Homestuck: The Novel

act one scene two "aggrieve"

Notes:In this chapter you are:Who: RoseWhere: Your houseWhen: The presentChapter TextChapter 2: Act I: Be John's Server Player

After hours of pestering your chums by turns, you are playing Sburb at long last. John has installed the client, and you are connected to him as his server. On your computer, you have a view of John standing in his room. He looks like the quintessential example of the "geek" archetype, with his thick, square glasses, his buck teeth, and his pasty complexion. You suppose he does not get a lot of sunlight, as he lives in Washington and spends most of his time on the computer. His room is... interesting. You have no intention of inquiring about the towel or the shards of glass on the floor. You have already heard about the rabbit. You are unsurprised by the posters on the walls, and you do not presently feel inclined to analyze their peculiar... decorations. You have other concerns at present.

At the top of your screen are the controls for the game. In the corner is a dashboard of sorts carrying the Sburb logo. There are disk, folder, and [X] icons, as you might expect. The directional arrows, the magnifying glass, and the rotational arrows seem self-explanatory. Stretching from the dashboard to the upper right-hand corner of your screen are seven interface buttons. "Select" is an arrow made out of pieces of a house. A similar arrow with pieces out of alignment means "Revise." A downward pointing arrow is utilized to "Deploy." You also have access to a "Phernalia Registry," represented by an empty captchalogue card and a green box; "Grist Cache," which greatly resembles a blue gusher; "Explore Atheneum," which shows a stack of captchalogue cards with the top one containing a green box; and "Alchemy Excursus," with a potion bottle and a card punched like old-fashioned electoral ballots.

You can make an educated guess at the purpose of the first three, but you opt to try them out anyway. It never does to assume. You click on "Select" and use the cursor to click on John's magic chest. You move it out of the way, revealing a pink fetch modus card underneath. You zoom out enough to have a view of the outside of John's house, and drop the magic chest on the roof. It was just taking up space, anyway.

John takes immediate notice of your actions, and questions you about it.

EB: whoa, what are you doing??
TT: Sorry. I'm just getting a feel for the controls.
EB: is my magic chest on the roof now??
TT: Yes.
EB: :(
TT: I will try to be more careful next time.

John is now free to apply his stack modus card to his sylladex, and he toggles back and forth between his modi gleefully. He stops upon hearing something outside his window, and you zoom out to see his dad pulling out of the driveway.

This prompts John to pester you.

EB: hey, do you think you could do me a favor?
EB: can you grab all that stuff outside my broken window and bring it in for me?
TT: I'll give it a shot.
EB: thx!

You move the cursor over to the indicated items strewn across the lawn, but the display turns red beyond a certain distance from John's house.

TT: No luck.
TT: It appears to be out of range. I'm guessing it is too far away from you, the "player".
EB: :C

You try to select John, but are unable. He abjures the meddlesome cursor.

You are able to select the bunny, which you return to its box. This pleases John.

You choose the Revise button, and use it to add to the dimensions of John's room. You create an extension in the direction of the stuff on the lawn.

This new space seems like a good place to deploy something. You open up the registry, viewing the "Cruxtruder," "Totem Lathe," and "Alchemiter." All three of these large machines are without a listed price. You deploy the Totem Lathe for John to puzzle over. It looks somewhat like a very large sewing machine, or a carving machine of some sort.