![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingback to part 19
---------------------------------------------
Trollstuck, part 20
---------------------------------------------
====>Be Jothan
Finally a straightforward directive! Sure, no problem!
You are Jothan Aeolio, prankster supreme and all around awesome purveyor of whimsy! It's a hard job but somebody's gotta do it! Jokes don't play themselves after all.
====>Answer Karkat
That's a little hard, since Karkat isn't trolling you right now. Usually you talk to him almost every night, and you try to visit him at least two or three times each perigee, but he's been awfully crabby since... well, yeah, since that whole mess with Vriska and Tavros and Flarp and god, you are so tired of hearing about that. It was a dumb, stupid thing for Vriska to do, which you would have told her if she'd asked instead of going all "destined rom8nce!!!!!!!!" and confusing Tavros with some guy in that ratty old book she found ages ago. But Tavros isn't dead and it's not like Alternia doesn't have the technology to give him robot legs or anything. He could probably even get rocket-legs and how cool would that be?
Okay, so maybe Tavros can't afford that kind of thing -- he's too low on the hemospectrum to get the same living allowance you and Vriska do -- but you'd totally be willing to pay. You bet Vriska would too if anyone calmed down for half a minute and suggested it to her.
Huh. Maybe you should suggest it. You're planning to drop by her hive soon anyway. She's been really mopey the last couple nights for some reason and you're starting to run out of ideas to cheer her up.
====>Answer Karkat already
You already explained that Karkat isn't trolling you right now! One of your other friends is, though. You could answer her. Would that be all right?
====>Talk to your mysterious friend
Jarlia can be pretty mysterious, you guess! You certainly have no idea why she lets all those carnivorous plants grow in her windows. You also aren't really sure if you believe she can see the future -- call you crazy, but you like to think trolls have free will and that means there are infinite possible futures, right? -- but what the heck, she believes it and she's even got an awesome robot to record her dreams so her precognition is definitely less fake than a lot of things in the Empire. And the few times she's asked you to change stuff turned into really neat adventures with Davven and once with Nepeta, so it's not like you're going to argue with her.
Except if it's funny, of course. Hehehe.
====>Answer Jarlia
You answer Jarlia and proceed to have a conversation we've already witnessed.
====>Jothan: Do something rash
How does trolling Vriska and telling her that your friends are conspiring against her count as rash? She deserves to know! If Aradia started a revenge cycle of course Vriska should get a chance to retaliate! That's only fair. Once Vriska strikes back -- and you think she should try her best to make it hurt, because nobody should have to be as miserable as she's been this week -- then Aradia will call off her ghosts, Vriska won't be so mopey anymore, and everyone can move past this mess and start doing interesting things again.
You don't believe Vriska would actually kill Aradia. Yeah, she has to feed her lusus, but those are strangers, not people you actually know. It's different with friends! She didn't kill Tavros, did she? No matter how badly everyone else is taking that, he's still alive and as long as you're alive things can always get better. Where would the fun be if that weren't true?
Jarlia's just being melodramatic like she always gets about the future. You're still mad at Davven for having that stupid fight with her -- it's just making both of them unhappy and you don't like it when your friends are unhappy -- but sometimes you can see how a guy could get annoyed with that mysterious death, doom, and fate-of-the-world stuff she types at people when she gets worked up.
Anyway, the sooner you tell Vriska the sooner you can put all this unpleasant stuff behind you and get life back to normal!
Everything will work out for the best. You're sure of it.
---------------
---------------
---------------
The next part will be Jothan trolling Vriska, obviously, which will push her into planning Aradia's death. Clearly the tone of the conversation is going to be different from Vriska's canon conversation with Doc Scratch, but... in addition to the plot stuff, is there anything in particular you want them to talk about?
---------------------------------------------
continue to part 21
And now to sleep, which I should have done two hours ago. *sigh* My priorities are frequently not the wisest from a health and functionality-at-work perspective.
---------------------------------------------
Trollstuck, part 20
---------------------------------------------
====>Be Jothan
Finally a straightforward directive! Sure, no problem!
You are Jothan Aeolio, prankster supreme and all around awesome purveyor of whimsy! It's a hard job but somebody's gotta do it! Jokes don't play themselves after all.
====>Answer Karkat
That's a little hard, since Karkat isn't trolling you right now. Usually you talk to him almost every night, and you try to visit him at least two or three times each perigee, but he's been awfully crabby since... well, yeah, since that whole mess with Vriska and Tavros and Flarp and god, you are so tired of hearing about that. It was a dumb, stupid thing for Vriska to do, which you would have told her if she'd asked instead of going all "destined rom8nce!!!!!!!!" and confusing Tavros with some guy in that ratty old book she found ages ago. But Tavros isn't dead and it's not like Alternia doesn't have the technology to give him robot legs or anything. He could probably even get rocket-legs and how cool would that be?
Okay, so maybe Tavros can't afford that kind of thing -- he's too low on the hemospectrum to get the same living allowance you and Vriska do -- but you'd totally be willing to pay. You bet Vriska would too if anyone calmed down for half a minute and suggested it to her.
Huh. Maybe you should suggest it. You're planning to drop by her hive soon anyway. She's been really mopey the last couple nights for some reason and you're starting to run out of ideas to cheer her up.
====>Answer Karkat already
You already explained that Karkat isn't trolling you right now! One of your other friends is, though. You could answer her. Would that be all right?
