betafishbebe | More Svstuck Brainworms. Sorry

It’s been well over a year since I first wrote that deranged SV/Homestuck AU, but it turns out that the brainworms still live in my head! I debated writing a second chapter or some extras with the lore I was never able to fully fit into the main fic itself, but frankly homestuck lore is so complicated that trying to create a full extended universe within the AU would have probably ended with my brain throwing itself off a metaphorical cliff, so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m just going to write down some of the thoughts I’ve had on the svstuck universe and tentative ideas on how it might expand beyond the Peak Lords’ session.

I had one commenter ask about my thoughts on what happened to Luo Binghe and how his entire session worked out, and while I had some ideas at the time, I’ve refined it a little bit - however, none of this is necessarily set in stone. The way I see the original PIDWstuck is that it would have started similar to the original Homestuck story, with a young boy (Luo Binghe) standing in his bedroom etc etc. The Peak Lords would then fulfill the roles that the trolls did during Acts 1-4, namely through trying to guide them, “trolling” them, pestering them, and so on. Shen Qingqiu would have ended up as Luo Binghe’s patron, although this would have been out of resentment rather than a genuine desire to help. If anything, Shen Qingqiu would have likely tried to sabotage Luo Binghe at every turn and isolate him from the other people he was supposed to play SBURB with, culminating in Shen Qingqiu tricking him into going into a solo session and not actually connecting with the other players (who would be the other assorted disciples).

This solo session idea was inspired by Caliborn, and is also meant to represent the Endless Abyss. Single-player sessions are doomed by default, which would play into the idea that “Shen Qingqiu tried to send Luo Binghe to his death.” It would also work very well as the “scholarship”, particularly with Yaldabaoth as his denizen. Yaldabaoth, according to the Homestuck wiki, is the “rarest, most powerful, and most inhospitable of the denizens, and is usually designated for the most naturally gifted warriors” with an implication that he’s often assigned to dead sessions. Caliborn’s Choice was to either take a passive role and sacrifice his life to stop a great force of evil, or gain immortality and unlimited power to cause destruction after a series of difficult trials. Caliborn chooses the latter, and obviously so would PIDW Binghe.

Another note - in the original fic I put Luo Binghe as a Lord of Blood, largely inspired by his demon blood and also through looking through the official extended zodiac description of aspects. Prince has also been suggested by readers, and I do think that, if Luo Binghe had ended up in the group session like he was supposed to, Prince would have likely been his class. However, after going back I think it would be very interesting to have him as a time player - I find parallels between Liu Qingge and Luo Binghe fascinating, particularly in how they’re treated by the narrative. Having Luo Binghe mirror Liu Qingge in some way, whether it be through them having the same class or having the same aspect, adds another layer to the concept of “Airplane made Liu Qingge too cool and therefore had to kill him off” that is in SVSSS.

Anyway. This doomed session obviously would not have had the effect of getting rid of Luo Binghe, and I planned that he would essentially become a Lord English/Bec Noir type of character in that he would jump through time and space and fuck with the plot, eventually taking his revenge on Shen Qingqiu and collecting his harem. Obviously his harem would likely have to be significantly smaller since SBURB does by nature end the world, but it would absolutely have been a power fantasy story. Luo Binghe would have had to go through many trials, as Caliborn did, before coming into his power and taking over the world or whatever. His absolute power would have been very cool to see, especially if PIDWstuck included the same quality of animation, soundtrack, flash games, etc that Homestuck did.

And Shen Yuan would have absolutely fucking hated it.

Like with Homestuck, SBURB would have been established as the universe’s way of propagating itself through the Genesis Frog and the destruction of the previous universe and whatnot. Luo Binghe destroying multiple universes across timelines, while extremely cool, ultimately would (in the hands of a competent author, Shen Yuan would say) cause the destabilization and destruction of paradox space as a whole. There would be no new universe created through the disciples because Luo Binghe would have killed half of them and taken the other half into his harem. Luo Binghe would rule over a dream bubble-esque not-universe, in a palace that he creates and in an ultimately doomed timeline. Shen Yuan, who likes his stories to make sense, would be absolutely enraged, choke on a meatbun, and die. Probably.

So. What does paradox space, Skaia, the First Guardians, etc do about a situation like this? I had a brain blast a few days ago that maybe the System is, in a way, a new First Guardian - I did not write the original fic like this of course, but it’s an idea. Either way, what happens is that the Higher Powers That Be, refusing to accept a universe with as many holes and breaks in logic as the original PIDWstuck, brings in Airplane and Shen Yuan to patch things over. This is canon in the fic and I’m keeping it.

So, what happens now?

Well, svstuck (as I have fondly been calling my fic since its inception) happens. Now, full disclosure, many of the things I put into the canon of the fic was me trying desperately to contain it to one storyline. When I first got the idea for the fic, I hoped I could just write around 5-10k and get it out of my system before I went back to focusing on a “real” Liushen fic (which, lol, I never actually finished). Obviously this is not what happened, however a lot of my lore choices (making the Peak Lords’ session timeline-locked, for instance) were born out of me not being willing to think harder about the lore than I already was, because if I had allowed myself to keep on thinking about it that fic would have spiraled into being a 50k monstrosity that I was not willing to write. I already felt like an insane person writing 18k, I could not have handled making it multichapter.

