John Egbert (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ghostytrainer) wrote2013-02-09 03:31 pm
ghostytrainer) wrote2013-02-09 03:31 pm
prank #39 | video
[John is seated on a piano bench, though he's facing away from the piano at the moment, using the instrument as sort of a backrest instead. In his lap sits a small stack of papers and the look on his face clearly says that he is all business today.]
[Brace yourselves.]
So I'm not sure why none of us thought to clear this up sooner, but it's come to my attention that there are a few things concerning the people from my universe that really should be addressed to avoid further confusion. Mainly: alternate universe selves, who's related to who, and how a sixteen year old can be a grandparent.
I have mentioned it to a few people already but basically it all boils down to something called ectobiology. To put it as simply as I can, ectobiology is the science of exploiting time loops to create babies out of paradox ghost slime. None of us were born in the typical human sense of the word, I created us all in a lab and then we went back in time on meteors and crash landed on Earth. And it's all thanks to a game called SBURB which I'm not going to go into too much detail about because it's really only marginally relevant and I will be here all day if I try to explain it.
Anyway...thanks to ectobiology, we have two family trees to deal with here:
[At that, he holds up two of the papers in his lap.]
Sorry, I'm not the best artist but hopefully you get the idea here. Jane Crocker and Jake English's slime was combined to create Jade Harley and yours truly, John Egbert; Roxy Lalonde and Dirk Strider's slime was combined to make Rose Lalonde and Dave Strider. So if you were wondering why in the world Jake and I look so similar, there's your answer. Technically he's my dad. Jane, Jake, Roxy, and Dirk don't have any ectoparents since I cloned them from their own adult selves. With me so far?
[He pauses.]
Good, because here's where it gets kind of weird. See, in order for the paradox clone babies to make it to Earth, they have to go through these portals surrounding a place called Skaia.
[He sets the two family trees down on the piano behind him so that he can hold up a third drawing.]
Skaia is this giant blue ball of creative energy that has a whole bunch of clouds that you can see the future in. In order to protect itself from damage by meteors, it has a whole bunch of these portal things, which it uses to redirect the meteors to the player's home planet. In this case: Earth. Since Skaia exists in a place outside of Earth's timeline, it can send the meteors to any point in time that it wants. Now...like any other video games, sometimes you fuck up catastrophically when playing SBURB and you are forced to restart the game. But since SBURB isn't so much a video game as it is your entire existence, the consequences of a reset have a little more impact. When you reset a game of SBURB, you reset your entire universe, and the meteors get redirected. Don't ask me why this is, I have no idea, that's something Rose could answer better than me since she's the one who actually researched that part. We haven't even reset the game from my perspective yet. But that's beside the point, point is: there are two different iterations of our universe and the main difference between them is which set of kids ends up as the players and which set ends up as the guardians of said players.
[The picture of Skaia joins the family trees on the piano as John holds up the very last piece of paper, which is thankfully void of any "art".]
I think the timeline pretty much speaks for itself. There are two possible versions of all eight of us: a teenage SBURB player and an adult guardian. This is why Jane sometimes calls me poppop instead of John and why there are two different Dirks here. Genetically speaking, we are the same people, but personality wise there can be some wild variance because of how we were raised. So for you more psychological types out there, we are basically walking examples of nature vs. nurture.
[He sets down the last piece of paper.]
Most of you probably don't care about any of this but I know there were a few people who were confused so I figured it would be best to clear it up now in case more of us show up. I probably missed a few things in this explanation but I was trying to keep it as short and simple as possible. So if you have any questions, feel free to ask. If I can't answer it, hopefully someone else from my universe can.
[Brace yourselves.]
So I'm not sure why none of us thought to clear this up sooner, but it's come to my attention that there are a few things concerning the people from my universe that really should be addressed to avoid further confusion. Mainly: alternate universe selves, who's related to who, and how a sixteen year old can be a grandparent.
I have mentioned it to a few people already but basically it all boils down to something called ectobiology. To put it as simply as I can, ectobiology is the science of exploiting time loops to create babies out of paradox ghost slime. None of us were born in the typical human sense of the word, I created us all in a lab and then we went back in time on meteors and crash landed on Earth. And it's all thanks to a game called SBURB which I'm not going to go into too much detail about because it's really only marginally relevant and I will be here all day if I try to explain it.
Anyway...thanks to ectobiology, we have two family trees to deal with here:
[At that, he holds up two of the papers in his lap.]
Sorry, I'm not the best artist but hopefully you get the idea here. Jane Crocker and Jake English's slime was combined to create Jade Harley and yours truly, John Egbert; Roxy Lalonde and Dirk Strider's slime was combined to make Rose Lalonde and Dave Strider. So if you were wondering why in the world Jake and I look so similar, there's your answer. Technically he's my dad. Jane, Jake, Roxy, and Dirk don't have any ectoparents since I cloned them from their own adult selves. With me so far?
[He pauses.]
