GG: getting (re)started with @Paravellex's awesome fic through shadowed eyes tonight!!
GG: ive actually read a couple chapters before, but it was a long while back and i want to start at the beginning

GG: okay i remember the early structure of the story being cinematic as heck so this chapter title is exciting lol
GG: one of the things i genuinely liked quite a bit about the epilogues was their pacing and structure/act-division, it felt very intentional
GG: that makes sense as something which can come about from a work released all at once, ofc—and while this fic is serial, its also a direct parallel with the eps! i dont think ill be revisiting the epilogues in synchrony or anything but i suspect that echoes of the structural form of that work might be heard here if you listen for them

GG: oh heck i just realized the fic mustve surpassed 100k words really recently!! kudos on that!! @Paravellex

GG: [extremely fictive system voice] me

GG: i distinctly recall finding this a particularly concise, easy to understand explanation of the difference between relevance and essentiality! i also think its very poignantly positioned at the start of a long story and i take it itll be a good theme or framework to keep in mind throughout, alongside everything else the fic has as a(n) (in)dependent work in its own right ​

GG: snrk i love roxy
GG: this is also such a good line to introduce her with

GG: roxy loves callie...
GG: she loves rose, too!! i mean theres a reason shes listened this long heheh
GG: also god i do appreciate the nod to cherub-meat-nomching here. same with "beautiful green-skulled companion"—like, callie is weird and not of this world (not that any of them exactly are) and has her own unusual ways of being, but thats never a bad thing really, shes appreciated by those close to her for exactly who she is
GG: i know thats a little cliche but its still really heartwarming yknow!!
GG: the sentences about going to the park or a cafe or just hanging out together are also a big part of that, like, really illustrating that their life is not nearly as strange or alien as a surface look at the cherub might have you guess
GG: theyre just normal!! theyre just chill!! or, at least, so our perception of their lives establishes them

GG: [an awkward moment of silence pervades the metaphorical gathering, a hollow whistle in the wind addressing the juju-drugged elephant in the room just as thoroughly as any words could]

GG: god that sentence owns. its nothing fancy but using the bell shadow as a very tangible telling of time is so effective.

GG: pfffheh
GG: this is genuinely interesting meta (and you can TELL shes only just getting started. 1.5 hours in. lol) and i would absolutely riff off it with rose waaay too late into the night-turned-morning
GG: but also yes roxy thank you lol
GG: i remember there is a bunch of good stuff very soon to come and it is most certainly not (just) canonicity meta

GG: <3

GG: i also want to give a really strong shout-out to the character voices here!! all the lines in this fic are GOOD

GG: this is such a thesis statement lmao
GG: i wonder how long she spent refining this one, or if it just comes to her naturally

GG: snrk exactly lol
GG: i think ive seen this explained before somewhere although i still basically dont know what the deal with the frog switch is
GG: and its true, it just really doesnt matter to the story

GG: honestly id argue the degree to which lord english Has To Happen doesnt, that much, either? although i suppose thats more due to my natural lack of inclination towards "truth" mattering all that much: these are just stories, they dont need to fit into a neat, 100%-internally-consistent canon, and a sense of accepting looseness to your reality can be remarkably freeing
GG: i know thats not a philosophy everyone shares too, though!

GG: this is intense, tbh!!
GG: pretty awesome storytelling stroke to make mystery surrounding the raw canonical value of a story be actually kinda riveting, and i dunno if it could happen outside of homestuck, but it is cool as heck here

GG: oh god i love her. there is so so much roxy has no idea shes yet to face, not long from now.

GG: mwahahahahaha

GG: this right here feels like an epilogues move. probably a homestuck-proper move, too, but i think the prose nails it in particularly powerfully.
GG: meta bullshit careening gay into romance drama? oh you know it

GG: hoogh i got nothing special to add onto all that relationship introspection, but it is *strong* stuff. so many complicated feelings, so little resolution. it fits a prologue so well.