However, it is very fun to think about what would have happened after the original svstuck fic ended. Shen Qingqiu, obviously, would not have been as cruel to Luo Binghe, just as in the SVSSS canon. He probably would have still been forced into the doomed session, just as in SVSSS canon. How it turned out, however, would likely have been different, but in what way I do not yet know. He would still choose the dangerous path that leads to immortality, however they would also have to figure out a way to calm him down enough to prevent the actual breaking of universes. I haven’t figured out how this entire story would end besides the fact that I’d be down for eventual bingliushen probably especially if LBH ends up slightly better adjusted, but who knows! That’s up to paradox space and also Shen Yuan.

Oh that’s right I haven’t talked about Shen Yuan yet. So the second life thing was absolutely a play on the cucumber body in canon - just as Shen Qingqiu in SV could die and wake up somewhere else as “himself”, so too can svstuck Shen Qingqiu die and wake up in Prospit’s moon as himself. As for what would happen after that... who knows! That’s for another overly lengthy dreamwidth post that’ll probably come next year because clearly my brain is a slow cooker with only the same three things simmering in it forever.

Also. Qijiu. Shen Jiu is absolutely in the dream bubbles somewhere - regardless of whether or not he “died” when Shen Yuan transmigrated or simply disappeared into the void, I do think that the Shen Jiu that died trying to go god tier would appear in the dream bubbles, stuck in time.

Now, full disclosure, I have not put any thought at all into what the pre-SBURB world was like for the Peak Lords before they joined their session. When I considered writing a qijiu extra, it took approximately two minutes to decide that this extra would never happen simply because I lacked the brainpower to decide how exactly the pre-SBURB world would have worked and how to incorporate that in. However, I do think that the overall story beats would be the same - Shen Jiu and Yue Qi knew and relied on each other growing up, somehow they were separated and Yue Qi was unable to come back for Shen Jiu in time, leaving him to fend for himself and wonder why. Years later, they end up in the same “friend” group playing this game together and have to figure out how the hell to cope with it all.

I also think. Okay, you know that scene in Homestuck when Vriska goes god tier? Tavros is there, having just watched her be beaten near to death, and brings her to her quest bed. She demands that he kill her, not wanting to bleed out slowly to death, and Tavros ultimately cannot do it. This is something she resents him for.

Anyway take that entire scene and apply it to Yue Qingyuan and Shen Jiu.

Because Yue Qingyuan absolutely would not have been able to kill Shen Jiu. No matter how much Shen Jiu demanded, no matter how much he would have yelled (if he were capable), begged, etc., Yue Qingyuan absolutely does not have it in him to kill Shen Jiu, even knowing that it was temporary. He would have done the same thing as Tavros, leaving him to die slowly and painfully.

And, in svstuck, that would have been the last time he ever saw Shen Jiu before Shen Yuan woke up in Shen Qingqiu’s body.

I have scenes in the dreambubbles vaguely formed in my mind of a dreaming Yue Qingyuan talking to Shen Jiu, possibly living through some of their earlier memories. I imagine Yue Qingyuan, in this dream space, would likely try to change things or say things that he would not have originally, and this is what tips off Shen Jiu that this was a dream, and that he is in fact dead. I don’t know if they would necessarily put together that the Shen Qingqiu that is still alive is no longer Shen Jiu until later when the Shen Yuan alt god tier self appears, but it’s still interesting to think about the possibility of qijiu meeting in the dream bubbles.

Also, just thinking about how the dreambubbles would exist in the first place. Perhaps Luo Binghe or a Meng Mo equivalent created them, just as Feferi did (because, it turns out, dreambubbles are not an inherent part of the Homestuck universe! Feferi specifically was the one to speak to the horrorterrors to get them set up. The more you know).

Liu Qingge notes - in the fic, I had him die because of trying to face his denizen too early as an equivalent to the qi deviation, with the choice that Shen Jiu made vs Shen Yuan being that Shen Jiu kissed him to wake him back up (this also parallels SJ saving LQG’s life during the ghosts in the well scene, and because Liu Qingge does not comprehend how the game works this would have done nothing to change how he feels about Shen Jiu). While Liu Qingge would have awoken on (either Derse or Prospit, I forget which I assigned him), he would not have been able to go god tier at all unless he died on the quest bed in the middle of the moon. However he would have died before he ever got the chance to - I believe that I wrote it being a separate incident during the “meteor arc,” which is also something that I did not put that much thought into.

Shen Yuan, on the other hand, brings him to the quest bed and allows him to go god tier - something that Liu Qingge does find out about, and the kickoff point for my entire fic. We all know how that went - with them making out - so moving on.

In the case of the demons, I had a few ideas that I’d toyed around with. I think it would be very funny to have Mobei Jun be a sort of Spades Slick type character “employed” by Luo Binghe - so not necessarily a player, but a part of the game itself. I considered having Tianlang-Jun as Luo Binghe’s ancestor as well - or even dancestor that he has the chance to meet in the dream bubbles. I think TLJ as a dancestor could be really interesting, particularly if in his side of the universe, he was the one that ended up with immense power. Idk though, this is all stuff I’ve only just started thinking about these past couple weeks. Other demons like Zhuzhi-lang or Sha Hualing could also fall under the category of the Midnight Crew - actually having a Midnight Crew interlude involving the demon squad would be extremely funny, regardless of whether or not it makes sense in the tangled mess of canon that I have created in my mind.

Anyway. Svstuck is one of those AUs I don’t think I’ll ever truly stop thinking about, just because there is so much to dig into with both SV and Homestuck and combining them is just SO fun to think about. It’s one of my favorite fanfics that I’ve ever written. When I posted it, I genuinely thought that it would get somewhere in the single digits of kudos, so I was and still am delighted that people have gotten so much joy, cringe, or whatever unhinged emotion ppl felt out of reading it. If you made it to the end of this post, shoutout to you - I appreciate you. Peace.