Entry tags:
That post on Homestuck shipping. XD;;
I blame ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
edenfalling. Blaaaame. BLAAAAME.
edit: NOW WITH RAREPAIR FIC PIMPING. y'all can find the johnkats and davekats yourselves. XD
Okay first What I look for in Homestuck fanfic:
-ALIEN THINGS.
I love that the trolls are *aliens* and that they have a fucked-up society with huge key differences from Humanity. Even if they're "not too alien" in that appearance-wise they're humanoid (the main things are gray skin and orange horns and pointy teeth and the rainbow of potential blood/eye colors thing.)
(Fanon has it that they also have claws, which I am prrt over. Fanon also has it that due to Karkat referencing troll 'nooks' and 'bone bulges' as sexual components without regarde for gender that they might also be hermaphroditic and all differences are in secondary characteristics and personality stuff, but even those might differ from humans)
Which leads to
--> .~¤*CULTURE CLASHES*¤~.
(I feel like I should add some ASCII art to this one.)
--> Okay fine I also like the xeno thing. I've been so BORED writing normal sex, not even threesomes ping me as "something I haven't written at least three times before", and once you reach four partners it's less sexy/intimate and more like a circus act including the juggling of body parts and at least two contorsionists. But this has little relevance to specific pairings, just a general warning: if you read one of my Homestuck fics and suddenly there's sex, it's a fair bet they'll be not-really-human under the belt.
-The glorious mind-fuckery of the Game, and the forced collaboration that leads to understanding and mutual loyalty and teaming up.
I love the characters, pretty much all of them yes really, even those I don't like a LOT I will still read for if the summary is interesting. So allowing for "hey the scenario sounds shiny/well-written/the characters seem so brillantly THEM even if they're not aliens anymore", I am not very interested in Human!AUs, schoolfics especially.
For roughly the same reason I a LOT into kid/troll pairings, mildly into troll/troll and not into kid/kid pairing. It's all... without the frame of the game they're... four normal human kids who meet on the internet?
(Also the Ancestors are pretty cool but apart from the Sufferer who I love, and the Grand Highblood for how terrifying he is, and sometimes the Psiioniic who has such an awesome angsty life holy fuck, I'm not very interested in their history/love lives. And even then I still don't ship Suff/Psii, go figure, but gen, give me gen, oh god yes.)
Second My favorite characters & why
-KARKAT VANTAAAAAS (troll! Knight of Blood.) socute ;^; What I love: his amazing (and disgusting XD) mastery of language; the fact that he's pretty much ALWAYS raging but 75% of that raging is because he's worried as fuck for everyone in his life ever and trying to micromanage them into being functional and happy; his ~DEADLY SECRET~ what with being a mutant who if found out would be killed on the spot; his obsession with romance and romantic comedies. Also, his nubby round little horns, yes Karkat, they're going to grow any day now, honest. 9____9 He's a mix of caring and insecurities wrapped in amazingly articulate anger and I wub him.
You may also know him as Asuka's Fandom Bicycle.
-Dave Strider (human!) Also does the extended metaphor/wordplay thing. Is also a Knight (of Time.) Was raised by his Bro and D'AWWW THE BROTHERLY DEVOTION. my buttons. Pretends to be cool and badass but while indeed badass and ninja-y is in fact a huge dork.
-Terezi Pyrope (troll!) Badass as fuck lady. She is blind and COMPLETELY KICKASS and she has about three bazilion teeth and a sword cane and she roleplays as a mighty dragon and she's snarky and caring and friendly and has little patience for bullshit.
-GAMZEE MAKARA (troll!) The fucking juggalo crazyclown. Half the time floating in a happy haze of drugs, the rest being creepy as fuck and/or going murderhappy on "infidels" for harshing on his weird clown religion. ... I love him mostly in nonsexual pairings but I still love him. XD
-Rose Lalonde (human!) Snarky broad and warrior therapist who should heed the "physician, heal thyself" mmm mom issues and also a gal who once killed an ogre via planting her knitting needles in its eyes. She's overly wordy and likes mindfucking people. She's also Dave's sort-of-twin sister. Also fucking badass, elegantly so.
-John Egbert (human!) He's fun! But as he's the "everyman" of this series he's the one whose characterization varies the most. When he's written as Innocent Uke I can't stand him. I like him as goofy! but he does have a backbone and teeth, too, and if those are not present then any pairings with him put me the fuck to sleep.
-Jade Harley! Human, John's sortoftwin itscomplicated. Cheerful and friendly and derpy, kind of a wild child, also way into hard sciences and really good with a rifle and by the end of Act 5 the most overpowered character by far. She shrinks planets, guys.
-Dirk Strider (human!) Dave's big/little brother from an alternate timeline. Is actually cool, and not faking it, also mixing snooty/wordy and crude language which is v. fun, also fucking badass yet also caring/lending-an-ear when his friends have issues, also canonly bi-gay woo.
And I could continue until I've listed them all but I'm too lazy. Whoops.
Third the actual pairings:
But first a quick reminder of the trolls' romantic quadrants:
-flushed : red/pitying/positive romance, sexual
-pale: red romance, nonsexual, supposed to curb the other person's issues/problematic behaviors and offer support etc.
-caliginous: black/negative. Hatesex, woooo. Mind, it's still a RELATIONSHIP and Karkat at some point mentions hate-dates, so it's not just bloody banging and then byebye.
-Ashen: black, nonsexual, has three people. It's basically when two people dislike each other but for some reason they should NOT enter into a caliginous relationship, and a third person comes in to play referee. It's also a *romantic* relationship* so presumably they spend time with each other that's not all "yay i'm cockblocking, go to your separate corners"? it's the hardest one to write, I think.
KARKAT PAIRINGS:
-John/Karkat: if John is written more interesting than derp-giggly moron, FUCK YES. John is headstrong enough to deal with Karkat's attempts to bulldoze people for their own good, and friendly/happy enough to think his tirades of grossness are amusing rather than shocking/disgusting/hurtful. I also enjoy Karkat being clumsy as fuck, and the angst when John is all "sorry dude no homo" so I'm also okay with AU fics where Karkat isn't an alien. Even if WAUGH WHY. ;___;
I only like them flushed, or maaaaaybe as caliginous IF caliginous is presented like competition/respect a LOT more than hate, because I don't think John is the type of person who would revel in getting a violently negative reaction out of someone he respects even a little bit, and if there's no respect then fuck that noise.
But anyway they used to be both leaders of their own groups (karkat has recently stepped down in favor of Rose), so they could bond on that, and also lawl hammer and sickle, and John does a great Normal Human POV for some glorious culture clashes.
-Dave/Karkat: ... NGH. Oh the flying snark, the bitchiness. Karkat wears his heart on his sleeve amongst the constant, pretty loud rage and Dave is all "poker face" and monotone all the time even though he feels just as deeply deep down and they'd get on each other's nerves so prettily. But they could also understand each other so well! They both have this urge to protect their friends even via self-sacrifice and they both like wordy snark and they'd understand each other's vulnerabilities (uncomfortably) deeply if they let themselves take another look. Karkat might manage to get Stoic Dave to flip out and Dave might get Karkat to chill for a bit... ngh.
Also the culture clashes, made more hilarious by Dave's habit of handing out bullshit answers. Also the fact that he's the kind of guy who I could see wrapping his mind around a relationship based on hatesex easy. XD Or some other things from troll society, like the constant potential for violence -- his bro regularly jumped him with a sword in hand as training, he's got more of a fighter/survivor mindset than John does.
So. I like them black, and I like them flushed, and I LOVE them flip-flopping between awkward understanding and AAA YOU GET ON MY NERVES.
Also when Karkat gets older their eyes will match. Mmmmmm red. *_*
-Gamzee/Karkat: MY PALETP. Karkat goes up to Gamzee in a murdrous rage despite his own terror and cuddlepats him into settling the hell down. Gorgeous. Also canon. Gooorgeous.
In my mind Gamzee takes care of getting Karkat to chill and makes him feel loved/needed, which he's very insecure about considering his loud ranting, which slides off gamzee's back, kinda gets on other people's nerves, and Karkat takes care of keeping Gamzee non-psychotic and actually eating normal food and not drug pies and all those other things like taking regular baths etc. Gamzee gets that Karkat nagging means he cares/worries and his lack of motivation/s'all cool bro i'll do it tomorrow/uh huh yeah *forgets* needs something to push at it with equal strength, but he can calm him down when Karkat frets himself into an aneurysm too.
I love the idea of them cuddling and talking with each other for hours, and having deep physical intimacy. I hate it when sex gets injected in it. Flushed relationships don't have this undertone of "I'm helping you become a better person because I care with absolutely zero strings attached," it's not really the responsibility of the flushed partner, and I feel like it's telling me "yeah, it doesn't count as a powerful, intense romance if they don't have teh hawt sexx0rs. :/ I can only tolerate sex brought into it when they're not all sexual!lovey-dovey and the sex is part of their mutual therapy somehow and they're still PALE, they're just, like... pale with benefits, but even then I haven't found a lot of fics that write it the way I like.
