The heck was that? One of those - VIRUSES! [Slight spazzing] I've heard about?

[Distress brows] I'll never love anyone else besides her! [Pause] No offense, Rose.


[Fawkes is in the background fluffing his feathers] And I still have no idea where you came from. GAH! [Digs his boney fingers into his hair before twitching for insanely for a moment or two]

And told I have friends, though I am rather fond of Gellert, I have to say. He and I have the same objective.

[Beat] Though it was nice to know that anyone would want to be friends with me.

^{(Feel free to assume that during the AU virus Crocker help teaching your character how to use a computer if you wish since I failed at getting a post up)}

The feed opens with Rose sat at her laptop, surrounded by Consorts of the various worlds and with a crystal ball at her side. The backdrop is very clearly not the Land of Light and Rain, with the brightness and rain being replaced by a very different atmosphere, though not one that can easily be discerned from here.

From the way she focuses on the screen, she doesn't appear to have noticed that the community is peeking into what she's doing. In time, she reaches over to the crystal ball and peers into it. The image that is revealed, possibly by the community's intent possibly by something else, has an immediate visible effect on Rose - she's not just shocked; she could almost be described as devastated if she didn't seem so utterly furious. And with that fury, the community seems to flicker a moment before settling down. When it does, Rose's expression is just a little darker than before.

For a time, Rose continues her conversation with Jade, this time latched onto by the community for all to see, and all the while a definite shadow appears to come over her. Not the shadow of grief but of something far bigger. The conversation comes to a halt with two lines.

TT: Maybe I will go kill Jack myself.
TT: Right now.

Almost as soon as those words leave her fingers, her discussion with Jade cuts out. The feed to the community lingers just long enough to see Rose's transformation into something rather more grimdark before the feed flickers once more and then cuts entirely.

(ooc: Next part of the Homestuck canon update and this one needs a little explaining. This covers a lot of it, though the deviation will shape a little differently - Rose will become herself again once she dies and revives on Derse. If anyone has any questions about it, let me know and I'll try and explain the logic a little more.

This means that Rose will be replying to comments to this post; however, they will come some considerable time later, after she reaches the castle, hunts down Jack, finds John, finds Jack, tries to take Jack on and dies. It also means that until then, Rose is on effective blackout from communication.

UPDATE/WARNING: Discussion of suicide in the comments)

[The feed cuts in to show Rose, apparently absorbed in her Grimoire for Summoning the Zoologically Dubious, which for once isn't being used as a glorified laptop rest. Quite why she should be examining this tome right now is unclear, but what is apparent is that there appear to be some shadowy appendages that might be wings sprouting from her ankles. The exact form of these wings is hard to define - any time they appear to rest for long enough to almost give a hint of their true form, they seem to shift again. Still, it doesn't appear that Rose is too concerned by them - though how much of that is an act is also unclear.]

I suppose this is where I should reassure everyone that in spite of the title of this grimoire, I have no intention of summoning anything. I am merely attempting to expand upon my options a little, and possibly even find out from whom I appear to have borrowed these delightful ankle adornments.

I thought it appropriate to let you know I am on my way back; I should arrive by tonight. I truly am sorry I had to leave so suddenly, but I'm forced to admit I'm getting quite careless with age. All is well now, though. I do hope you realise this already, but if anything at all can take me away from the two of you, it is certainly not Interpol.

Steve, shall we do some revisions later? Granted, I suspect that, by now, I may need them more than you do. Oho.

Rose...

Er.

... I brought you some books.


Well, then. We'll see each other soon.


[IC EDIT; some time later; text]

I must wonder what about this message was so noteworthy that the community felt compelled to share it with the rest of the world.

[Anyone who knows anything about Rose and her current point in the game will recognise that something is amiss fairly quickly. For one thing, Rose's surroundings are very different - instead of the bright land of constant rain, she is in what appears to be a library of some sort. There are books everywhere, along with tables, chairs and even a gramophone.

The next thing people might notice is that she is not alone - she is in the company of a very familiar rainbow drinker troll, one Kanaya Maryam. The two seem rather comfortable with each other, though not in the same way current Rose was with the Kanaya who used to access the community.

But the biggest change is in Rose herself - she is dressed top to toe in orange, with a sun logo on her dress and a hood that might be familiar with the concept of God Tier which right now may not be many. There's also a subtle change in her demeanour, enough that those who know her well enough would be able to tell that she seems a lot calmer about matters than she is currently.

The two are soon joined by a figure who some might recognise as Dave Strider, who is top to toe in red with a hooded cape. The three enter into a conversation which can best be summed up as starting here and ending here before the feed cuts]

The video opens to show Rose standing next to a large, complicated device. It looks very much like the device she used as part of the procedure to enter the game world but obviously upgraded since then.

Rose then proceeds to create some items of dubious purpose, through a complex system of combining punchcards on which these items are held.

This is just the warm-up, however.

The feed gets a little distorted for a moment as the hubtop is combined with her hairband, thus creating the hubtopband. The hubtop is then replaced as Rose kindly models her alternate computer while she continues.

