Some spoilers for the game, I guess? * The first time you’re at a shop and Rose doesn’t arch a murderous eyebrow in the face of all the junk your associated party wants to buy, it doesn’t register. You’re all in high spirits; you’ve reached South Figaro in record time.
wow we really got here fast!!
yeah not being attacked by monsters every few steps will do that we should make a habit of it monster attacks just say no very sorry mister monster sir it seems we have filled our quota of punching out ugly mugs for the rest of the day well shit son youre right im gonna take my fangs elsewhere no bad feelings kay no prob bro it happens to the best of us
man i hope it’s going to last we need all the luck we can get haha, i bet vriska would love that
i don’t know though! what if we never meet monsters anymore, that means we can’t practice! and guys the apocalypse really showed we need to get stronger :(((
welp thanks for ruining the mood harley good job
aw sorry guys i didn’t mean to but it’s true though
don’t worry about that jade, i’m sure we’ll find plenty of nasty monsters when we leave and they really got stronger, so we’ll get stronger too
man will both of you stop with the STRONG talk i feel like im with goddamn equius or something glancing over my shoulder every time one of you says that word lets all just call a moratorium on the worry and agree that its nice we got here so fast there i even used a big word correctly so lalonde wont have to bust my balls
are you alright rose??? you’re very quiet!
Yes, I’m perfectly fine. No worries, I was merely contemplating the information at our disposal.
And that’s nothing out of the usual that Rose will try to fit the pieces of the puzzle all together. At the moment, you don’t pay much attention to it, you’re just glad she didn’t sarcastically cut you down even once in the whole conversation.
*
The second time, you’re in Kohlingen, right after finding Vriska again. Vriska’s made friends with the shopkeepers or something, because when the lot of you show up at the shop and the shopkeepers get – between John and Vriska’s effusive exclamations – that you’ve just met again after a year apart, they generously offer you your pick of any object you’d like.
That strikes you as kinda weird, but you have your eye on a pretty sweet Diamond Vest, so you’re not complaining.
You end up stacking up on all kinds of items, averting your gaze when Vriska’s fondling of her new dice gets downright obscene (though John doesn’t look like he’s complaining).
Leaving the shop, you notice Rose’s tiny smirk.
You put it down to the new weapon adorning her hip, a cool magic needlesword she got – like everything else – for free. Given that the starting price was around 10’000 gil or something just about as absurdly expensive, you can get behind the sentiment.
*
You don’t keep track of the money, anyway. It’s Rose’s job, and if Rose says it’s okay or shopkeepers keep the gifts coming, who are you to turn it down?
As Vriska says, you’re saving the world here!!!!!!!! Damn right they ought to give this stuff for free.
*
It doesn’t escape your notice either that Rose seems to be getting a lot better at magic.
A lot better.
She was always good, that’s why the Empire made her a general. But not this good, not this flurry of cast spells she seems to master as soon as she sees them, and move on to the next spell.
*
Outside of important enemies – people you run after or you run into, those you can’t avoid somehow – it’s been a really long time since you had to fight a random monster.
Jade’s not too unhappy about it, though. According to Vriska, you must have “gained all the levels!”
Whether that’s true or not, it’s true that you beat Phunbaba almost effortlessly. He was a lot tougher in your memory.
*
okay what the hell just happened here
It would be most pleasant, dear brother, if you were so kind as to explicate to what instance you are referring to. Or, in short: use your words.
lalonde dont play snarky broad with me you were there you saw it we just walked through a goddamn wall
Did we now? It must have escaped my notice. With all the things we’ve seen over the past year, I’m surprised your threshold for the mildly uncanny would be triggered by such a harmless display
you know what fuck you
*
You’re not creeped out. Of course not! That would be stupid to suggest.
No random attacks, power levels that are off the charts, friendly gifts from every shop around the world, battles fought floating against shiny, shapeless blobs of colour, and now walking through walls?
Perfectly normal stuff.
Yep.
Nothing to have on your mind.
Not a thing.
Not one.
*
You’re fighting the Skull Dragon when John is hit by the Doom spell. For a terrible moment where time seems suspended, you see him cough, stumble. You can do nothing but stare.
Jade’s roar rips through the air, shaking you out of your stupor as she charges the dragon.
As you hurry to help her, you hear Rose yelling, louder than her usual mumbled chanting, “John, JUMP!”