Them as a blackrom would only happen if there was a betrayal of humongous proportions at some point, and urgh nooooo. (even then I feel Karkat's reaction to betrayal might be to kneel there crying and be all "why?" and I can't imagine Gamzee hating Karkat, unless he resents him from stopping his oh so fun murder-rampage, which uhhh I don't see him as QUITE that psycho.)
Anyway it's a delicious form of romance and is full of d'awwws as is no tampering needed. Moarplz.
(also read this: It's Probably Plain to See That I Got a Whole Lot of Pain In Me by mercurialMalcontent. It is d'awww-tastic pale caretaking fic.)
-Karkat/Terezi: I... can't see the dynamic. Which sucks because there's hints that it's ... semi-canon? About to be canon? Karkat canonly has intense romantic feelings for her (mostly sexual) and he keeps swinging from lovesex to hatesex on her, but I just cannot see it from Terezi's side. She likes to tease him, but I should probably reread and see what else she likes about him, because half the time she seems tender/friend/worried but the other half she seems kinda annoyed with his theatrics, and not in a passionately hate-y way. Idk.
==> add a Dave in it and suddenly OH GOD YES THREESOME PLEASE. >_> Go figure.
-Karkat/Kanaya: She's basically his classy friend who prods him with LOGIC and has a calming effect on him sometimes and he doesn't find a lot of reasons to blow up at her compared to most everyone else! I do not like them pale. (GAMZEE TERRITORY, also while Kanaya can calm him down a bit and get him to see some things rationally I don't see what he brings her back. She doesn't need hugged to dissipate her sheer fury, her own anger is pretty well-controlled and well-aimed, so... I'm really not sure.) I do not like them red. (CANON LESBIAAAAAAN.) And the idea of them as caliginous is hilarious. Nah, there's zero passion between them, what would they hate each other about?
I could maybe see them as ashen with a third, but the issue here is that at the moment the only person Kanaya HATES is Gamzee, and if Karkat jumped ashen with them to stop that from progressing he couldn't be pale with Gamzee anymore. If Vriska was still alive/revived I could maybe see Karkat trying to mediate between them because he knows Vriska is playing with Kanaya and doesn't love/hate her back the same way, but I think Vriska wouldn't listen to him either, so that'd make it into a fairly inefficient relationship. (then again Vriska was all ♥_♥ when Kanaya was kicking Gamzee in the balls so maybe they could actually flip flushed, but then that still means Karkat and Kanaya aren't in a relationship.)
-Karkat/Sollux: ... idk. I can't see them as pale, because they don't soothe each other, they kind of goad each other into stupid shit. Karkat mocks Sollux's lisp and Sollux mocks Karat's total inability to work with his much-loved computers. I can't see them as caliginous because every time they have a bitchfit it ends in Karkat being contrite and asking if they're still friends. I can't see them as red because they keep nagging/pushing at each other.
I can and do see them as pretty close friends who keep bickering but always have each other's back and I have zero issues with extending that toward fuckbuddies, even longterm fuckbuddies, but in my headcanon neither of them pities the other one much and it's not hate so much as temporary annoyance with each other's faults. They'd probably fill a quadrant together when the drones come and it's fuck or die season, but it wouldn't be a deep, passionate romance.
Some fics are pretty good, though, so if the plot is shiny I'll read them anyway. XD
(ESPECIALLY THIS ONE HOMGFUCK. Space Bro by JumpingJackFlash but i have to admit it's less the pairing in itself and more the characterization the author uses for them and the shiny idea, but it's still well worth reading. All of his fics are worth reading.)
-Karkat/Nepeta: she has a crush on him, he keeps avoiding the topic looking really awkward/annoyed about it... um. .__. To me it seems more about an attempt to recreate their ancestors' "Romance That Transcended The Quadrants" but it also seems one of those "whoops sorry it worked out for them it's not gonna work out for you", like how Tavros' ancestor was this ballsy badass who led a rebellion and Tavros is this adorable but spineless pushover, or how Vriska's ancestress and Eridan's had a passionate caliginous relationship and instead they get roleplay and fizzing out.
-Karkat/Jade: in some ways she's like John Bis, so those ways they mesh she also meshes, but she also gets short tempered with him and refuses to take his bullshit instead of going "hehehe" and not even appearing to notice it, and he really respects her as a result.
Quite a few of them seem to either be blah or make her less of an epic badass from the summary. I'll take recs for this one god please.
-Karkat/Eridan: If they're by Roachpatrol ohgodyes sosexywhy, otherwise urk. Eridan is a major entitled Nice Guy bag of douche with serious codependence and control issues, and while Karkat was trying to help him with his troubles when they were younger it never seemed to make a dent in his douchiness. He might grow out of it as he grows up, but by that point does Karkat still care? Hm. :/
JOHN PAIRINGS:
-John/Karkat.
-Not John/Dave. :( Dave does angsty pining so well but at the same time 1) they don't have culture clashes (BOO) and 70% of their fics are random high school AUs WHAT'S THE POINT why come into homestuck and its crazy plotline/alinenness/game powers to ship "normal happy white guy / normal snarky-emo white guy"????
and 2) I like them as buddies better and can't really find any romantic tension in the text. Maaaaybe from Dave's end, seeing as he once doomed himself rather than let that timeline, the one where John died, become the main/non-doomed done. But Jade was also dead in that one and everything was fucked and the game was unwinnable! DX It's not ALL for love of John. Also I can't see it from John's direction. It refuses to compute. In my head Dave is his best bro the end. No fic has managed to convince me otherwise, not even during the read itself, no matter if they were super awesomely written. I just suspended disbelief Really Hard.
I have still read John/Dave fics that were utter awesome. (damn well there should be some awesome ones, johndave is like 60% of the fandom by now. Nooo why did I miss the golden days of johnkat preeminence! s-sob. XD)
-John/Jade: .___. yes okay they're secretly genetically related. Which is, uh, exactly the ping, there. Plus the "derp twins" aspect, where they're not stupid together but more like... emotionally resilient by way of optimism, I like that.
-John/Rose: uh. Obv. they love each other as friends and would go very far for each other. But. IDK, it reads as entirely platonic and a pure Part Of The Four Of Us thing? Rose is gently amused from above and John doesn't really get her more cerebral preocuppations. They care, yes, but what would they even talk about in the evening in their living room?
-John/Vriska: I love the effect John had on Vriska. She's pretty much a remorseless user/psycho and he makes her question it and her confusion over wanting to change (and then she dies oops D: ) Sadly, even though she is one badass lady, I don't care much for Vriska herself. So I'll read flushed John/Vriska in the background of another pairing, but otherwise I like them pale (he doesn't bow to her whims and she listens to his opinion because he doesn't seem to judge her and curbing each other's behavior is pretty much the definition there XD). (Adi and I were joking about it the other day and we concluded that while another pale romance might be counted as bad because they're stealing cars, with John/Vriska you'd know it's a success because they're ONLY stealing cars and there's no body count. XD)
(Journey of Discovery by DoctorV and For A Smile They Can Share The Night (The Movie Never Ends Roadtrip) by biichama (biichan) are AWESOME pale JohnVriska (the second is a remix of the first and it deepens the first admirably, too. Read them in order.)
Vriska gets on my nerves a bit with how egocentric she gets, but if she's not written like that right from the start then it reads OOC! Makes things difficult.
DAVE PAIRINGS
-davekaaaaaaaaaaat. ♥
-Dave/Terezi: my DaveTP. Dave is badass, Terezi is badass, except he has a chewy center and she has A LOT OF REALLY SHARP TEETH and she's so amused by his fronting but in a sort of tender way and they have glorious fun together with drawing shitty comics for each other -- she gets his sense of humor!!!!!! -- and building a town made of cans together and and and. He indulges her overdriven sense of justice and allows her to manipulate him like all "welp might as well go along with it, crazy alien chick woo" and she cries when she watches him die (okay it was sort of her fault, though it was an alternate timeline!dave... oh the Dead Daves, who hasn't caused one or three. XD)
Also he uses a bastard sword or a katana and she uses a swordcane with a dragon head obviously they are made for each other. Also for skewering bad guys with pointy death. They would be TERRIFYING together.
Also Karkat totally thinks they're banging. Or about to bang. His Terezi senses have noticed Dave as a serious contender. Totes proof. u.u
Flushed. FLUUUSHED. I can't see them as pale, to me it doesn't seem like they curb each other much (Dave failed to stop her killing Vriska and pretty much went "welp, do whatever you want" in the end) and they're kinda snarky with each other so... well, maybe they both like that way of comforting people without having to ACKNOWLEDGE you're comforting them/they need to be comforted, but idk. I like them making out okay.
