How the Music Box Works - Lullaby for Gods Commentary

Once upon a time - not that time is real, of course, but as I always say, let's pretend it is - I got bored and looked up what the best Homestuck crossovers were. I'm not a big fan of crossovers unless they're done beautifully, and I've only ever seen a few fics that live up to my standard. 

(Note: Not really a big fan of SuperWhoLock, or mega crossovers like.....SuperWhoLockPotterMerlinWhateverOtherCrossoverYouCanSmudgeInAndItDoesn'tMakeSenseWolfOmensJustStop, because they don't make sense, half the time.)

There are, however, a few crossover fics that I love with all of my heart.

Majority of the few Good Omens/Supernatural fics I've read are pretty nice. (Because they might as well be set in the same universe, as Supernatural borrows heavily from Good Omens and other Neil Gaiman works like Sandman and American Gods.)

There's that one Death Note/ Hannibal crossover (fusion is the proper term, I think) Covetous (which hasn't updated in close to three years I'm gonna cry); oh, and Nota Mortum , another DN/Hannibal fusion.

The only ones I like so far from the Sherlock/Supernatural fics I've seen are Sherlock the Demon Hunter (in which Sherlock Holmes sees Dean Winchester digging a grave, finds out that the horror stories parents tell their children are true, is an asshole who assumes he's more capable than he actually is as always, and gets his ass handed to him in a cheap plastic tray) and Of Salt (BAMF! HUNTER! JOHN! WATSON!).

On more farfetched crossovers, as in, two stories that barely have anything in common at all, there's three fics I like that from Supernatural/Thor (because Thor is set in MCU, which is superheroes and mutants and science shit and aliens and that's not really SPN's thing; the only thing MCU and SPN have in common is daddy issues): We are Vagabonds , Botany and Other Dangerous Hobbies , and Loki's New Home. 

And then of course, there's the underrated Unwanted Physical Contact which is a HIDDEN GEM that nobody ever talks about and nobody has thought about expanding. Seriously, people talk about putting Tom Hiddleston as Good Omens Crowley and there's this fic that is just so beautiful. I love it. (Actually, I was planning on writing a fic inspired by this one, but school got in the way and I need to find my muse again.)

Anyway - I searched for the best Homestuck crossovers and got a list. Two of them caught my attention; they were marked Homestuck/Avengers.

These would be And Sometimes  Change is a Good Thing (first link is to FF.net and the second is to AO3), and Tony Stark is Not Willie Wonka .

Far as I know, Change has been passed from author to author, and the latest one hasn't really posted anything yet, and if they have, we can't find it (hugs kissez was their username, I think), and Willie Wonka hasn't been updated since 2015. I actually tried to get a hand on Change, but it was already passed down to someone else. Still want to get my hands on it.

So, since none of the fics are active or complete, I'm in an obvious dilemma of wanting more and not getting it. If there's more, then they're not exactly written the way I want them to be. 

And you know the mantra for people who want shit done the way they prefer it. Do it yourself.

And so A Lullaby For Gods was born, title taken from that really popular Homestuck Youtube Video with Nattoppet as music. 

Of course, since this was crossed with MCU, they'd have to be seen interacting with MCU characters, and I wanted the integration to be very slow, so that it wasn't overwhelming and didn't read too badly. Also, it should be known that I love Loki with all my heart and will punch anyone in the face if they say that Asgard didn't do shit to him. Asgard clearly did shit to him. As someone who knows what a rough time with family really is, I can attest to that.

Also if I introduced the Beta Kids to Iron Man, like in Willi Wonka, they'd meet the rest of the Avengers quickly, and that went against my 'slow integration' plan, and I think the kids would also not want to be too overwhelmed by the new universe and superheroes and stuff, especially after what they've gone through.

So I stuck them with Loki, who is also trying to adjust to a new world. Lemme tell you, bonding over getting lost is a good way to build friendships. And to not make the story too bland and get it moving without compromising the kids' positions too early, there's other characters who aren't really OCs, but are subtle references.

In case everybody missed them, they are:

Palmer #1
Who obviously Lullaby'verse!Cecil Palmer from Welcome to Night Vale. One of two psychic twins. Slotted to be a Seer of Void if their universe had a game. It doesn't, or shouldn't have one, but with the interuniverse bleeding, who knows?

He's Seer of Void, because of the common depiction of Cecil having a third eye and somehow knowing things he really shouldn't know because he wasn't there to see it happen. He still reports it even though it's physically impossibly for him to witness the event. (As proven by A Story About You, A Story About Them and that one instance where he described the Smiling God without actually knowing about it or encountering it).

