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Homestuck Epilogues的开头和序章第一页（麻烦前往繁体中文翻译站阅读）
当你飞抵Rose的公寓时，她正躺在沙发上睡觉。你轻巧地推开了阳台的推拉门。
JOHN: rose?
她颤动眼皮，睁开了眼睛。你感到她看上去就像一只鬼魂，而且不是外表和举止都和活人没有区别的那种鬼魂。
ROSE: 我……睡了多久？
JOHN: 不知道，我刚刚才赶到你这儿。
JOHN: 你还好吗？
ROSE: 我会没事的。
JOHN: 但看起来你在那边放了很多很多要吃的药片。
ROSE: 没错。但事情不是你所想象的那样。
JOHN: 我想象了什么？
ROSE: 这些都是由一名合法合规的医生为了缓解我目前的抱恙状态的表现症状而开具的管制药物。我正在严格按照要求服用它们。
JOHN: 好，所以呢？？
ROSE: 所以没有任何事情需要你来担心。
JOHN: 但你说了你正在抱恙。难道……难道这不是很不妙吗？
你看着她坐直了身体。她环抱双臂坐在沙发上，她的手臂在发抖。
ROSE: 啊，对，就抱恙这件事本身而言，它的确不是什么理想的状态，这一点当然毋庸置疑。也许它的确值得被看作一件需要别人来替我担心的事情，倘若它处在另一段不同的对话的语境中。我只想试图让你知道，我没有重拾我的恶习，如果你真的正在心中盘算这个可能性的话。
你花了好多好多被废话充实的时间来胡扯些与她的质疑风马牛不相及的东西。你端详着Rose慵懒地瘫在沙发上的形象，满怀希望地期待着她在任何时刻重新开口。
ROSE: 几年之前，我曾在药物成瘾的困局中挣扎过一段时日。记得吗？
JOHN: 我的耶稣啊，rose，我不是来指控你是否对药物成瘾的，我飞了这么远来找你也不是为了干涉你的任何生活。
JOHN: 但是听起来你好像有很重要的东西要告诉我，而且你好像也生了病，这件事的吓人程度可不是一星半点！
ROSE: 我不会把这种状态表述为生病。
ROSE: 只是出现了一些使我严重虚弱的头痛症状而已，那都是我所接收的越来越频繁的异象所致。
JOHN: 哦好吧。
JOHN: 你接收到了什么异象？
ROSE: John，我是光明之先知。
JOHN: 我知道。
JOHN: 所以你接收到的就是那种常规的预视未来之类的超自然异象吗？
JOHN: 未来会发生什么？我们需要为它担心吗？
ROSE: 准确而言，它与未来并不相干。或者说，它与我们的未来无关。
ROSE: 我的能力已经在从前的固有基础上发生了相当程度的扩张，它照亮了许许多多未遭目睹的事件。它们来自过去、当下、未来，其实体与参考系和我们的命运毫无交叉。
ROSE: 这似乎是神化能力所带来的不幸的副作用，它们的扩张进度超越了我们的肉体所能追上的极限。
ROSE: 幸运的是，这种状态似乎没有降临在除我之外的任何一人身上。
JOHN: 是的，我不觉得我有注意到过任何类似的变化。
JOHN: 而且说起来我在能力方面也没有任何突破。
ROSE: 这种变化不会让你获得额外的力量。应该把它形容为分隔你的自我意识与消亡在其他时间线的无数注死人格的屏障在缓慢崩解。
ROSE: 它是一个缓慢的过程，是会让你感到不适的认知增生。也许我就是唯一一个能够发觉变化的人，鉴于我的职阶与认知密切相关。
JOHN: 我想这的确解释得通。
JOHN: 那你到底在这些异象里看到了什么？
ROSE: 很多东西。它们相当混乱无章，有时真的很难理清条理。
ROSE: 但总体而言，我已经对我们的处境和一切将我们导向此地的事件有了更加宏观的理解。
你看着Rose踉踉跄跄地起身穿过公寓进入简易厨房，熟练地吞下一颗药丸，一口水也没喝。她等待着药物起效，空洞的目光仿佛要钻进厨房台面的深处。
JOHN: ……然后呢？
ROSE: 什么然后？
JOHN: 然后你要给我讲什么和我们的处境有关的东西？
JOHN: 是坏消息吗？
ROSE: 在超脱于凡人的考量的某个阈值之外后，‘好’和‘坏’这两个字本身已毫无意义。
ROSE: 我已领悟了另一种全然不同的度量衡，另一种不那么……感性化的二分法，我想我应该可以这么说？
ROSE: 试想一下，不要再使用‘好’这个说法，把它们替换成‘本源性’。
ROSE: 而本源性的反义词则是……
ROSE: 某些最好别去深入思考的东西。