Caliginous = no and ashen = Terezi doesn't need Dave's help to mediate her shit. >___>
(Anything by Cephied Variable. I mean it, anything.
Practice Makes Perfect by Twilit (twilight). How can you not love a fic that comes with this quote:
TG: yup, that's me
TG: dave strider, cocksucking champion of paradoxspace)
-I can read Dave/Tavros, it's cute as fuck to imagine Tavros having a crush on Mr. Coolguy and Dave being all "okay let me teach you to be more badaaass oh okay guess you're kinda badass too also uh nice shoulders there @.@;" It's not one of my favorite ships but the fics tend to be pretty fun and adorable.
Tie Kink 'verse by Valmora, also has neat worldbuilding. And Ayem-Seht-Ayem, same author. I think I like this one even better, even if it's a college AU, because it's also one with Trolls on Earth and exploration of culture clashes.
-Dave/Rose yes they're siblings see Jade/John. I also enjoy the fuck out of Rose's attempts toskullfuck psychoanalize her "dear brother" as Dave tries to avoid her devious word traps and all the flying snark and the genuine caring under that and the way they both had less than ideal family lives, him with his brother who does puppet porn for a living and greets him sword in hand, her with her alcoholic passive-aggressive mother in a huge empty mansion, all the issues, mmm, glorious.
I still like it more as siblings/pale than as sexual, but I can take it incesty too. XD
-Dave/Jade is the one inter-kids pairing I sort of tolerate (i like Dave being topped by his girlfriends what can I say XD) but at the same time idk it doesn't ping me very hard. I enjoy it framed in the game as she does her Witch of Space thing and he does his Knight of Time thing and they're badasses/supportive together, but without the game, hrrm. Ehh.
-Dave/Dirk? .__.;;;;;; Some days? it really has to be good, but usually when it's good it's also HOT AS FUCK. so.
Okay so they're brothers and contrary to Rose and Dave they've actually been raised together. Or more precisely, Dave has been raised by his older Bro who's secretly named Dirk, so Bro's both brother and father figure holy fuck the creepnasty vibes, but at the same time there's this silent brotherhood of utter badasses, STRIDERS AGAINST THE WORLD between them. Hmm.
And Dirk, being from an alternate universe, has a sort of older brother named Dave who he has never met but who he followed the badass life of religiously.
Actually I prefer it when it's Dave/Dirk and not either one with their Bro (though that can also be hot some days XD) because there's all the complications of being from different timelines and "this is my older brother but he's my age and *I'm* his older brother??? the dynamics are totally different and my real bro is DEAD he is NOT MY BRO but at the same time holy fuck it's my bro at 16." It's kinda glorious. How do they relate to each other, both being and not at all being the person who died on the other guy and left such a hole in their life, the same shape they left one in theirs?
Close Enough by Incessantshippr; has been jossed since then re: Dirk growing up with his Bro, but is still the perfect hng dynamic. (also is mostly porn, but it works because oh the FEELINGS. >>)
OTHERS
-Rose/Kanaya: Snarky classy femme lesbians. I admit I don't look for Rose/Kanaya centric fic, even though one of them is a Seer who talks with Lovecraftian horrors from the deep and the other one is a vampire who cuts assholes in two via chainsaw and they're both so, so badass. Their canon interaction is smart and fun of analysis and cultural exchanges, and they get along well apart from the beginning misunderstandings due to John's trolling (XD brat) and it'd be really awesome if they got together. They just work well, okay! D: Also the pairing indulges Kanaya's love of dangerous ladies without submitting her to Vriska's user and manipulative tendencies, because Rose might be a snarky bitch sometimes but she isn't that kind of asshole.
Flushed. Definitely flushed.
-Dirk/Jake: Dirk is canongay! woo. (or bi maybe, he does say he finds "gay" to be an antiquated label that he doesn't want applied to him (he lives in the futuuuuuuuuuuuuuure)) Dirk also has Sexy badassness and Angst and Interesting Things. At first I saw mostly Jake as being John+Jade, a derpy cheerful adventurer who tried to be badass on his island of death but mostly managed to be clumsy/goofy. But then he's all "oh if someone liked me and they were a BOY then i don't see why that should stop me from considering it" and i'm all "awwwwwwww pansexual/openminded"... and then when Dirk tells him hey btw im from teh future spoiler the aliens win and all the humans die he *instantly believes him*. Not because he's stupid or credulous but because Dirk is his friend who he trusts and Dirk wouldn't lie to him that way. Nnnnngh BABIES.
At the same time Jake has two other chicks in love with him and has just developed a crush on a troll girl (who, okay, happens to have been a ghost for many millenias by now, so it's likely not happening) so it's not a sure thing that he'll reciprocate. But when before I was mostly interested in Dirk and his unrequited crush and the potential angst from that, now I'm rooting for them to happen. Especially since Jane and Jake are related the same way John and Jade are! D: And Roxy seems to have bowed out. PLEASE HAPPEEEEEEN. ;____;
-Gamzee/Tavros: They do rap battles together and spend time together shooting the breeze. Gamzee is at his nicest/chillest when around Tavros and Tavros trusts him enough to be happy/outgoing around him, which considering Gamzee is super high caste compared to him is something. Gamzee canonly ♥ Tavros but when told so, Tavros has a blue screen of death response and then oops he ded. I can see it as mutual, and I can see it as unrequited/platonic brohood from Tavros' end. It's mostly an easy flushed ship for Gamzee if necessary, and Gamzee would protect Tavros until he finds his strength and protects himself; it's cute but doesn't fascinate me.
-Eridan/Sollux: Douche hipster VS douche nerd, FIGHT. Caliginous or nothing! Especially considering Eridan was so jealous that the girl he wanted preferred Sollux that he, uh, killed her. If it's sexual hatred then yes, but I could see it as platonic as well and/or Eridan being in deep tormented hate and Sollux not giving a fuck and having too much contempt for him to reciprocate. Idk, it depends on the fic.
CRACK COUNTRY
-Dirk/Equius: Guy who likes horses and is a confident badass/guy who likes horse furries and has a submission fetish toward those he sees as inferior/inapproriate IE humans and rustbloods. HMMM. I've read fic for them and they were SMOKING HOT. Most of them had BDSM theme too but it works really well for those characters somehow, Dirk is easy to see as a natural Dom and Equius is canonically into that in the first place. PONY PLAY WOO. XDDD
Dirk: take charge. and Save a hoofbeast, both by Laylah. (not the same 'verse, one is human!AU and the other one is troll/human and both are porn. The first especially has awesome dynamics. Ngh.)
-Roxy/Gamzee: Drunkard/Pothead woo! Actually Roxy and Gamzee's easygoing natures and the angst/issues they stuff down under it could work pretty well. i've read a couple of fics with them and wow, it worked super well, I was baffled.
(Perchance to Dream by EK (ilyat)
some got gold and all them diamonds by Laylah
We've Got a Big Mess On Our Hands by Taimat: this one comes with a Dirk on top. oh. ngh. *__*)
-Roxy/Meenah: *_* come on, the first time they interact Meenah tries to strangle Roxy. She's obviously waxing caliginous for her. Mmmh.
-Dirk/uu. XDDDD That's the hateful gray-speech troll who we don't even have either a name or an *appearance* for, they've had a couple conversations tops, but uu keeps hate-flirting hardcore and Dirk is all "uh huh. yep. you're a weirdo. Mm. whatevs." XDDD
ROANBONE.jpg by embarrassingfanfiction and Blackest Heart by elwing_alcyone
-I read this Rose/Sollux fic once and wow yes. Scarlet and Bible Black by paraTactician (it also has a sequel where Sollux and Dave talk their differences out and it honestly made me cry with laughter. My stomach was aching.)
-I also read this couple of caliginous Nepeta/Eridan and also yes. They had the fluffiest blackrom ever. Nepeta has such a hard time hating people, she's socute, but if anyone deserves her ire it's Eridan XDD FEAR THE KITTYGIRL!!!
bite and scratch and scream all night by Laylah
Nobody But Me by Wallwalker
-Recently I've had it pointed to me that Terezi/Gamzee as a caliginous romance would have quite a lot of potential. They'd clash on her laws versus his murder religion, amongst other things. I am considering it. >____>
Nothing Sacred/Nothing True by ferrrox, Laylah (ngh.)
-Sollux/The Sufferer (pale! XDD) It's ALL THIS FIC'S FAULT. Solace for the Dreaming Damned by Talliara
THREESOMES
... They all have Karkat in them. XD;;; I have a major thing for Karkat being loved on until he flails himself into a melty puddle of incredulous happiness, okay. (failing that, a melting puddle of orgasmed-out. Yep.)