The end of the battle is a flurry of moves and violence – Rose’s lips pulled back in a fierce snarl – and the Damocles sword of the timer over John’s head, but seconds pass by and he
he’s still standing…
The fight is mercifully short. A slaughter, and Rose’s stony face over the decapitated corpse of your enemy will stay with you a long time.
You corner her alone as you stop to set camp.
now do you believe me when i say that something is seriously weird
She looks at you with infinite distance.
Dave, we are fighting the Empire and a monster clown to save a world that’s already in ruins. I imagine our current situation is to “weird” what Vriska’s canoodling is to your first crush in kindergarten.
It’s an invitation to digress; she’s all but handing you the ponytail metaphors. Knowing that she doesn’t want you to dig just makes you more determined, though.
look all im saying is that seriously weird shit has been going on for a while now that last battle against the dragon john was dead not to sound harsh but he really was he he looked dead not one of the zombie fun curses that just need a cure i mean bloodily laying on the ground waiting for prayers dead instead he was running around doing his shit and you looked like you had something to do with it so im asking you sis what gives
She laughs, a small, delighted sound.
Oh, this is precious! Do you believe me in leagues with something bolder and stronger than me? Are you going to call my loyalties into question again, dear brother? I would have hoped the false accusations of last time would’ve made more of an impression.
thats not what i meant and you fucking know it
Am I a mindreader now? My only tools to understand you are the words you say. Be more careful if you wish to avoid hurting people.
And you already apologised for this, everyone apologised but especially you, and you cannot have this again.
You should’ve known you wouldn’t get anything out of her.
*
When you face off Gamzee for the final time, for reasons best known to herself Rose chooses to wear, instead of more common ornaments, the Cursed Ring on one hand and the Lich Ring on the other.
Between the tides of life and death she weaves her magic, her face glowing with the eerie paleness of undeath and magics combined.
When she raises her hands, the grim shadow of Death coalesces over the head of the monster clown, its scythe extended.
list of glitches/hacks/codes referred to: encounter glitch, gold codes, learn new spell 50X faster code, exp codes, walking through wall glitch, characters float in battle code, enemies are blobs of color code, the 0 HP glitch, cursed ring+lich ring trick, item code that makes doom ring produce a grim reaper
FILL: TEAM PARCELPYXIS - FINAL FANTASY VI (1994)
*
The first time you’re at a shop and Rose doesn’t arch a murderous eyebrow in the face of all the junk your associated party wants to buy, it doesn’t register. You’re all in high spirits; you’ve reached South Figaro in record time.
wow we really got here fast!!
yeah not being attacked by monsters every few steps will do that
we should make a habit of it
monster attacks
just say no
very sorry mister monster sir it seems we have filled our quota of punching out ugly mugs for the rest of the day
well shit son youre right im gonna take my fangs elsewhere no bad feelings kay
no prob bro it happens to the best of us
man i hope it’s going to last
we need all the luck we can get
haha, i bet vriska would love that
i don’t know though! what if we never meet monsters anymore, that means we can’t practice! and guys the apocalypse really showed we need to get stronger :(((
welp
thanks for ruining the mood harley good job
aw
sorry guys i didn’t mean to
but it’s true though
don’t worry about that jade, i’m sure we’ll find plenty of nasty monsters when we leave
and they really got stronger, so we’ll get stronger too
man will both of you stop with the STRONG talk
i feel like im with goddamn equius or something
glancing over my shoulder every time one of you says that word
lets all just call a moratorium on the worry and agree that its nice we got here so fast
there i even used a big word correctly so lalonde wont have to bust my balls
are you alright rose??? you’re very quiet!
Yes, I’m perfectly fine. No worries, I was merely contemplating the information at our disposal.
And that’s nothing out of the usual that Rose will try to fit the pieces of the puzzle all together. At the moment, you don’t pay much attention to it, you’re just glad she didn’t sarcastically cut you down even once in the whole conversation.
*
The second time, you’re in Kohlingen, right after finding Vriska again. Vriska’s made friends with the shopkeepers or something, because when the lot of you show up at the shop and the shopkeepers get – between John and Vriska’s effusive exclamations – that you’ve just met again after a year apart, they generously offer you your pick of any object you’d like.
That strikes you as kinda weird, but you have your eye on a pretty sweet Diamond Vest, so you’re not complaining.
You end up stacking up on all kinds of items, averting your gaze when Vriska’s fondling of her new dice gets downright obscene (though John doesn’t look like he’s complaining).
Leaving the shop, you notice Rose’s tiny smirk.