JOHN: 你到底想说什么呀？
JOHN: 这也太他妈的混乱了。
ROSE: 没错，这的确是你听完我说的话之后百分之百会做出的反应。
ROSE: 我真的应该打住了。还是让我们从头开始说起吧。
你跟着Rose去了阳台，她抬手指向万里晴空。她的动作带着明确的指向性，仿佛在对你说，there看那儿。没错，就在那儿，分毫不差，就是那颗绿太阳所在的地方——倘若它现在依旧存在的话。
ROSE: 绿太阳已经不在了。
JOHN: 啥？？
ROSE: 它被毁灭了。至少，就我们当下所在的参考系而言，它已经被毁灭了。
ROSE: 它仍然存在着，以一种难以解释的方式。它存在着，且存在了近乎永久的时光，掌管着不计其数的宇宙的诞生与消亡。
ROSE: 但是，当下的这个宇宙，这个属于我们的宇宙，已不再是上述的无尽宇宙中的一员。
JOHN: 你在异象中看到了这些内容？
ROSE: 不。这些是Jade告诉我的。
JOHN: 她说的？
JOHN: 她又是怎么知道的？
ROSE: 她再也无法汲取它的力量了。她再也没有首席监护者的能力了。
ROSE: 这样的状态已经持续了几年。但我怀疑她把这件事当作了需要把守的秘密。
JOHN: 这真是……
JOHN: 真惊人啊，我想是吧？
JOHN: 或者也许没那么惊人。我不知道。最近她已经不再向我倾诉太多了。
ROSE: 而且，她也不太可能遇到任何释放绿太阳的全部怒火的特定需求，尤其她此刻正在与Dave和Karkat在他们达成的令人费解的社会共识的基础上寻欢调情。
ROSE: 总而言之，她对绿太阳已灭亡的叙述和我从异象中取得的信息达成了同步。我已不再怀疑它的消亡。
JOHN: 这是怎么发生的？
ROSE: 那不重要，对我们而言。
ROSE: 那里发生了一场大灾变，一个极度强大的存在自绝于此。跟我和Dave在很久很久以前做过的尝试有些近似。
ROSE: 但我们当时释放的爆炸之力仅仅只是一剂催化剂、一个暗含因果的推力而已。想要毁灭绿太阳，必须得发动破坏性的攻击才行。
JOHN: 破坏性的？
ROSE: 绿太阳被整体吸入了超大质量的黑洞。
ROSE: 但我讲得太偏题了。
你闭上了眼睛，就一小会儿。在漆黑的眼皮背后，你看到了一个超大质量的黑洞，大得与永恒的宇宙同宽。
你迅速地睁开了眼，试图忘却刚才看到的一切。
ROSE: 在这条阐释性的花园小径上真的没有能够妥善地使你免于遭受底线冲击的捷径可走，John。
ROSE: 你必须返回正典世界（canon），击败Lord English。
你……
> 耸了耸肩，试图让自己看起来更随意。后续内容懒得粘贴了，大家来下载翻译好的文档吧
You pull off the most casual shrug that a guy has ever shrugged when being presented with the inevitability of his own fate. If Rose were looking at you right now, she would be totally convinced that you are approaching this topic with a level of nonchalance that is entirely plausible and genuine. You’re sure of it.
JOHN: yeah, i had a feeling that was going to come up again someday.
ROSE: I’m sure we all did. That is, even those of us without visions.
JOHN: i was doing my best not to think about it. i guess we can’t put it off any longer then?
ROSE: Now is the time. We are rapidly approaching a point of no return. If the decision isn’t made soon, it will be too late. The issue will no longer matter.