-Dave/Terezi/Karkat: glorious. *_* Between Terezi's chemistry with Dave and her tender feelings for Karkat, Karkat's desperate feelings for her and suspicious/irrited yet willing to compromise toward Dave, and Dave's "welp what the fuck have I gotten myself into oh whatever I'll say it's ironic"... MY OT3.
reposting links i'd posted in comments before:
this one isn't complete, only three chapters, and hasn't been updated in a while but the setup itself is already awesome -- basically they had a one-night-stand and it was disastrous and now they have to deal with the fallout. Also includes new world shininess, mostly in the background but it keeps teasing at my plotbunnies with possibilities.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/188576
This one is BDSM porn with Mistress Terezi and oh. wow. yes. YES.
http://homesmut.livejournal.com/14212.html?thread=26167684#t26167684
And this one has two oneshots and also some fairly intense xeno stuff about trolls reproduction but it's seriously worth it.
http://archiveofourown.org/series/8332
And a couple of very short PWPs...
http://archiveofourown.org/works/281929
http://archiveofourown.org/works/331326
ANDedenfalling'S OWN FIC OHOHO. An Intricate Courtship Process. ohohohohohoho all for meeeee~
-John/Karkat/Jade: twincest yay + crush on the same shouty yet vulnerable guy also yay. Why is there not more. ;___;
-John/Dave/Karkat: mostly for the hotness factor, I don't like the davejohn angle even then :/ john being all "not a homosexual" i don't know if he'd be Just Fine with having two boyfriends, and they might compete in the not-fun way over him idk. There's something in the dynamic that doesn't quite convince me even though it's sexy. Karkat sandwich configurations I like better, though.
This one was pretty awesome though: Cranked Up To Intimate by elwing_alcyone
-Karkat/Dave/Sollux: It's sexy and snarky and full of bitching and fuckbuddies. Did you expect something deep?
All this fic's fault: Take You Wonder By Wonder by roachpatrol.
-Dave/Jade/Karkat: I'm reading a WIP thathas will have this threesome and WOW. Dave and Jade are totally Dave indulging his wild child girlfriend and being ridiculously besotted with how she goes about life in general and them both doing crazy, fun shit together, and it just so happens they think Karkat and his too-serious grouchiness would be right fun to completely wreck, in really fun ways. With this dynamic I am All For It.
Stray by ladyofshallnot (only two chapters in, barely starting. ;_; also a College AU.)
-Okay no, this one has no Karkat. I like Aradia/Sollux/Feferi as a big mess of flushed and pale feelings in every direction. XD I find Sollux' binary fetish funny, and I enjoy that Feferi and Aradia are both very similar in some ways wbile being at opposite ends of the social ladder and having very different approaches to some things, and that they're friendly to each other even so, and that they're both very feminine and friendly and smily and both kickass anyway. (seriously all the girls of homestuck kick ass, it's awesome.)
MORESOMES
I'm ehhhh with John/Dave/Rose/Jade, I only see it as super close but platonic. idk. I'm much more onboard with Dirk/Roxy/Jake/Jane. Maybe because we meet them as older, and because three of them are in love with Jake and Dirk and Roxy are completely pale for each other and Roxy and Jane are trying so hard to be BFFs and everything. It'd be so much fun.
bonus! not a shippy fic but one about Dirk and Jane suddenly!trolls and holy fuck it's WEIRD. I love "kids end up troll and deal with the body disphoria" or the other way around. And there's awesome bonds in here. Stay Awake Little Misfit by lantadyme
And plz feel free to ask about other pairings and I'll ramble on about it. (I don't enjoy Vriska ships in general, though. Especially not Tavros/Vriska holy fuck get away from him he does not need to be jumped off a cliff again the next time he fails to bend over for you. D: )
edenfalling. Blaaaame. BLAAAAME.edit: NOW WITH RAREPAIR FIC PIMPING. y'all can find the johnkats and davekats yourselves. XD
Okay first What I look for in Homestuck fanfic:
-ALIEN THINGS.
I love that the trolls are *aliens* and that they have a fucked-up society with huge key differences from Humanity. Even if they're "not too alien" in that appearance-wise they're humanoid (the main things are gray skin and orange horns and pointy teeth and the rainbow of potential blood/eye colors thing.)
(Fanon has it that they also have claws, which I am prrt over. Fanon also has it that due to Karkat referencing troll 'nooks' and 'bone bulges' as sexual components without regarde for gender that they might also be hermaphroditic and all differences are in secondary characteristics and personality stuff, but even those might differ from humans)
Which leads to
--> .~¤*CULTURE CLASHES*¤~.
(I feel like I should add some ASCII art to this one.)
--> Okay fine I also like the xeno thing. I've been so BORED writing normal sex, not even threesomes ping me as "something I haven't written at least three times before", and once you reach four partners it's less sexy/intimate and more like a circus act including the juggling of body parts and at least two contorsionists. But this has little relevance to specific pairings, just a general warning: if you read one of my Homestuck fics and suddenly there's sex, it's a fair bet they'll be not-really-human under the belt.
-The glorious mind-fuckery of the Game, and the forced collaboration that leads to understanding and mutual loyalty and teaming up.
I love the characters, pretty much all of them yes really, even those I don't like a LOT I will still read for if the summary is interesting. So allowing for "hey the scenario sounds shiny/well-written/the characters seem so brillantly THEM even if they're not aliens anymore", I am not very interested in Human!AUs, schoolfics especially.
For roughly the same reason I a LOT into kid/troll pairings, mildly into troll/troll and not into kid/kid pairing. It's all... without the frame of the game they're... four normal human kids who meet on the internet?
(Also the Ancestors are pretty cool but apart from the Sufferer who I love, and the Grand Highblood for how terrifying he is, and sometimes the Psiioniic who has such an awesome angsty life holy fuck, I'm not very interested in their history/love lives. And even then I still don't ship Suff/Psii, go figure, but gen, give me gen, oh god yes.)
Second My favorite characters & why
-KARKAT VANTAAAAAS (troll! Knight of Blood.) socute ;^; What I love: his amazing (and disgusting XD) mastery of language; the fact that he's pretty much ALWAYS raging but 75% of that raging is because he's worried as fuck for everyone in his life ever and trying to micromanage them into being functional and happy; his ~DEADLY SECRET~ what with being a mutant who if found out would be killed on the spot; his obsession with romance and romantic comedies. Also, his nubby round little horns, yes Karkat, they're going to grow any day now, honest. 9____9 He's a mix of caring and insecurities wrapped in amazingly articulate anger and I wub him.
You may also know him as Asuka's Fandom Bicycle.
-Dave Strider (human!) Also does the extended metaphor/wordplay thing. Is also a Knight (of Time.) Was raised by his Bro and D'AWWW THE BROTHERLY DEVOTION. my buttons. Pretends to be cool and badass but while indeed badass and ninja-y is in fact a huge dork.
-Terezi Pyrope (troll!) Badass as fuck lady. She is blind and COMPLETELY KICKASS and she has about three bazilion teeth and a sword cane and she roleplays as a mighty dragon and she's snarky and caring and friendly and has little patience for bullshit.
-GAMZEE MAKARA (troll!) The fucking juggalo crazyclown. Half the time floating in a happy haze of drugs, the rest being creepy as fuck and/or going murderhappy on "infidels" for harshing on his weird clown religion. ... I love him mostly in nonsexual pairings but I still love him. XD
-Rose Lalonde (human!) Snarky broad and warrior therapist who should heed the "physician, heal thyself" mmm mom issues and also a gal who once killed an ogre via planting her knitting needles in its eyes. She's overly wordy and likes mindfucking people. She's also Dave's sort-of-twin sister. Also fucking badass, elegantly so.
-John Egbert (human!) He's fun! But as he's the "everyman" of this series he's the one whose characterization varies the most. When he's written as Innocent Uke I can't stand him. I like him as goofy! but he does have a backbone and teeth, too, and if those are not present then any pairings with him put me the fuck to sleep.
-Jade Harley! Human, John's sortoftwin itscomplicated. Cheerful and friendly and derpy, kind of a wild child, also way into hard sciences and really good with a rifle and by the end of Act 5 the most overpowered character by far. She shrinks planets, guys.
-Dirk Strider (human!) Dave's big/little brother from an alternate timeline. Is actually cool, and not faking it, also mixing snooty/wordy and crude language which is v. fun, also fucking badass yet also caring/lending-an-ear when his friends have issues, also canonly bi-gay woo.
And I could continue until I've listed them all but I'm too lazy. Whoops.
Third the actual pairings:
But first a quick reminder of the trolls' romantic quadrants:
-flushed : red/pitying/positive romance, sexual
-pale: red romance, nonsexual, supposed to curb the other person's issues/problematic behaviors and offer support etc.
-caliginous: black/negative. Hatesex, woooo. Mind, it's still a RELATIONSHIP and Karkat at some point mentions hate-dates, so it's not just bloody banging and then byebye.