Seers are also passive class. Cecil, as we know, is not exactly - well, he's a reporter, at heart. He sees, he understands, he reports. It's his job. He only even decided to say 'fuck strex' when they hurt his cat. Seers, while they can't see the future definitively, can understand paths and are smart enough to give advice or chart actions to manipulate outcomes. (Terezi demonstrates this wonderfully.)

For Cecil, we witness this in his attempting to convince Night Vale to raise arms against Strex because if they didn't, their town would fall. Also, he has a very good knack for influencing things in Night Vale. Seers, however, never take action themselves, but just lead people to do it, something which Cecil is very good at doing, and has once lamented over himself. (Influencing everyone to condemn Telly the Barber; mourning Carlos' almost-death and how he couldn't do anything but make useless sounds with his useless mouth; once again pointing out that fact with Violet's accidental execution; again with Josie's slow deterioration. All Cecil can actually do is watch.)

As for Void, it's a reference to Night Vale (and who knows, really, Night Vale doesn't functions by the rules of science or logic, it might exist in this universe. I never said where the Palmers grew up), and how Cecil can just see things without any evidence pointing to it; he can see secrets too, if he looks hard enough. He thrives in the shadows and he knows how these shadows work. He's seeing things out of nothing, basically. He's a stronger psychic than his brother. Also, if you let him stare into the void, he can tell you that the void stares back and yeah, it kind of wants cookies, does anyone have cookies?

Palmer #2

Lullaby'verse!Kevin (Kevin Palmer) from Welcome to Night Vale. The other psychic twin. Slotted to be a Knight of Light if the Game existed. Owns a dog named Buster. 

While he's also a psychic, a more low level one, he's also a Knight of Light because, as we all know, in Homestuck Knights almost always fail to do their job, or if they do, it's at the cost of their own life, or the life of people they love. (Case in point - Dave Strider; gets killed so many times and has once decapitated his own father-brother-ectobiological-relation Dirk Strider.) 

They're also an active class, and Kevin, from what we know of him in WTNV was a pretty active character, from Pre-Strex influence up until Desert Otherworld governing. He was one of the rebellion leaders, physically put his body between the door (I think, it was the door of the radio station?) when Strex tore down the last of their defenses even though it resulted in his mutilation, constantly veered back and forth of time and space, personally tried to stop Cecil and Steve Carlsberg during the Night Vale revolution and now is in-charge of the Desert Otherworld where Desert Bluffs is recovering.

They also encounter the death of their class first. Light is Kevin's class, which translates to Fate, Fortune or Luck, or just literal Light. While I believe the Smiling God is this ungodly light that sears the eyes, I think Desert Bluffs was also an embodiment of Light on its own, because it was Night Vale's counterpart. With the takeover of Kevin's town, his own fate went to shit, his luck went to hell, and the light of his town was eaten up by another's. You know how you can't see stars because the sun is so bright? Yeah, like that.

And if you haven't noticed? Light players are very quick to fall to the darkness. (Rose gets possessed by fucking demons after she is devastated by her mother's death. Vriska is a total bitch due to Alternia's pressure and dumbass rules.)

So, Kevin, poor Kevin who tried to protect and fight for his town and his life and his fate, failed. 

Knights are also very prone to self-deception and putting up masks to hide their true personality. Dave with his 'cool guy persona' (internal) and aviators (external); Karkat with his 'constantly angry crab act' (internal) and grey symbol to hide his red blood (external) and Latula who acts as a 'rad girl' (internal) and red glasses and skater get-up(external). For Kevin this translates to the perpetually happy demeanor he sports (internal) and his smile (external); of course, this is a result of the Smiling God and Strex.

Knights are also known to help out in situations and to be selfless, even at the cost of their own lives. Kevin, with his rebellion against Strex, although this failed, fits this profile perfectly. 

So, masks, a desire to protect, constant failure and shit luck. Knight of Light.

Mrs. Harrison

The kickass landlady. Honestly? She doesn't come from any other universe; she's just there because if the kids are renting, of course they have a landlady, and that landlady should probably know when she's got five fucking gods under her roof.

Buster

YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT THE DOG IS TRANSPOSED FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE.

He is, of course, Lullaby'verse!Buster from NBC Hannibal, because that good boy is absolutely adorable and I love him and fuck Randall Tier for injuring him. Good boy. Best friend.