JOHN: when exactly is the point of no return?
ROSE: Today.
JOHN: wow.
JOHN: ok then.
JOHN: first, one question. um...
JOHN: why?
ROSE: Why what?
JOHN: why do i need to go back and beat him?
JOHN: i mean, sorry if this is a stupid question. i guess he’s a huge awful monster, and that’s just what you’re supposed to do with huge awful monsters. take them down for their crimes, and such.
JOHN: but why does he actually need to be defeated at all? to be honest, it’s been years since we’ve even bothered thinking about any of this, and everything seems...
> Take a look around and survey the current status of all life on Earth, which is totally possible to do from the vantage point of a single apartment balcony.
JOHN: fine?
ROSE: Of course everything is fine here.
ROSE: We’re outside of canon now.
JOHN: yeah, i know. what does that actually MEAN though?
JOHN: are you saying this isn’t really happening?
ROSE: Of course it’s happening.
ROSE: Just because certain events take place outside of canon, it doesn’t mean those events are non-canon.
JOHN: oh.
ROSE: In other words, there is an important distinction between events which can be considered to occur inside canon, outside canon, and those which are not canon at all.
ROSE: The day we went through that door and claimed our reward, we passed a threshold between continua marked by differing degrees of relevance, truth, and essentiality.
ROSE: Those are the three pillars of canon.
JOHN: what?
Rose shoots you an irritated look. You know what that look means. It’s reserved for the sort of bozo who just said “what” once too often.
ROSE: Any event said to take place inside canon will have nonzero values of relevance and essentiality, while maintaining an absolute foundation in truth, by definition.
ROSE: Whereas events outside canon have diminished values of relevance and essentiality. Or, for the most part, can be considered neither relevant nor essential at all.
ROSE: But such events can’t be said to be untrue either. Instead, it’s better to regard their truth value as highly conditional.
ROSE: Are you still following?
> Say “oh, yeah. totally.”
JOHN: oh, yeah. totally.
ROSE: So to be clear, everything that’s taken place here on Earth C since we exited canon can be considered completely irrelevant, and for the most part, absolutely inessential. Yet none of it can be called untrue.
ROSE: At least, up until precisely today.
JOHN: ok.
JOHN: then what does non-canon mean?
ROSE: Events that are formally non-canon have no truth whatsoever, by definition.
ROSE: They may have relevance and essentiality values that are nonzero, or even quite high, but only as projections along an imaginary axis, resulting from highly subjective frames of reference.
ROSE: But due to those events having no truth, and thus carrying no real weight, the other properties are basically rendered meaningless.
You can feel your eyes go wide as the gears in your head slow to a stop. The implications of what Rose is saying are as vast as they are completely incomprehensible. Your mind has just been BLOWN.
ROSE: John?
ROSE: Are you okay? Your pupils have gone quite wide, thereby facilitating the appearance that your mind has just been blown.
JOHN: sorry, i’m just trying to wrap my head around this.
ROSE: You of all people really should have a good intuitive grasp over these concepts already.
ROSE: You’re the one with the retcon powers, after all.
JOHN: i know!
JOHN: like, i mostly get it. i think.
JOHN: i just wouldn’t have thought to put all of this in such a jargony way.
ROSE: Sorry. That’s kind of what I do.
JOHN: it’s fine. i’m just a bit rusty is all.
JOHN: it feels like it’s been so long since i did, or even thought about... anything that mattered at all.
ROSE: Yes, the longer we live outside of canon, the more tenuous our relationship with canon becomes.
ROSE: Hence the urgency.
JOHN: then what’s going to happen if we keep dragging our feet?
ROSE: I mentioned that events outside canon have a truth value that tends to be conditional, remember?
JOHN: um.
ROSE: Well, I did. But let me put it another way.
ROSE: As long as we live outside canon, everything that happens will technically be “real,” but only conditionally.
ROSE: There are certain crucial events inside canon which must happen in order to continue to prop up the legitimacy of events here on Earth C.
ROSE: And you specifically, John, have a responsibility to make sure those events take place.
JOHN: and i take it that means going back and killing lord english?
ROSE: Yes.
ROSE: His defeat is the keystone to this entire continuity.
