he dressed as Jake :D That's why Gamzee singled Jake out. eta: the long sleeved gray outfit with the bowtie
AAAAAAH Hey guys, the multi artist project How Far We've Come lyicstuck is up! Go check it out here: http://gelasticat.tumblr.com/post/152611406487
Yeah. Meenah COULD have been very bad, as shown by HIC, but mostly she was pretty okay if arrogant and riddled with issues. Areas where she wasn't pretty okay mostly involve what she did to Damara. I also suspect her arrogance was just a cover for self-loathing, like we see when she says goodbye to (Vriska). Given what we know of her upbringing and running away to the moon and only talking to Aranea and not anyone else for like a sweep, I suspect she tries very hard to act bad so that nobody expects anything more of her. I've seen people frame her as selfish and horrible for not wanting to be Empress, but I don't think it's okay for someone to be forced into a job they don't like and aren't suited for just because of how they were born, and it doesn't magically become okay just because the job involves a lot of power and prestige. The idea of deciding jobs based on blood color is inherently broken, and people who legitimately think it wasn't broken on Beforus just because Beforus was nicer about it are missing the point. But nobody was going to allow Meenah to opt out because if she opted out, suddenly the entire system was in question. So she wasn't ever going to be allowed to make her own choice, she was going to be pacified and preened and pushed and pushed and pushed until she accepted her role in life, and like... just because her position is one of financial and material privilege, it doesn't make that not emotional abuse. So it makes perfect sense that in that context, Meenah has a sort of visceral nope reaction to any sort of responsibility. She can't handle it. It makes her sick. She's too bad and mean to have responsibility, and she'll project that badness and meanness as much as she has to, and the fact that when she tried to take responsibility during SGRUB to keep everyone moving things went horribly, horrible wrong only cements that. So in the end, she seems chill and low-key but I don't think she's really chill, I think she's still kind of a badly patched open wound, and that's why she can only hang out with Vriska as long as Vriska is bad and mean and unhappy and 'strong'. People tend to lump Meenah in with Vriska because they are superficially pretty similar, in that they're both attention-grabbing, crude and arrogant hoydens who want to be the center of attention. Her association as the alternate-universe version of a big bad only cements that, but Vriska has been grinding people down, killing them, and feeding them to her lusus for so long she can't interact with people in not-hurtful ways, and Meenah has... been subject to strongly-implied emotional abuse and grooming and then only talked to Aranea for an extended period of time, and we know Aranea likes to cause problems to fix them. During this time Meenah didn't kill anyone (presumably it would have been mentioned) or terrorize anyone the same way Vriska did, and while her backstory with Damara has definitely similarities to how Vriska treated Tavros, Meenah responded to that by... avoiding Damara and not trusting herself around vulnerable people, while Vriska responds by forcing her personality on even MORE vulnerable people because this time she'll get it right. That's why it really bothers me when people say Meenah is just like Vriska, because at their core they aren't.
Spoiler: sibling/guardian abuse of the non-sexual variety *Replying in Homestuck thread since convo was asked to be moved* Well it starts out... I guess innocently would be a way to describe it. Whoever is eridan and Cronus' joint custodian is up and outies because they should be old enough to handle shit right? Cronus is 19 going on 20, Eridan is headed into his first year of highschool, guardian goes hey, Cronus you're old enough for this to be legal and not child abandonment, I'm goin' to Aruba for 6 months BYE! Here's the thing is that Cronus should not be left in charge of anything at all ever, and the thing two is Eridan is a TEENAGER so he's a snarky snappy, whiny pain in the ass responsibility that Cronus did not want. They argue, they fight, they scream and escalate to throwing things every now and again. Everything becomes a contest of wills between the two most stubborn and sulkingly petty brats in existence. After about a month Cronus has reached the end of his ability to deal and so when he's making breakfast he. He sees something (old prescription, or some other kind of thing, don't know what) and he's desperate so he doses Eridan's food. Eridan starts to get fighty over eggs and toast but then he goes kind of green and has to run to the bathroom. He's down for almost two days. Two days of just him fucking off in his room and Cronus doesn't have to deal with it, or look at him, or listen to his whining, and even when Eridan comes back around to feeling better he's still a little less in the mood to try pushing back. So it works. Cronus only meant to do it the one time, he was frustrated, it was just and impulsive thing, but the second time it's less reaction, and more careful consideration. And the next time after that it's an easier choice to make. And then Cronus figures out that he can get more than a bit of peace. Wants to get the girls to coo over him? Tells them about his poor sick brother who's got some mystery illness. Gosh it's sure hard having to be there for his little bro and help him out and stuff but he just cares that much! and It's a life saver to get him out of obligations he doesn't want to keep. Oh gee, Kankri, did he say he'd go with you to that boring ass lecture thing? Oops Eridan's sick again, gosh darn what a shame, welp better luck next time! Someone catches on eventually of course, though I've never gone into who or how (though I imagine some of Eridan's school friends would become suspicious if like, he stayed over at their place for a week and got better instead of worse, or something similar).
Like, shit, Meenah broke Damara pretty badly by trying to 'help' her in extremely toxic ways, and her response to that is to... drop (Vriska) like a hot potato when (Vriska) shows she is sad and vulnerable. Which isn't a balanced response at all, but it shows Meenah knows she fucked up and wants to change. And where did Meenah even get the idea that strength has to be bullied into people, anyway? That's not a concept most people develop out of the blue.
Oh no, now I'm having a train of head canon thought that goes what if beforus vriska was one of Meenah's superiors/tutors/whatever?
OH MY GOD BUT WHAT IF SHE HAD A FREAKING CRUSH ON VRISKA THE ELDER THO WHAT IF THAT'S WHAT ATTRACTS HER TO ARANEA IN THE FIRST PLACE, FUCK IT MAKES PERFECT, HORRIBLE SENSE
I was referring to pre-SGRUB, actually, I should have been clearer about it. Her leadership attempt during SGRUB was an unmitigated disaster with several murders and a metric fuckton of drama.