You put it down to the new weapon adorning her hip, a cool magic needlesword she got – like everything else – for free. Given that the starting price was around 10’000 gil or something just about as absurdly expensive, you can get behind the sentiment.
*
You don’t keep track of the money, anyway. It’s Rose’s job, and if Rose says it’s okay or shopkeepers keep the gifts coming, who are you to turn it down?
As Vriska says, you’re saving the world here!!!!!!!! Damn right they ought to give this stuff for free.
*
It doesn’t escape your notice either that Rose seems to be getting a lot better at magic.
A lot better.
She was always good, that’s why the Empire made her a general. But not this good, not this flurry of cast spells she seems to master as soon as she sees them, and move on to the next spell.
*
Outside of important enemies – people you run after or you run into, those you can’t avoid somehow – it’s been a really long time since you had to fight a random monster.
Jade’s not too unhappy about it, though. According to Vriska, you must have “gained all the levels!”
Whether that’s true or not, it’s true that you beat Phunbaba almost effortlessly. He was a lot tougher in your memory.
*
okay what the hell just happened here
It would be most pleasant, dear brother, if you were so kind as to explicate to what instance you are referring to.
Or, in short: use your words.
lalonde dont play snarky broad with me
you were there you saw it
we just walked through a goddamn wall
Did we now?
It must have escaped my notice. With all the things we’ve seen over the past year, I’m surprised your threshold for the mildly uncanny would be triggered by such a harmless display
you know what fuck you
*
You’re not creeped out. Of course not! That would be stupid to suggest.
No random attacks, power levels that are off the charts, friendly gifts from every shop around the world, battles fought floating against shiny, shapeless blobs of colour, and now walking through walls?
Perfectly normal stuff.
Yep.
Nothing to have on your mind.
Not a thing.
Not one.
*
You’re fighting the Skull Dragon when John is hit by the Doom spell. For a terrible moment where time seems suspended, you see him cough, stumble. You can do nothing but stare.
Jade’s roar rips through the air, shaking you out of your stupor as she charges the dragon.
As you hurry to help her, you hear Rose yelling, louder than her usual mumbled chanting, “John, JUMP!”
The end of the battle is a flurry of moves and violence – Rose’s lips pulled back in a fierce snarl – and the Damocles sword of the timer over John’s head, but seconds pass by and he
he’s still standing…
The fight is mercifully short. A slaughter, and Rose’s stony face over the decapitated corpse of your enemy will stay with you a long time.
You corner her alone as you stop to set camp.
now do you believe me when i say that something is seriously weird
She looks at you with infinite distance.
Dave, we are fighting the Empire and a monster clown to save a world that’s already in ruins. I imagine our current situation is to “weird” what Vriska’s canoodling is to your first crush in kindergarten.
It’s an invitation to digress; she’s all but handing you the ponytail metaphors. Knowing that she doesn’t want you to dig just makes you more determined, though.
look all im saying is that seriously weird shit has been going on for a while now
that last battle against the dragon
john was dead
not to sound harsh but he really was
he
he looked dead
not one of the zombie fun curses that just need a cure
i mean bloodily laying on the ground waiting for prayers dead
instead he was running around doing his shit
and you looked like you had something to do with it
so im asking you
sis
what gives
She laughs, a small, delighted sound.
Oh, this is precious! Do you believe me in leagues with something bolder and stronger than me? Are you going to call my loyalties into question again, dear brother?
I would have hoped the false accusations of last time would’ve made more of an impression.
thats not what i meant and you fucking know it
Am I a mindreader now? My only tools to understand you are the words you say. Be more careful if you wish to avoid hurting people.
And you already apologised for this, everyone apologised but especially you, and you cannot have this again.
You should’ve known you wouldn’t get anything out of her.
*
When you face off Gamzee for the final time, for reasons best known to herself Rose chooses to wear, instead of more common ornaments, the Cursed Ring on one hand and the Lich Ring on the other.
Between the tides of life and death she weaves her magic, her face glowing with the eerie paleness of undeath and magics combined.
When she raises her hands, the grim shadow of Death coalesces over the head of the monster clown, its scythe extended.
list of glitches/hacks/codes referred to: encounter glitch, gold codes, learn new spell 50X faster code, exp codes, walking through wall glitch, characters float in battle code, enemies are blobs of color code, the 0 HP glitch, cursed ring+lich ring trick, item code that makes doom ring produce a grim reaper