ROSE: Much like his life, in some sick way, governed the overall design of the bridge which that keystone was holding up.
ROSE: But without it, all of this falls apart. Every thing we’ve been through, in a way that’s impossible for a single mind to fully comprehend, becomes retroactively discredited.
JOHN: so... reality will be destroyed, or something?
JOHN: hasn’t that already sort of happened?
JOHN: i mean, when all the black space started cracking?
ROSE: No, this consequence isn’t physical, or even a disruption of the timeline. It’s more of a conceptual unraveling.
ROSE: If you miss the chance to authenticate canon events, something will take place that’s a bit difficult to describe, but I’ve encountered a term for it.
ROSE: It’s called “dissipation.”
ROSE: Like, a notional fading. As if something, somewhere, is undergoing a process of “forgetting,” and we are what is being forgotten.
ROSE: All ideas, people and their full potentialities, possible outcomes and their specific unfolding, all these things live inside conscious frameworks.
ROSE: The further removed we get from authentication of canon events, the less relevant they become, and they slowly fade from the conscious frameworks which kept them stable.
> Make a theatrically startled expression.
JOHN: ok, i guess we don’t want THAT to happen.
JOHN: or... unhappen. whatever.
JOHN: so i just retcon-poof back to english and start like...
JOHN: brawling with the dude?
ROSE: Don’t be ridiculous. You wouldn’t last a second.
ROSE: You’ll need a team.
ROSE: Also, you don’t want to just dive headlong into a battle with his hulking adult form. That would be tactically foolish, and furthermore, would skip over some very important steps needed to authenticate canon.
JOHN: like what?
ROSE: I mentioned that English’s defeat was the keystone to the continuity. But this is an oversimplification.
JOHN: yikes. well, we sure as fuck wouldn’t want to simplify anything.
ROSE: John, please don’t be a bitch. I’m unwell, remember?
JOHN: sorry.
ROSE: The true keystone, which is a necessary component of his defeat, is the juju.
ROSE: The house-shaped object you stuck your hand in to gain your retcon powers.
JOHN: oh yeah.
ROSE: While empty, it resembles a gap. Like a hole in canon, whose only purpose is to be filled.
ROSE: In serving that purpose, it grants one with the radical canon-altering powers that would be needed to fill it.
ROSE: Once filled, it becomes solid. No longer a gap, but a serviceable, load-bearing wedge in our continuity.
ROSE: Like a keystone.
ROSE: And once delivered to English and directed his way, it empties itself again, releasing its narrative-bridging payload. It functions as a weapon, and in some manner will bring about his demise.
JOHN: in some manner?
ROSE: It’s a complicated artifact. As old and unfathomable as anything else in Paradox Space, like the green sun, or English himself. Don’t worry about it for now.
ROSE: The important thing is that, in the due course of your travels, you end up loading and unloading this weapon.
JOHN: how am i going to do that?
ROSE: Once you set things in motion, it should just happen naturally through the narrative momentum of your journey. I’m really just warning you about it, rather than instructing you.
JOHN: ok. thanks??
ROSE: You’re welcome.
Rose looks at her phone. You recognize Kanaya’s distinct typing style in the window. Rose’s thumbs begin to fly across the keypad. She continues to text as she talks.
JOHN: so if we’re going to go back and kill him in time to “authenticate canon,” i guess we have to get going soon.
JOHN: like today?
ROSE: Yes.
JOHN: are you sure you’re actually up for a fight though? no offense, but you’re looking a little worse for the wear.
ROSE: I’m not going.
JOHN: oh.
ROSE: None of us are. Only you.
JOHN: what?? but you said...
ROSE: John, this is the victory state.
JOHN: what the hell does that even mean.
ROSE: When we went through the door, and passed beyond the threshold of canon, we effectively retired from bearing any responsibility for influencing canon events. We’ve all been sort of decommissioned as active players on the cosmic stage, with severely diminished relevance attributes.
ROSE: All of us except for you, of course, since you’ve retained your retcon abilities.
JOHN: ok, i get that. kind of.
JOHN: but... couldn’t you all just come along anyway?
ROSE: We could. But it wouldn’t serve any purpose.
ROSE: It wouldn’t plug up the remaining dark spots in canon.