After a couple more instances of dubiously useful items, Rose seems to be getting the hang of things. In particular, that the wizard statue granted magical properties to the yarn is of interest. Rose combines the same wizard statue with the needles that are equipped to her strife specibus, thus creating needlewands. Anyone able to detect magic will notice that these give off the same energies as the magical yarn did.

Next, she combines some assorted knitting projects, a purple velvet pillow and her squiddle shirt to create the velvet Squiddleknit dress, far more cool and stylish than her previous ensemble. She is mostly finished, but there is still one more thing left for her to do.

She combines the needlewands with her Grimoire, the one on how to summon the zoologically fictitious and strange. This creates the Thorns of Oglogoth, and anyone who can detect such things will be getting seriously bad vibes from these beauties because dark energy comes off them in waves. Rose, however, seems to either not notice or not care.

There's a sound as some enemies approach her. The last thing the video catches before cutting out is Rose taking out said enemies in an almighty blast of energy. Watch out Sburb, Rose just got herself some serious firepower.

That's right folks, it's time for Rose to finally escape her burning house of doom. The video opens with Rose in her room, Mutie at her side. There's a sudden flare of light from her laptop (which raises questions as to how, exactly, this is being filmed but ssh) and then weird stuff starts happening.

The first thing to occur is that Rose's bed lifts suddenly, exposing two notebooks. Rose doesn't look impressed at that although this could simply be her way of showing panic because the meteors are really picking up now. In the now cleared space, a strange device appears. Rose then heads to the observatory where a second device appears before looking out of the window. Whatever she sees appears to aggravate her and she lets out a yell that sounds suspiciously like "Strider" before a door suddenly appears in the wall next to her.

Just as suddenly, a large wizard statue appears to float into the observatory of its own accord and fall onto the strange device therein. This releases a flashing pink sprite as well as what appears to be a rod of some form. Rose takes the item and returns to her room, where there is suddenly a punch card waiting for her. Using the card, the rod and the strange device she creates a carved totem which then appears to vanish elsewhere. That done, Rose hurls the corpse of her dead cat Jaspers into the glowing sprite before heading out onto the rooftop.

As she does so, she notices a broken piece of the wizard statue fly over her head, carried by the tornadoes besieging her home, and hit a purple bottle which sits on yet another odd device. As the bottle sails overhead and looks set to be lost in the waterfall running beneath her house, Rose makes a heroic leap to retrieve it and after doing so is caught by what appears to be a tentacle. Mostly because it is - the sprite she threw Jaspers into has now taken his form but with a princess outfit and tentacles (thanks to also being prototyped with a modified doll). With the meteors getting ever-closer, Rose smashes the bottle and the screen goes black.

[ooc: Replies will come some time later. The flash which shows all this happening is here]

Let's say, for example, one of your closest friends went down a path of moral disintegration that you couldn't stop and now another friend is doing the exactly same thing. Not the same deeds, exactly, put going down that same metaphorical path.

What would you do?

[Rose is sat in her bedroom. Behind her, you can likely see the flashes of red and orange which indicate the fire is a lot closer than it was before. On her desk and currently occupied by a ball of yarn is a black kitten which looks like any other kitten you've ever seen, assuming those kittens had four eyes. She's also wearing a pink scarf, which is a new wardrobe addition for those who know her]

I apologise for being rather uncommunicative of late. Unfortunately, the generator which was providing power to my laptop failed and I was forced to make a rather sharp exit to avoid being burned alive. As you might gather by this very post, said exit was successful and I have managed to procure a power hub from the laboratory next door.

[The kitten seems to take note of the fact that Rose is recording and gives the camera a curious sniff, allowing the audience a close-up view. Rose gently pulls him away and pushes him back towards the yarn]

Ah yes. That was Vodka Mutini. I found him in the laboratory...actually found quite a few interesting things there. But that is neither here nor there. All I wish to establish is that I am alive and safe - for now. I also wanted to ensure that nothing has gone awry while I have been unable to communicate with any of you.

So. What did I miss?

[Gather round, children, it's story time with Rose. She's sat in front of the camera looking irritated as all get-out. She really does not want to do what she's about to do and for once she doesn't care who knows it]

So, seeing as this ridiculous, infantile community won't leave me alone until I use it as my confessional, allow me to tell you a story of my own creation. I will read it and you will have your petty joys and then we will never speak of it ever again or so help me my knitting needles will end up somewhere you won't want them.

Now, allow me to begin.

Frigglish bothered his beard, as if unkinking a hitch in a long silk windsock. A more pedestrian audience would parse the exhibit as nervous compulsion. Behavior to petition contempt among the reasonable. He was however not surrounded by the reasonable, but the wise, a distinction in men that would forever be the difference in history's garland of treasured follies. As a matter of fact, his cadre of fellow wizards were all putting similar moves on their beards as well. The practice would evince thoughtfulness - sagacity, even - if they didn't do it all the time. Standing in line at the bank. Shooing squirrels from bird feeders. Few occasions were safe.

[She goes on to continue the extract here, ignoring that bracketted comment at the end]

Now. In case that hasn't made it clear. I write fiction. About wizards. And not all of them are as unromantic as the sample I have just presented. No, I will not be reading any further samples. Consider this your one and only chance to glimpse my creative endeavours.