-Ashen: black, nonsexual, has three people. It's basically when two people dislike each other but for some reason they should NOT enter into a caliginous relationship, and a third person comes in to play referee. It's also a *romantic* relationship* so presumably they spend time with each other that's not all "yay i'm cockblocking, go to your separate corners"? it's the hardest one to write, I think.
KARKAT PAIRINGS:
-John/Karkat: if John is written more interesting than derp-giggly moron, FUCK YES. John is headstrong enough to deal with Karkat's attempts to bulldoze people for their own good, and friendly/happy enough to think his tirades of grossness are amusing rather than shocking/disgusting/hurtful. I also enjoy Karkat being clumsy as fuck, and the angst when John is all "sorry dude no homo" so I'm also okay with AU fics where Karkat isn't an alien. Even if WAUGH WHY. ;___;
I only like them flushed, or maaaaaybe as caliginous IF caliginous is presented like competition/respect a LOT more than hate, because I don't think John is the type of person who would revel in getting a violently negative reaction out of someone he respects even a little bit, and if there's no respect then fuck that noise.
But anyway they used to be both leaders of their own groups (karkat has recently stepped down in favor of Rose), so they could bond on that, and also lawl hammer and sickle, and John does a great Normal Human POV for some glorious culture clashes.
-Dave/Karkat: ... NGH. Oh the flying snark, the bitchiness. Karkat wears his heart on his sleeve amongst the constant, pretty loud rage and Dave is all "poker face" and monotone all the time even though he feels just as deeply deep down and they'd get on each other's nerves so prettily. But they could also understand each other so well! They both have this urge to protect their friends even via self-sacrifice and they both like wordy snark and they'd understand each other's vulnerabilities (uncomfortably) deeply if they let themselves take another look. Karkat might manage to get Stoic Dave to flip out and Dave might get Karkat to chill for a bit... ngh.
Also the culture clashes, made more hilarious by Dave's habit of handing out bullshit answers. Also the fact that he's the kind of guy who I could see wrapping his mind around a relationship based on hatesex easy. XD Or some other things from troll society, like the constant potential for violence -- his bro regularly jumped him with a sword in hand as training, he's got more of a fighter/survivor mindset than John does.
So. I like them black, and I like them flushed, and I LOVE them flip-flopping between awkward understanding and AAA YOU GET ON MY NERVES.
Also when Karkat gets older their eyes will match. Mmmmmm red. *_*
-Gamzee/Karkat: MY PALETP. Karkat goes up to Gamzee in a murdrous rage despite his own terror and cuddlepats him into settling the hell down. Gorgeous. Also canon. Gooorgeous.
In my mind Gamzee takes care of getting Karkat to chill and makes him feel loved/needed, which he's very insecure about considering his loud ranting, which slides off gamzee's back, kinda gets on other people's nerves, and Karkat takes care of keeping Gamzee non-psychotic and actually eating normal food and not drug pies and all those other things like taking regular baths etc. Gamzee gets that Karkat nagging means he cares/worries and his lack of motivation/s'all cool bro i'll do it tomorrow/uh huh yeah *forgets* needs something to push at it with equal strength, but he can calm him down when Karkat frets himself into an aneurysm too.
I love the idea of them cuddling and talking with each other for hours, and having deep physical intimacy. I hate it when sex gets injected in it. Flushed relationships don't have this undertone of "I'm helping you become a better person because I care with absolutely zero strings attached," it's not really the responsibility of the flushed partner, and I feel like it's telling me "yeah, it doesn't count as a powerful, intense romance if they don't have teh hawt sexx0rs. :/ I can only tolerate sex brought into it when they're not all sexual!lovey-dovey and the sex is part of their mutual therapy somehow and they're still PALE, they're just, like... pale with benefits, but even then I haven't found a lot of fics that write it the way I like.
Them as a blackrom would only happen if there was a betrayal of humongous proportions at some point, and urgh nooooo. (even then I feel Karkat's reaction to betrayal might be to kneel there crying and be all "why?" and I can't imagine Gamzee hating Karkat, unless he resents him from stopping his oh so fun murder-rampage, which uhhh I don't see him as QUITE that psycho.)
Anyway it's a delicious form of romance and is full of d'awwws as is no tampering needed. Moarplz.
(also read this: It's Probably Plain to See That I Got a Whole Lot of Pain In Me by mercurialMalcontent. It is d'awww-tastic pale caretaking fic.)
-Karkat/Terezi: I... can't see the dynamic. Which sucks because there's hints that it's ... semi-canon? About to be canon? Karkat canonly has intense romantic feelings for her (mostly sexual) and he keeps swinging from lovesex to hatesex on her, but I just cannot see it from Terezi's side. She likes to tease him, but I should probably reread and see what else she likes about him, because half the time she seems tender/friend/worried but the other half she seems kinda annoyed with his theatrics, and not in a passionately hate-y way. Idk.
==> add a Dave in it and suddenly OH GOD YES THREESOME PLEASE. >_> Go figure.
-Karkat/Kanaya: She's basically his classy friend who prods him with LOGIC and has a calming effect on him sometimes and he doesn't find a lot of reasons to blow up at her compared to most everyone else! I do not like them pale. (GAMZEE TERRITORY, also while Kanaya can calm him down a bit and get him to see some things rationally I don't see what he brings her back. She doesn't need hugged to dissipate her sheer fury, her own anger is pretty well-controlled and well-aimed, so... I'm really not sure.) I do not like them red. (CANON LESBIAAAAAAN.) And the idea of them as caliginous is hilarious. Nah, there's zero passion between them, what would they hate each other about?
I could maybe see them as ashen with a third, but the issue here is that at the moment the only person Kanaya HATES is Gamzee, and if Karkat jumped ashen with them to stop that from progressing he couldn't be pale with Gamzee anymore. If Vriska was still alive/revived I could maybe see Karkat trying to mediate between them because he knows Vriska is playing with Kanaya and doesn't love/hate her back the same way, but I think Vriska wouldn't listen to him either, so that'd make it into a fairly inefficient relationship. (then again Vriska was all ♥_♥ when Kanaya was kicking Gamzee in the balls so maybe they could actually flip flushed, but then that still means Karkat and Kanaya aren't in a relationship.)
-Karkat/Sollux: ... idk. I can't see them as pale, because they don't soothe each other, they kind of goad each other into stupid shit. Karkat mocks Sollux's lisp and Sollux mocks Karat's total inability to work with his much-loved computers. I can't see them as caliginous because every time they have a bitchfit it ends in Karkat being contrite and asking if they're still friends. I can't see them as red because they keep nagging/pushing at each other.
I can and do see them as pretty close friends who keep bickering but always have each other's back and I have zero issues with extending that toward fuckbuddies, even longterm fuckbuddies, but in my headcanon neither of them pities the other one much and it's not hate so much as temporary annoyance with each other's faults. They'd probably fill a quadrant together when the drones come and it's fuck or die season, but it wouldn't be a deep, passionate romance.
Some fics are pretty good, though, so if the plot is shiny I'll read them anyway. XD
(ESPECIALLY THIS ONE HOMGFUCK. Space Bro by JumpingJackFlash but i have to admit it's less the pairing in itself and more the characterization the author uses for them and the shiny idea, but it's still well worth reading. All of his fics are worth reading.)
-Karkat/Nepeta: she has a crush on him, he keeps avoiding the topic looking really awkward/annoyed about it... um. .__. To me it seems more about an attempt to recreate their ancestors' "Romance That Transcended The Quadrants" but it also seems one of those "whoops sorry it worked out for them it's not gonna work out for you", like how Tavros' ancestor was this ballsy badass who led a rebellion and Tavros is this adorable but spineless pushover, or how Vriska's ancestress and Eridan's had a passionate caliginous relationship and instead they get roleplay and fizzing out.
-Karkat/Jade: in some ways she's like John Bis, so those ways they mesh she also meshes, but she also gets short tempered with him and refuses to take his bullshit instead of going "hehehe" and not even appearing to notice it, and he really respects her as a result.
Quite a few of them seem to either be blah or make her less of an epic badass from the summary. I'll take recs for this one god please.
-Karkat/Eridan: If they're by Roachpatrol ohgodyes sosexywhy, otherwise urk. Eridan is a major entitled Nice Guy bag of douche with serious codependence and control issues, and while Karkat was trying to help him with his troubles when they were younger it never seemed to make a dent in his douchiness. He might grow out of it as he grows up, but by that point does Karkat still care? Hm. :/
JOHN PAIRINGS:
-John/Karkat.