ROSE: You’ll need a group of active players. Those still stuck inside the stream of canonic karma.
JOHN: who?
ROSE: Nothing too extravagant. Just different versions of us.
ROSE: Younger versions, from a particularly dysfunctional impasse in our journey.
ROSE: I can point out the exact moment in canon you should be disrupting, and how you should disrupt it.
ROSE: In fact, I’ve already written it down to spare you the trouble of remembering.
Rose leads you back inside and retrieves a letter from her desk. She hands it over, still typing one-handed on her phone. She sits down and you read the letter.
JOHN: huh.
ROSE: Is anything confusing about my instructions?
JOHN: no, i remember all this. it shouldn’t be a problem.
JOHN: it’s just weird to think about revisiting this. it seems like an eternity. like... we were all completely different people back then.
ROSE: I assure you we are all still fundamentally the same bunch of losers.
Rose is ultimately right about that, the way she is about most things. You continue to scan the letter, and grimace slightly.
JOHN: should i really punch her in the face?
JOHN: i felt kinda bad about it, last time i did that to someone.
ROSE: Yes. You absolutely should, and must, punch her in the face.
You exhale and turn the paper over in your hands. The other side is blank. You flip it back over, having fully processed the instructions drafted in the polished purple handwriting. You like how Rose still writes in purple, after all these years. Some things never change.
JOHN: alright. this seems straightforward enough.
JOHN: i mean, aside from the part where we all have to fight an invincible monster.
ROSE: He isn’t entirely invincible. He will be vulnerable to Dave’s weapon. I believe other gambits should present themselves as well.
ROSE: I don’t think it would serve the mission well for me to tell you exactly how it will go.
ROSE: But at least I can offer this bit of encouragement.
ROSE: If you follow my instructions, English will be defeated.
ROSE: It is an absolutely essential outcome.
ROSE: And essential, if you’ll remember, is the word we should be using instead of good.
JOHN: i see you’re advising we go after him when he’s young...
JOHN: i guess that makes sense.
JOHN: go get him before he gets all big and strong.
JOHN: like, kind of a surprise attack?
ROSE: Sure.
JOHN: that dude sucks.
JOHN: he was taunting me a while back.
JOHN: like, i think he WANTS me to come fight him?
JOHN: anyway, i just ignored him obviously, because i’m not a stupid idiot.
JOHN: but i guess today will be his lucky day.
You take a seat next to Rose on the couch.
> Examine your friend.
Her eyes are closed and her hands are folded in her lap. She’s not asleep, but she looks wasted—like all the life in her has been sucked out through a straw. Like she’s insubstantial. When you were kids you always thought that Rose Lalonde had all the answers, that she could fix any problem with a wall of text and a witty rejoinder. You guess that much about her hasn’t changed. She’s still trying to solve the problems you all left behind. You can’t believe how sick she looks. How did this happen to her?
JOHN: i should probably get going and let you rest.
JOHN: we can talk all about it when i get back. i’ll fill you in on how it went, hopefully you’ll be feeling better by then.
ROSE: Oh. Um.
ROSE: Yeah.
JOHN: is something wrong?
Rose opens her eyes and looks at you, but she says nothing. Just looks.
JOHN: i’m not scared, if that’s what you’re worried about.
JOHN: you already said we’re going to defeat him. so, nothing to fret over, right?
ROSE: Yes. You...
Something flickers through her eyes, almost too quick to catch. When she smiles at you, it’s warm and sincere.
ROSE: You’re going to do great.
Rose slides her arms around you. After a while, she releases you from the embrace and gets up to fetch her bottle of pills. She pauses at the bedroom door to look at you one more time.
ROSE: Goodbye, John.
She closes the door behind her.
> Look at the letter.
Your run your thumbs along the edge of the paper. Is this really it? One hug from Rose and you’re off to face your destiny? The instructions in the letter are clear, but you aren’t sure precisely what to do next. Inertia and indecision keep your feet planted firmly on the carpet.
Then, as if directly answering your quandary, your phone buzzes in your pocket. It’s a text from Roxy.
> Read text.
It sounds important. You get up to go without even thinking about it. You exit through the sliding glass door and leave it open behind you.