that doesn't happen.
DAVE: you dont actually seem like a bad person to me though
DIRK: No?
DAVE: nah
DIRK: Why not?
DIRK: We did just meet, after all.
DAVE: because
DAVE: i dunno if truly bad people wrestle so much with whether theyre good or bad
DAVE: i think if i ever sensed my bro like
DAVE: struggled at all with what he was doing or who he was
DAVE: or showed any sort of doubt
DAVE: that might have changed everything
DAVE: but there was never a crack in it
DAVE: or the slightest hint of introspection behind the aggressive cooldude facade
DAVE: if there was i sure never noticed
DAVE: i mean personally
DAVE: i think about it all the time now
DAVE: what it actually means to be good or bad
DAVE: or if not something that starkly moral
DAVE: at least just trying to examine the difference between being decent and being a ##:1090
DAVE: maybe its because of him i worry about that now
DAVE: but for me i think that internal struggle is kind of mild
DAVE: for him...
DAVE: or you i mean
DAVE: it sounds like some pretty dark stuff
DAVE: like grappling with...
DAVE: becoming evil vs simply trying not to
DIRK: Yeah.
DIRK: That's not too far off.
DAVE: but the point is
DAVE: even just talkin to you a little bit
DAVE: its obvious youve been fighting with that
DAVE: which means that you care enough to put in some effort
DAVE: i think that counts for something
DIRK: Maybe.
DIRK: Not sure if I'm ready to accept a pat on the back for recognizing I have some problems, and worrying about whether they'll destroy me and mess up the people I care about.
DIRK: That might be setting the bar kind of low.
DAVE: well when it comes to the subject of him
DAVE: the bars already pretty low dude
DIRK: The weird thing, honestly,
DIRK: Is that it's actually kind of refeshing to hear a sincerely leveled critique of all my negative qualities, coming from another person invested in a relationship with me, rather than from a messed up iteration of myself as some bizarre "trollish" form of self abuse.
DIRK: The only thing I've ever been exposed to are either various forms of self loathing either from me or my auto-responder, or attitudes completely oblivious to my real issues, as expressed through my friends.
DIRK: My friends always seemed to cut me so much slack, or were just never aware of the kind of person I really was.
DIRK: Well, Jake probably is, by now at least.
DIRK: But he's also the sort of guy who's just as likely to blame himself for stuff I did, as he is to blame me.
DIRK: Jane and Roxy, though.
DIRK: Never seemed to see anything wrong with me.
DIRK: If anything, just the contrary.
DIRK: Roxy in particular had a certain... fixation.
DIRK: She meant well, but was so enamored of me, and seemingly everything I did.
DIRK: Which I think was the last thing I needed.
DIRK: To be idolized in some form by other people I respected.
DIRK: I had enough of that feeling coming from within, particularly when I was younger.
DIRK: And since then, I've been plagued by the insane ego of my youth in the form of an artificial intelligence I designed which essentially trapped that state of mind in a sort of horrid suspended animation.

[close]

controversial

[close]

[Dotti Dillworthy]

"Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder." ~ E.B. White

[Skyblade]

"Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees."

- Douglas Malloch

[Lord Daskar]

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - Winnie the Pooh

"You're smarter when you're pink!" - Winnie the Pooh.

"People say nothing is impossible but I do nothing all the time." - Winnie the Pooh.

[Dotti Dillworthy]

"I can't read fiction without visualizing every scene. The result is, it becomes a series of pictures rather than a book." ~ Alfred Hitchcock

[Wylder Treejumper]

"Ouch!"

-Scott Stirling