-Not John/Dave. :( Dave does angsty pining so well but at the same time 1) they don't have culture clashes (BOO) and 70% of their fics are random high school AUs WHAT'S THE POINT why come into homestuck and its crazy plotline/alinenness/game powers to ship "normal happy white guy / normal snarky-emo white guy"????
and 2) I like them as buddies better and can't really find any romantic tension in the text. Maaaaybe from Dave's end, seeing as he once doomed himself rather than let that timeline, the one where John died, become the main/non-doomed done. But Jade was also dead in that one and everything was fucked and the game was unwinnable! DX It's not ALL for love of John. Also I can't see it from John's direction. It refuses to compute. In my head Dave is his best bro the end. No fic has managed to convince me otherwise, not even during the read itself, no matter if they were super awesomely written. I just suspended disbelief Really Hard.
I have still read John/Dave fics that were utter awesome. (damn well there should be some awesome ones, johndave is like 60% of the fandom by now. Nooo why did I miss the golden days of johnkat preeminence! s-sob. XD)
-John/Jade: .___. yes okay they're secretly genetically related. Which is, uh, exactly the ping, there. Plus the "derp twins" aspect, where they're not stupid together but more like... emotionally resilient by way of optimism, I like that.
-John/Rose: uh. Obv. they love each other as friends and would go very far for each other. But. IDK, it reads as entirely platonic and a pure Part Of The Four Of Us thing? Rose is gently amused from above and John doesn't really get her more cerebral preocuppations. They care, yes, but what would they even talk about in the evening in their living room?
-John/Vriska: I love the effect John had on Vriska. She's pretty much a remorseless user/psycho and he makes her question it and her confusion over wanting to change (and then she dies oops D: ) Sadly, even though she is one badass lady, I don't care much for Vriska herself. So I'll read flushed John/Vriska in the background of another pairing, but otherwise I like them pale (he doesn't bow to her whims and she listens to his opinion because he doesn't seem to judge her and curbing each other's behavior is pretty much the definition there XD). (Adi and I were joking about it the other day and we concluded that while another pale romance might be counted as bad because they're stealing cars, with John/Vriska you'd know it's a success because they're ONLY stealing cars and there's no body count. XD)
(Journey of Discovery by DoctorV and For A Smile They Can Share The Night (The Movie Never Ends Roadtrip) by biichama (biichan) are AWESOME pale JohnVriska (the second is a remix of the first and it deepens the first admirably, too. Read them in order.)
Vriska gets on my nerves a bit with how egocentric she gets, but if she's not written like that right from the start then it reads OOC! Makes things difficult.
DAVE PAIRINGS
-davekaaaaaaaaaaat. ♥
-Dave/Terezi: my DaveTP. Dave is badass, Terezi is badass, except he has a chewy center and she has A LOT OF REALLY SHARP TEETH and she's so amused by his fronting but in a sort of tender way and they have glorious fun together with drawing shitty comics for each other -- she gets his sense of humor!!!!!! -- and building a town made of cans together and and and. He indulges her overdriven sense of justice and allows her to manipulate him like all "welp might as well go along with it, crazy alien chick woo" and she cries when she watches him die (okay it was sort of her fault, though it was an alternate timeline!dave... oh the Dead Daves, who hasn't caused one or three. XD)
Also he uses a bastard sword or a katana and she uses a swordcane with a dragon head obviously they are made for each other. Also for skewering bad guys with pointy death. They would be TERRIFYING together.
Also Karkat totally thinks they're banging. Or about to bang. His Terezi senses have noticed Dave as a serious contender. Totes proof. u.u
Flushed. FLUUUSHED. I can't see them as pale, to me it doesn't seem like they curb each other much (Dave failed to stop her killing Vriska and pretty much went "welp, do whatever you want" in the end) and they're kinda snarky with each other so... well, maybe they both like that way of comforting people without having to ACKNOWLEDGE you're comforting them/they need to be comforted, but idk. I like them making out okay.
Caliginous = no and ashen = Terezi doesn't need Dave's help to mediate her shit. >___>
(Anything by Cephied Variable. I mean it, anything.
Practice Makes Perfect by Twilit (twilight). How can you not love a fic that comes with this quote:
TG: yup, that's me
TG: dave strider, cocksucking champion of paradoxspace)
-I can read Dave/Tavros, it's cute as fuck to imagine Tavros having a crush on Mr. Coolguy and Dave being all "okay let me teach you to be more badaaass oh okay guess you're kinda badass too also uh nice shoulders there @.@;" It's not one of my favorite ships but the fics tend to be pretty fun and adorable.
Tie Kink 'verse by Valmora, also has neat worldbuilding. And Ayem-Seht-Ayem, same author. I think I like this one even better, even if it's a college AU, because it's also one with Trolls on Earth and exploration of culture clashes.
-Dave/Rose yes they're siblings see Jade/John. I also enjoy the fuck out of Rose's attempts to
I still like it more as siblings/pale than as sexual, but I can take it incesty too. XD
-Dave/Jade is the one inter-kids pairing I sort of tolerate (i like Dave being topped by his girlfriends what can I say XD) but at the same time idk it doesn't ping me very hard. I enjoy it framed in the game as she does her Witch of Space thing and he does his Knight of Time thing and they're badasses/supportive together, but without the game, hrrm. Ehh.
-Dave/Dirk? .__.;;;;;; Some days? it really has to be good, but usually when it's good it's also HOT AS FUCK. so.
Okay so they're brothers and contrary to Rose and Dave they've actually been raised together. Or more precisely, Dave has been raised by his older Bro who's secretly named Dirk, so Bro's both brother and father figure holy fuck the creepnasty vibes, but at the same time there's this silent brotherhood of utter badasses, STRIDERS AGAINST THE WORLD between them. Hmm.
And Dirk, being from an alternate universe, has a sort of older brother named Dave who he has never met but who he followed the badass life of religiously.
Actually I prefer it when it's Dave/Dirk and not either one with their Bro (though that can also be hot some days XD) because there's all the complications of being from different timelines and "this is my older brother but he's my age and *I'm* his older brother??? the dynamics are totally different and my real bro is DEAD he is NOT MY BRO but at the same time holy fuck it's my bro at 16." It's kinda glorious. How do they relate to each other, both being and not at all being the person who died on the other guy and left such a hole in their life, the same shape they left one in theirs?
Close Enough by Incessantshippr; has been jossed since then re: Dirk growing up with his Bro, but is still the perfect hng dynamic. (also is mostly porn, but it works because oh the FEELINGS. >>)
OTHERS
-Rose/Kanaya: Snarky classy femme lesbians. I admit I don't look for Rose/Kanaya centric fic, even though one of them is a Seer who talks with Lovecraftian horrors from the deep and the other one is a vampire who cuts assholes in two via chainsaw and they're both so, so badass. Their canon interaction is smart and fun of analysis and cultural exchanges, and they get along well apart from the beginning misunderstandings due to John's trolling (XD brat) and it'd be really awesome if they got together. They just work well, okay! D: Also the pairing indulges Kanaya's love of dangerous ladies without submitting her to Vriska's user and manipulative tendencies, because Rose might be a snarky bitch sometimes but she isn't that kind of asshole.
Flushed. Definitely flushed.
-Dirk/Jake: Dirk is canongay! woo. (or bi maybe, he does say he finds "gay" to be an antiquated label that he doesn't want applied to him (he lives in the futuuuuuuuuuuuuuure)) Dirk also has Sexy badassness and Angst and Interesting Things. At first I saw mostly Jake as being John+Jade, a derpy cheerful adventurer who tried to be badass on his island of death but mostly managed to be clumsy/goofy. But then he's all "oh if someone liked me and they were a BOY then i don't see why that should stop me from considering it" and i'm all "awwwwwwww pansexual/openminded"... and then when Dirk tells him hey btw im from teh future spoiler the aliens win and all the humans die he *instantly believes him*. Not because he's stupid or credulous but because Dirk is his friend who he trusts and Dirk wouldn't lie to him that way. Nnnnngh BABIES.
At the same time Jake has two other chicks in love with him and has just developed a crush on a troll girl (who, okay, happens to have been a ghost for many millenias by now, so it's likely not happening) so it's not a sure thing that he'll reciprocate. But when before I was mostly interested in Dirk and his unrequited crush and the potential angst from that, now I'm rooting for them to happen. Especially since Jane and Jake are related the same way John and Jade are! D: And Roxy seems to have bowed out. PLEASE HAPPEEEEEEN. ;____;
-Gamzee/Tavros: They do rap battles together and spend time together shooting the breeze. Gamzee is at his nicest/chillest when around Tavros and Tavros trusts him enough to be happy/outgoing around him, which considering Gamzee is super high caste compared to him is something. Gamzee canonly ♥ Tavros but when told so, Tavros has a blue screen of death response and then oops he ded. I can see it as mutual, and I can see it as unrequited/platonic brohood from Tavros' end. It's mostly an easy flushed ship for Gamzee if necessary, and Gamzee would protect Tavros until he finds his strength and protects himself; it's cute but doesn't fascinate me.
