Group Precipitation

by FanOfMostEverything

Exponential Frustration, by ArtieStroke

Sunny Flare hated that she could immediately tell something was very wrong with Lemon Zest.

If there was something only moderately wrong but worth being dramatic over, Lemon would be slumped over her cafeteria tray, probably with a well-timed sigh coming out as soon as she approached. Something wrong along the lines of a TV show she enjoyed getting cancelled, or the like.

It was very rare that Sunny Flare had seen Lemon Zest just stare into the middle distance, quiet and separate from the rest of the world. Rarer still was the feeling in her gut that she should, maybe, talk to her about what happened?

Eugh, when did she become such a sap?

Letting out a quiet breath, Sunny took a seat across from her, the clunk of her tray doing nothing to grab Lemon's attention. Yep, this was a doozy alright.

"Something is clearly wrong."

That finally snapped Lemon out of her daze, blinking a little before looking over at Sunny. "Wha— Oh! Hey, uh... what?"

Sunny vaguely gestured at Lemon, "Something's bothering you, and the fact that it very obviously is bothering you is also bothering me. What happened?"

There was a few seconds of silence, before Lemon let out little laugh.

"What? No, sorry it's- gah, it's dumb, don't get worked up over it, I'm just... having some very complex feelings about some media."

"Media."

"Yup."

Sunny said nothing, letting the narrowing of her eyes and the rise of a single eyebrow put all the pressure she needed onto the other girl. To give her credit, Lemon held out for about a minute, nervously tapping her finger on the lunch table.

"Okay, fiiiine. Habitrapped updated."

"I thought it was already done?"

Lemon barked out a surprisingly harsh laugh at that. "Y'know, same? Honestly, I thought I was pretty done with these four kids playing games, but sometimes it seems an author's gotta take the cool, found-family he's created and unnecessarily turn two of them evil while completely ignoring the whole found-family aspect that made the first one worthwhile in the first place in order to shoehorn in a conflict for a sequel! Like..."

Oh, she was getting animated now. What the hell happened in this stupid comic?

"Okay, you know, I can understand Dagger slipping a little, his whole "drowning in an ocean of his own persona" thing is honestly pretty juicy, but the whole POINT of his character is that he isn't the same person as Beat Runner's bro! But Shortbread? A fascist!? What?!?" Lemon finally slumped, head thunking against the table as she let out low, strangled groan.

A tiny grimace wormed its way onto Sunny's face. "That's... a bit of a strong reaction to an unsatisfying sequel, don't you think?"

Lemon's face popped up over her arms, and Sunny leaned back slightly at the intensity of anguish visible on her. "He broke up Violet and Virgo, Sunny."

"Wait, what?"

"I know!"

"Why?"

Lemon threw her hands up in exasperation. "Because apparently you can't write a sequel to a story and have the happily married couple stay together despite going through literally the most traumatizing stuff together! Nooo, you gotta add unnecessary DRAMA to it all by having the new authorial insert break them up through mind control!"

She slowly shifted back to a less exaggerated position, arms crossed and a frown still on her face. "I had to check out after reading that scene, it was just— It sucked. It was like, actively painful to read. It was like watching gaslighting happen right in front of you, y'know?"

"I don't," Sunny said, cracking open her milk carton and taking a sip, "But I can imagine it's pretty terrible. So, consider it a mercy that I'm going to wait at least two weeks before lording the fact that I never fell in as deep with this webcomic over you."

Lemon Zest snorted, but Sunny caught a tiny grin flash briefly on her face. Well, there was a start. "You're awful, you know that?"

"Patently untrue."

"You know, at least there's the one silver lining of Juniper Trick to look forward to," Lemon said, swiping once again through the most recent upd8.

Sunny Flare blinked. "Who?"

"Oh right, yeah!" Lemon grinned turning towards Sunny, "Uhh, well- okay so, basically Jokester Trick's trans."

"Huh. When did that happen?"

Lemon sucked in a breath. "That's... really a much more complicated question then it should be, if I'm gonna be honest."

"Considering this comic, I'm hardly surprised."

Lemon shrugged, "Well... Okay so it hasn't happened in the comic yet—and I know, I know, this reeks of Rolling and Professor Bumblebee, but it actually started as a theory backed up by a lot of unintentional stuff in canon that Drew Horsey's gotten behind and endorsed, and the whole team running the comic now has a bunch of trans folk like—"

She cut herself off short, clearing her throat. "Well, needless to say, it's the one potential hook that's keeping me stuck to this crazy train, and they've definitely been building up to a realization lately."

Sunny frowned, quirking an eyebrow.

"Wait, so Trick's... what, going to have some big gender realization in the afterlife?"

"She's only dead in Meat, there's still Candy Juniper."

"... I hate this webcomic so much."

Lemon laughed, patting Sunny on the shoulder.

"Saaame."

Comments

[Eroraf86]

I know nothing about Homestuck and I am so confused.

[Hazey Logic]

I'm so glad I know nothing about Homestuck.

[Kawa]

I understood everything.

[FredMSloniker]

There's a reason "let me tell you about Homestuck" is considered a threat.

[Bugsydor]

Well, it wouldn't be HamSteak if it didn't turn everything on its head and cheese a bunch of people off. I have friends who love the epilogue and squared, and friends who absolutely loathe it.

But, um... Why did you feel compelled to rant about it here?

[Dragonwaz]

10432866
I only barely know of Homestuck and given context clues there's four main characters. I don't remember all their names but they aren't the same here anyway. There's the Jester, the goth witch, the too cool for school, and the Luna from Harry Potter quirky girl. Apparently after ending the comic they made a continuation and in that they made the "too cool for school" and I'm guessing the quirky girl go evil by choice from the sound of it since they specifically mentioned mind control when it happened elsewhere.

And a lot of people aren't happy when you turn your back on themes and the conflict doesn't flow naturally but pulls a hard turn out of tone.

It would be like after the epilogue in Harry Potter where you have Harry lovingly sending off his son you had a continuation where he's a shit father that tells his son he wishes they were never born... Oh wait they did that one too.

[BoundlessImagination]

Here's the real explanation for why John Egbert is now trans:

Andrew Hussie set up a scavenger hunt where he hid an item in a cave somewhere near...the West Coast, I think. Said the first person to find it gets to say whatever they want about Homestuck. The first person to find it said: "John Egbert is now trans." Hussie said: "Done."

[JetstreamGW]

10432866
I followed about half of this, I think.

[Herald of Opera]

10432866
Well, there's your problem right there. Hussie himself has said that he always intended it to spiral so far out of control that even he had no idea what was going on anymore. What makes you think you will understand it?