Good, because here's where it gets kind of weird. See, in order for the paradox clone babies to make it to Earth, they have to go through these portals surrounding a place called Skaia.
[He sets the two family trees down on the piano behind him so that he can hold up a third drawing.]
Skaia is this giant blue ball of creative energy that has a whole bunch of clouds that you can see the future in. In order to protect itself from damage by meteors, it has a whole bunch of these portal things, which it uses to redirect the meteors to the player's home planet. In this case: Earth. Since Skaia exists in a place outside of Earth's timeline, it can send the meteors to any point in time that it wants. Now...like any other video games, sometimes you fuck up catastrophically when playing SBURB and you are forced to restart the game. But since SBURB isn't so much a video game as it is your entire existence, the consequences of a reset have a little more impact. When you reset a game of SBURB, you reset your entire universe, and the meteors get redirected. Don't ask me why this is, I have no idea, that's something Rose could answer better than me since she's the one who actually researched that part. We haven't even reset the game from my perspective yet. But that's beside the point, point is: there are two different iterations of our universe and the main difference between them is which set of kids ends up as the players and which set ends up as the guardians of said players.
[The picture of Skaia joins the family trees on the piano as John holds up the very last piece of paper, which is thankfully void of any "art".]
I think the timeline pretty much speaks for itself. There are two possible versions of all eight of us: a teenage SBURB player and an adult guardian. This is why Jane sometimes calls me poppop instead of John and why there are two different Dirks here. Genetically speaking, we are the same people, but personality wise there can be some wild variance because of how we were raised. So for you more psychological types out there, we are basically walking examples of nature vs. nurture.
[He sets down the last piece of paper.]
Most of you probably don't care about any of this but I know there were a few people who were confused so I figured it would be best to clear it up now in case more of us show up. I probably missed a few things in this explanation but I was trying to keep it as short and simple as possible. So if you have any questions, feel free to ask. If I can't answer it, hopefully someone else from my universe can.
[Video | Private]
[Give him a minute to be ridiculous about this okay? He'll give a straight answer soon enough.]
[Video | Private]
[...]
...Would it be a bad time to say that I wouldn't care all that much if they did?
[Video | Private]
It was a joke, Jake. Good to know though! I'll direct Rose to you next time she gets the princess itch.
[Video | Private]
[He shrugs.]
Really, I don't see the problem with wearing a dress, other than potential lack of movement depending on skirt length.
[Quite a few badass chicks pull off being badass in a dress.]
[Video | Private]
[Especially not in public. That was what made the dress bad. The parading.]
I don't understand how they can stand to wear the stuff. It kinda like...itches almost? At least the uh...what's it called? The stuff that comes in the little tube and the brush thingy. [He approximates the size of a small tube with his hands before miming putting on mascara.] Something with an M? Anyway, shit sucks. And the whole process itself just takes a stupid amount of time.
[Wow they've gotten off topic here haven't they.]
[Video | Private]
[And yet Jake will continue to see nothing wrong with it.]
Mascara? To someone more experienced with it, I suppose it doesn't actually take very long to put on.
[Way off topic.]
[Video | Private]
[...hold on.]
We've gotten a little distracted from the point here, haven't we?
[Video | Private]
[whoops]
[Video | Private] 1/3
[He sighs contemplatively, tapping his chin. How to put this.]
[Video | Private] 2/3
[He can't keep a small smile from creeping on his face, but he continues anyway.]
[Video | Private] 3/3
That's everything.
[Video | Private]
I guess...I'm just a little afraid to answer that question. Not...not just because someone will get hurt no matter what I choose or do.
[He's just not sure if he should admit it in front of John.]
[Video | Private]
[Video | Private]
I'm...afraid. I mean, John, the last time I told someone "I love you," that person died. Sure, I was somewhere around four and it's completely irrational, but that doesn't make me fear it any less.
[Video | Private]
Grandma Jade?
[Video | Private]
Yeah.
[Video | Private]
[Ask him about his fear of clowns sometime.]
But look, Jake. That won't happen here...mostly because people can't die here. But it's okay to be scared. As wonderful as love is, it's scary too! Especially in the beginning.
[Video | Private]
[He kind of wishes his memories of her death were fuzzy.]
True, but while I cognitively know that, I still feel that fear. [Jake gives him a wry smile.] I feel like I'm becoming an expert on how scary love can be.
[Video | Private]
[Jake is scared enough as is, after all.]
Just...don't let the fear get the better of you, okay? And if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask, alright?
[Even though this situation seems almost...oddly backwards. It's okay though. He will be your love guru, Jake.]
[Video | Private]
[It certainly doesn't make Jake feel all that much better.]
Sure, if you and Rose don't mind terribly much? I don't want to be a constant bother about it.
[Video | Private]
[He grins.]
I am hardly an expert or anything but I like to think I have learned a few things on the crazy love coaster. It'll all work out okay though, Jake. Love triangles suck, [He just hopes that you never have to deal with it more than once.] but I have faith that you can get it all untangled.
[Video | Private]
[Video | Private]