-Eridan/Sollux: Douche hipster VS douche nerd, FIGHT. Caliginous or nothing! Especially considering Eridan was so jealous that the girl he wanted preferred Sollux that he, uh, killed her. If it's sexual hatred then yes, but I could see it as platonic as well and/or Eridan being in deep tormented hate and Sollux not giving a fuck and having too much contempt for him to reciprocate. Idk, it depends on the fic.
CRACK COUNTRY
-Dirk/Equius: Guy who likes horses and is a confident badass/guy who likes horse furries and has a submission fetish toward those he sees as inferior/inapproriate IE humans and rustbloods. HMMM. I've read fic for them and they were SMOKING HOT. Most of them had BDSM theme too but it works really well for those characters somehow, Dirk is easy to see as a natural Dom and Equius is canonically into that in the first place. PONY PLAY WOO. XDDD
Dirk: take charge. and Save a hoofbeast, both by Laylah. (not the same 'verse, one is human!AU and the other one is troll/human and both are porn. The first especially has awesome dynamics. Ngh.)
-Roxy/Gamzee: Drunkard/Pothead woo! Actually Roxy and Gamzee's easygoing natures and the angst/issues they stuff down under it could work pretty well. i've read a couple of fics with them and wow, it worked super well, I was baffled.
(Perchance to Dream by EK (ilyat)
some got gold and all them diamonds by Laylah
We've Got a Big Mess On Our Hands by Taimat: this one comes with a Dirk on top. oh. ngh. *__*)
-Roxy/Meenah: *_* come on, the first time they interact Meenah tries to strangle Roxy. She's obviously waxing caliginous for her. Mmmh.
-Dirk/uu. XDDDD That's the hateful gray-speech troll who we don't even have either a name or an *appearance* for, they've had a couple conversations tops, but uu keeps hate-flirting hardcore and Dirk is all "uh huh. yep. you're a weirdo. Mm. whatevs." XDDD
ROANBONE.jpg by embarrassingfanfiction and Blackest Heart by elwing_alcyone
-I read this Rose/Sollux fic once and wow yes. Scarlet and Bible Black by paraTactician (it also has a sequel where Sollux and Dave talk their differences out and it honestly made me cry with laughter. My stomach was aching.)
-I also read this couple of caliginous Nepeta/Eridan and also yes. They had the fluffiest blackrom ever. Nepeta has such a hard time hating people, she's socute, but if anyone deserves her ire it's Eridan XDD FEAR THE KITTYGIRL!!!
bite and scratch and scream all night by Laylah
Nobody But Me by Wallwalker
-Recently I've had it pointed to me that Terezi/Gamzee as a caliginous romance would have quite a lot of potential. They'd clash on her laws versus his murder religion, amongst other things. I am considering it. >____>
Nothing Sacred/Nothing True by ferrrox, Laylah (ngh.)
-Sollux/The Sufferer (pale! XDD) It's ALL THIS FIC'S FAULT. Solace for the Dreaming Damned by Talliara
THREESOMES
... They all have Karkat in them. XD;;; I have a major thing for Karkat being loved on until he flails himself into a melty puddle of incredulous happiness, okay. (failing that, a melting puddle of orgasmed-out. Yep.)
-Dave/Terezi/Karkat: glorious. *_* Between Terezi's chemistry with Dave and her tender feelings for Karkat, Karkat's desperate feelings for her and suspicious/irrited yet willing to compromise toward Dave, and Dave's "welp what the fuck have I gotten myself into oh whatever I'll say it's ironic"... MY OT3.
reposting links i'd posted in comments before:
this one isn't complete, only three chapters, and hasn't been updated in a while but the setup itself is already awesome -- basically they had a one-night-stand and it was disastrous and now they have to deal with the fallout. Also includes new world shininess, mostly in the background but it keeps teasing at my plotbunnies with possibilities.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/188576
This one is BDSM porn with Mistress Terezi and oh. wow. yes. YES.
http://homesmut.livejournal.com/14212.html?thread=26167684#t26167684
And this one has two oneshots and also some fairly intense xeno stuff about trolls reproduction but it's seriously worth it.
http://archiveofourown.org/series/8332
And a couple of very short PWPs...
http://archiveofourown.org/works/281929
http://archiveofourown.org/works/331326
AND
edenfalling'S OWN FIC OHOHO. An Intricate Courtship Process. ohohohohohoho all for meeeee~-John/Karkat/Jade: twincest yay + crush on the same shouty yet vulnerable guy also yay. Why is there not more. ;___;
-John/Dave/Karkat: mostly for the hotness factor, I don't like the davejohn angle even then :/ john being all "not a homosexual" i don't know if he'd be Just Fine with having two boyfriends, and they might compete in the not-fun way over him idk. There's something in the dynamic that doesn't quite convince me even though it's sexy. Karkat sandwich configurations I like better, though.
This one was pretty awesome though: Cranked Up To Intimate by elwing_alcyone
-Karkat/Dave/Sollux: It's sexy and snarky and full of bitching and fuckbuddies. Did you expect something deep?
All this fic's fault: Take You Wonder By Wonder by roachpatrol.
-Dave/Jade/Karkat: I'm reading a WIP that
Stray by ladyofshallnot (only two chapters in, barely starting. ;_; also a College AU.)
-Okay no, this one has no Karkat. I like Aradia/Sollux/Feferi as a big mess of flushed and pale feelings in every direction. XD I find Sollux' binary fetish funny, and I enjoy that Feferi and Aradia are both very similar in some ways wbile being at opposite ends of the social ladder and having very different approaches to some things, and that they're friendly to each other even so, and that they're both very feminine and friendly and smily and both kickass anyway. (seriously all the girls of homestuck kick ass, it's awesome.)
MORESOMES
I'm ehhhh with John/Dave/Rose/Jade, I only see it as super close but platonic. idk. I'm much more onboard with Dirk/Roxy/Jake/Jane. Maybe because we meet them as older, and because three of them are in love with Jake and Dirk and Roxy are completely pale for each other and Roxy and Jane are trying so hard to be BFFs and everything. It'd be so much fun.
bonus! not a shippy fic but one about Dirk and Jane suddenly!trolls and holy fuck it's WEIRD. I love "kids end up troll and deal with the body disphoria" or the other way around. And there's awesome bonds in here. Stay Awake Little Misfit by lantadyme
And plz feel free to ask about other pairings and I'll ramble on about it. (I don't enjoy Vriska ships in general, though. Especially not Tavros/Vriska holy fuck get away from him he does not need to be jumped off a cliff again the next time he fails to bend over for you. D: )
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Also I just missed two hours of classes reading this and then rereading your HS fic, go me. Also whee misuse of uni computers. >.>
One of my main reactions reading you talk about HS is "HOW CAN THERE BE SO MANY WELL WRITTEN AND BADASS AND AWESOME CHARACTERS IN ONE SINGLE STORY @__@" and I think I am a little justified. I mean, even John gets to be badass and awesome and he's supposed to be the everyman. And there's, what, sixteen named main characters and more in the wings? How does this guy manage to spotlight them all?
However I haven't exactly been drawn into the fandom. I'm not searching for HS fic at least. I'm only interested (okay, really, really interested) in reading your fic. I'm sure there's something I should be accusiong you of for this, but I can't for the life of me think of what it should be. >.>
Anyway, thanks for the post. It was way more fun than my class would have been.
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The characters are so much fun. SO MUCH FUN. I could rec you the "Best Sellers" in the fandom if you want to try it, but that's pretty much how I fell into it, so maybe not. XD
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(Anonymous) 2012-05-04 12:10 am (UTC)(link)no subject
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I just finished exhausting the sherlock fandom so now onto homestuck 8D
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/hifive
Also if you like kids-to-trolls you might try rimbaum she has an AMAZING one just starting and its really really good because there's whole just hrgr<3
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http://archiveofourown.org/users/Rimbaum/pseuds/Rimbaum
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(Seriously, I like seeing your thoughts.)
A lot of my own approach to shipping boils down to, "Do I like and/or find interesting the individual characters (or at least their portrayal in this fic)?" and "Has the writer convinced me that the relationship makes sense in this fic's particular situation?" If the answers to both questions are yes, I'm willing to read. I mean, there are definitely some pairings I am more in favor of than others, mostly because I already like the characters involved and canon has done a lot of the relationship convincing for me, but whatever, it's all good. :-)
(Though yes, obviously, the alien aspect and the crazy universe-mangling game aspect are two of the main draws! If you are handed such wonderful world-building to play with, why deliberately throw it away to write human-only highschool AUs? Fandom is weird.)
...Dammit, now I am tempted to write a similar post about my own shipping preferences, insofar as I have them. *shakes fist* Which of us is the evil one here???
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I really enjoy your rambles, especially when you're explaining why you like certain characters or pairings. <3
What are your thoughts on Dave♠Gamzee? (Yes, I know I'm shameless, but I originally thought of it for the Dave section, so I'm branching out, right?)