====>Talk to your mysterious friend
Jarlia can be pretty mysterious, you guess! You certainly have no idea why she lets all those carnivorous plants grow in her windows. You also aren't really sure if you believe she can see the future -- call you crazy, but you like to think trolls have free will and that means there are infinite possible futures, right? -- but what the heck, she believes it and she's even got an awesome robot to record her dreams so her precognition is definitely less fake than a lot of things in the Empire. And the few times she's asked you to change stuff turned into really neat adventures with Davven and once with Nepeta, so it's not like you're going to argue with her.
Except if it's funny, of course. Hehehe.
====>Answer Jarlia
You answer Jarlia and proceed to have a conversation we've already witnessed.
====>Jothan: Do something rash
How does trolling Vriska and telling her that your friends are conspiring against her count as rash? She deserves to know! If Aradia started a revenge cycle of course Vriska should get a chance to retaliate! That's only fair. Once Vriska strikes back -- and you think she should try her best to make it hurt, because nobody should have to be as miserable as she's been this week -- then Aradia will call off her ghosts, Vriska won't be so mopey anymore, and everyone can move past this mess and start doing interesting things again.
You don't believe Vriska would actually kill Aradia. Yeah, she has to feed her lusus, but those are strangers, not people you actually know. It's different with friends! She didn't kill Tavros, did she? No matter how badly everyone else is taking that, he's still alive and as long as you're alive things can always get better. Where would the fun be if that weren't true?
Jarlia's just being melodramatic like she always gets about the future. You're still mad at Davven for having that stupid fight with her -- it's just making both of them unhappy and you don't like it when your friends are unhappy -- but sometimes you can see how a guy could get annoyed with that mysterious death, doom, and fate-of-the-world stuff she types at people when she gets worked up.
Anyway, the sooner you tell Vriska the sooner you can put all this unpleasant stuff behind you and get life back to normal!
Everything will work out for the best. You're sure of it.
---------------
---------------
---------------
The next part will be Jothan trolling Vriska, obviously, which will push her into planning Aradia's death. Clearly the tone of the conversation is going to be different from Vriska's canon conversation with Doc Scratch, but... in addition to the plot stuff, is there anything in particular you want them to talk about?
---------------------------------------------
continue to part 21
And now to sleep, which I should have done two hours ago. *sigh* My priorities are frequently not the wisest from a health and functionality-at-work perspective.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-21 03:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-22 08:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-21 04:39 pm (UTC)So it seems like the real reason that everyone finds Jothan so unpredictable and unsettling...
Is because he's exactly as derpy, optimistic, and idealistic as he was in canon.
This makes so much sense. Those were exactly the traits that confounded the canon trolls most, and Alternia is not exactly a world that lends itself to thinking the best of people, or looking on the bright side of bad situations, or that everything will work out for the best if you Do The Right Thing.
The only real difference seems to be that Jothan's notion of "the right thing" is somewhat askew from John's. Which makes sense, considering their differing cultural values.
====>Vriska: In a shocking twist, don't have any intention of killing Aradia, even after being trolled by Jothan.
(My reasoning runs thus: Vriska really didn't want to kill Aradia in canon. She only did so when she was under incredible stress, and being pushed into it by an nigh-omniscient being that knew all of the psychological buttons he needed to push. Jothan, on the other hand, isn't interested in convincing her to kill Aradia, just in "keeping things fair".
Perhaps Jarlia's vision depicts not Vriska deliberately killing Aradia, but going overboard in her plans for vengeance (egged on by Jothan) and doing so accidentally. But Jarlia, partly due to not having her dreambot, and partly due to 8LUH 8LUH HUGE 8ITCH, misinterpreted this.)
Alternatively...
====>Vriska: Based on Jothan's information, decide to kill Aradia. Fail to hide this from Jothan.
====>Jothan: Be shocked and horrified at this development. After failing to persuade Vriska to see reason, resolve to join the "stop the Vriskapocalypse" movement.
(Meh. I don't like this as much, because it doesn't dovetail as nicely with Vriska's canonical reluctance to kill Aradia. But if her being reluctant is antithetical to the plot...)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-21 05:01 pm (UTC)* Niklas Cayidj. Duh.
* Ancestor worship and the merits and flaws thereof. Specific subtopics include Jothan pointing out that Tavros isn't really all that much like his Ancestor and acting out the lives of trolls hundreds of sweeps dead instead of doing what you want is a really shitty way to live anyway, Vriska rhapsodizing on how awesome Mindfang was and the Gamelord was and the Summoner was and everyone else, too, and living like them would be pretty much the 8est thing ever!!!!!!!! (with Jothan possibly snarking back something along the lines of "yeah, and how's that working out for you?") (also this might be an opportunity for more exposition on the role of the Ancestors in this AU, both canonical and new?) and Jothan mocking the "bad fanfic" aspects of Mindfang's journal.
* The Flarp Incident.
* The Noodle Incident(s). (That is, references to escapades they've gotten into with just enough details mentioned to stimulate reader imagination, but not enough to make clear what actually happened. Never elaborate on these later on.)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-22 08:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-22 08:45 pm (UTC)I dunno, it's complicated.
Yeah, right now (in-story) Vriska has no intention of killing Aradia. She may still have no intention of doing so after Jothan trolls her, but the idea will be floating around in her mind as a possibility, if nothing else. And if anyone ELSE trolls her later on, or she runs into unexpected opposition... well, Vriska is canonically prone to melodramatic overreaction under stress. Plus she does have a 8elief in f8ed outcomes and doesn't know much a8out the mechanics of Jarlia's precogn8ion, so if Aradia's death is f8ed to happen, then maybe Vriska HAS to m8ke it happen, even if she doesn't want to, and then she's a m8rtyr and it's not 8ctually her fault, right? R8GHT????????