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Hm.
I planned on putting it in and kinda forgot, my bad.
I'm not sure if Dave has the bloodthirst necessary to match Gamzee, especially a Gamzee who feels wronged by him in such a profound way. From Dave's POV it was just a random LOLtastic thing he did one day and then he forgot, I think he'd find it creepy to be fixated on and it wouldn't be extremely balanced. It works if Dave is written as mentally dark/fucked up but otherwise it's a bit too rapetastic for my tastes.
(she says, while planning some for Garden. hey, they're hot, what can I say.)
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Your comments on John and Vriska: relevant to me. Vriska is one of my favorite characters by far (only outdone by Rose, maybe; I've kind of struggled with Rose because I feel like her character arc and consistency suffered as Act 5 progressed), and I love her relationship with John, mostly, and I could maybe see it as romantic/flushed, it's better than a lot of the other options to me...but I really, really like it better as pale. In fact, despite Vriska being such a favorite for me? I don't much care for romantic ships for her in general. (Except Terezi/Vriska, kind of, as a thing that's part caliginous and part transcending-the-quadrants.) The last thing she needed was a romance, and while sure, with some characters I love unhealthy romantic pairings to pieces, it didn't really work for me with Vriska. (I think because canon had played "Vriska is terrible at romance" out well enough already with Kanaya and Tavros, and it wasn't something I was interested in exploring again in fandom.)
This made fandom difficult for me sometimes, because it seemed like you either dealt with people bashing Vriska relentlessly or the fans who swooned over how perfect John/Vriska was as a romance. :(
I also have trouble shipping John romantically, since he just strikes me as much more about friendship--but I do sometimes eye John/Karkat curiously...
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I could see John as asexual the easiest out of all the kids. though again he's thirteen and might just be a late bloomer, or he thinks romance is too hard to bother with atm. Hm.
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But, I have to admit that I disagree with your interpretation of Ashen romance.
Ashen is a hate-romance, and I take it to be "I hate it when you guys fight/what you'll do to my life if you get together/or break up."
Ashen as a...a hate fueled moirail for couples. Either breaking them up, or enabling them to stay together (and in one quadrant,) or even keeping people who platonically hate each other from killing each other (because fuck it, then I'm going to have to pull double shifts.)
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http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltw3ecNAmF1r5d8mco2_500.png
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Also...
NOT SAFE FOR WORK, have you seen these?
http://dontlookitsfilthy.tumblr.com/post/9505923589/request-http-homesmut-livejournal-com-7440-html
http://dontlookitsfilthy.tumblr.com/post/11848042210/handcuffs
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Also, that girl!karkat as a cosplay cafe thing? I need moars. cough it up already. >:X
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also those thoughts are fascinating to read, and ah those recs are some of my favorite fics in the fandom <3 you have excellent taste
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I don't... really agree with your estimation of Vriska as regards to Kanaya??? I don't think Vriska is that kind of manipulative. She fancies herself this great mastermind, but in truth she's not really? She thought Kanaya was flushed for Tavros when Kanaya's auspitizing attempt between her and Tavros went wrong. (Also Kanaya was as terrible a moirail as Eridan. A better person, obviously, but really the worst person to fill Vriska's pale quadrant.)
And I'll stop here, because reading your thoughts was really interesting and I don't want to flood you with mine. (also I'm trying to put together a Feferi<3<Eridan manifesto for the homestuck shipping olympics; are you participating?)
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here (http://hs-olympics.dreamwidth.org/) is the dw comm, with the rules and everything explained. here (http://hso-announce.tumblr.com/) is the official tumblr.
I didn't participate last year (not being in the fandom), but it sounds really exciting.
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I thought Karkat was doomed to be a palestud when he wanted blackrom, but this helped me see that he relates to people with very black tendencies. He built friendship with Sollux by choosing to compete on the field that Sollux is strongest in, computing. This is why I said "ooo, SolKat spades!" for Garden -- here's Sollux taunting Karkat by showing him a mystery in Karkat's strongest field. "Sure, sucker, you're a quadrant expert. Now tell me, who's red and who's white?" If Sollux did it on purpose, it's a nice return of Karkat's serve.
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The thing is, I love Roach's Karkat but he's still not my Karkat, so that dynamic wouldn't work in Garden. In my fic they bicker a lot -- which can be read as kinda blackflirty XD -- but in the end... Karkat really sucks at everything computers, and he has no power or ability that makes him half as dangerous as Sollux when he lets loose, and even Karkat doesn't fall back into pits of motionless depression the way Sollux does sometimes, so they're not really in competition. The "haha letting you guess" might have worked as additional flirtation if there were any other, bigger flirtations around it, but ATM I'm just not feeling it that way.
mind, it's also half because I really want Karkat to stay unattached long enough to get him that caliginous dave sandwich XDDDDD who knows, maybe in three or five years Karkat and Sollux'll have grown enough that they'll have grounds to compete.
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The fandom is completely wrong. Karkat's a troll, raised on troll romances his whole life. The happy ending doesn't come before everyone gets _both_ concupiscent quadrants filled, and here he is moirail to a highblood with _neither_. He'll be filled with his memories of troll comedies like "In which a hapless indigo subjuggulator has killed every troll he feels black for and, at nine sweeps twenty-three perigees is going to be culled unless his sassy lowblooded moirail can negotiate a red-black flip with his matesprit, whose own passion has been waning due to...." Sure, there aren't any drones any more, but the culture is still alive, and it just doesn't feel healthy, sane, or moral for a troll to ignore their caliginous quadrant. Karkat's clearly letting Gamzee work things out for himself in his flushed quadrant, but he'd be the one out scouting the group for Gamzee's other partner.
Then comes the second part -- making sure Gamzee doesn't kill a potential kismesis. Gamzee would have destroyed most of their group in a straight up fight. I wouldn't give anyone but Feferi, Eridan, or Aradia odds against him -- Sollux would lose because Gamzee would wait till he was down and open him like a banana -- so Karkat is already aware of how important it is to find someone who intrigues Gamzee as much as they disgust him, someone who would value Gamzee and push him, but never betray him. Someone, ideally, who challenges Gamzee to grow beyond his limits and who'd move the battleground from slaughter to something survivable.
If Karkat happened upon Dave and Gamzee in a slam poetry battle, or found the best slam in all paradox space in their logs, he'd be crawling all over Dave trying to pull him into Gamzee's claws. From there, getting Karkat into the bed ought to be a breeze.
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Having a human for a concupiscent partner would only be a pro in the continued survival game if/when the drones are no longer an issue. No matter how hateable Dave is and how good for Gamzee, I really don't think he can fill a bucket (or that the drones would let him XD) and "being culled at the end of the perigee when drone season comes around" is a more immediate concern than "being lonely and unfulfilled" or "eventually going mudercrazy".
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So, you've already got a plan? Darn, my backup idea was to steal Roachpatrol's "we're looking for something dumb to do" idea and have humans and trolls be sex pollen for each other.
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I rambled a little about this here actually. Basically what happens is that Dave is kind of an ass to them both and while Karkat at least is aware that to trolls it's totally blackflirting, to humans it's just Dave being an ass for the sake of being an ass and he should really stop Gamzee from flirting back because it's going to go bad real fast. Only Dave isn't THAT blind about quadrants and knows exactly what he's doing to them thanks. So then at some point he kisses him in front of gamzee, and of course karkat takes it as "he's seducing me in front of gamzee to make me hurt my own moirail so i can hate him more IT IS WORKING PRETTY NICELY" and gamzee takes it as "he's making karkat hate HIMSELF for hurting me HSSSSST". Whoops.
So then pale/black sandwich. It's not concupiscent if their balls don't touch!!
Though since then I've had even MORE ideas, especially to rekindle the dave/gamzee thing and make it more balanced and even give it plot hooks, so I think in the end it IS going to be a thing. I'll have to see.
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Also, heh. Dave goading two different trolls into attacking him with their lips at once is a lovely image. Once he's out of traction, he'll have to put a gold star by the date.
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What is it dooooing to me?
How I know I am too into this:
I have read all but two of those fics you rec'd. -_-;; And one of those was on LJ, not AO3, so I just hadn't managed to find it.
That being said, thank you for this!! It helps me put into words some of my shippy feels, even when they contradict yours. (I am alllll about Stridercest, but any pairing with Tavros kind of weirds me out. He's just so little and fiercely pathetic. I think I'm pale for him. I can see he and Gamzee as a pairing, but I don't like to read about it. And I kinda like DaveJohn if it's well-written.)
The feelings this freakin comic has given me are unreal. I've never had a fandom like this one before. It's kind of devouring my brain, but I'm cool with just letting that happen. It's not a bad way to go.
(And, once again, this is totally your fault, so thanks!)