Mr. G

Shhh, he's not here yet, but he will make a cameo. If we're gonna have Buster, we're gonna have Mr. G, who owns like 98% of the dogs that Jade walks in the morning, and - you guessed it - it's Will Graham. Except he's happy and not being fucked over by Jack Crawford or Hannibal Lecter and doesn't have encephalitis. When I'm not busy making people cry, I try giving everyone a happy life. Classpect? Seer of Blood, probably, I haven't worked out a few things for him yet.

Sunny's

Very very lowkey reference to A Series of Unfortunate Events. Yup. It's the Baudelaire kids. Living normal lives. Running a cafe. Lemony's probably angsting away in his flat but is really happy when his charges come home.

Are the oc/not-really-ocs-but-subtle-references going to be important in the long run? Well, they serve roles, and, let's remember that if this universe had a game, they would play. Fuck no I'm not letting the Avengers play, they already have the starring roles in their own movie. I want Pepper to be the leader of this group of Heroes.

Now, I'm sure the Beta Kids (and Loki) are as confused as I am about the turn of events, but basically what happened was, they were going fine with Terezi's retcon plan (like, John did the time travel thing, and Vriska's alive, and they were all getting ready to fight people), but then, with the sessions - which were supposed to be separate sessions, by the way, and so they never should have merged - merging, and their universes blending, that kind of caused a domino effect, ripping a few holes and few other universe - MCU included, so the kids kind of got swept with the whole 'space ripping' backlash and fell to MCU'verse. And that was because they got lucky. The others are still kind of fumbling their way in the void right now.

Loki, from Asgard, fell through one of these rips too and thankfully narrowly missed getting into the hands of the Chitauri and instead landed on earth. It was painful and he almost died, but he's okay now, mostly, and Mrs. Harrison is introducing him to the wonders of caffeine.

Everyone's still got a long way to go with how they have to adjust, and I'm planning on bringing close to everyone from Homestuck in, so it will definitely be slow, but we'll get there. We'll get to everyone alive and well and then everything going to shit again, because this was originally supposed to just be a fun without plot piece (it still is, but now we got minor plots), and then my brain decided to just expand it from 'Loki and the Beta Kids become friends and recover' to MASSIVE SURGE IN ALIEN REFUGEES IN MCU UNIVERSE; SHIELD FREAKS THE FUCK OUT AND TRIES TO ARREST THEM BECAUSE THAT'S THEIR DEFAULT SETTING; EVERYBODY CALM THE FUCK DOWN.

So far the most important people in MCU to get involved with kids are Loki, who is now the children's unofficial guardian and honorary big brother (and he's happier to accept them as siblings than he would Thor, the stupid blonde pile of muscles), Steve (who likes the fact that Jade Harley doesn't give a shit about his celebrity status - not a lot of the Safehouse people give a shit about his celebrity status, really, and that's why he likes them) and Pepper. Rest assured, she will interact with the Safehouse again.

Everyone will get to know everyone over time, but we'll take it slow, and make it as realistic as we can like, you know, people breaking down from stress and the realization of everything that's happened to them crashing down, people dissociating, people having trust issues, people recovering and relapsing and getting back up and trying again. Homestuck may be the butt of jokes, but holy shit, when looked at with care, the things these children went through are no joke.

Also, Jade and Steve are going to be besties (already are), and no, I don't ship them, I just think Jade is the most well-adjusted person to befriend Captain America first. She grew up isolated in an island that she wouldn't be too overwhelmed by a celebrity because what the fuck is a celebrity? Also she's super kind and I love her and I want to introduce Steve to Jade swearing. I just think of them as pseudo siblings. 

Rose is gonna have a bestie, and he's gonna be broody with more mental problems than Loki. Rose is gonna have a field day. (Hint: he's coming up close anyway, it's the Winter Soldier.)

Important people are to be given charges to take care of. Two casts from two universes will meld. The age old mutants-are-people-too thing will be brought up.

Most importantly, here's the temporary list of People + Their Charges. Don't tell anyone.

Loki Silvertongue

• Dave Strider
• Rose Lalonde
• John Egbert
• Jade Harley
• bonus: Bucky Barnes (technically, Rose's charge)

Steve Rogers

• Karkat Vantas
• Davesprite
• Roxy Lalonde
• Eridan Ampora
• Kanaya Maryam

(Steve gets to care for the children who are most empathetic - Karkat being the top one, Knight of Blood and all. Mostly because Steve is the most equipped to handle them, since he's very well attuned to people and also a very nice and patient person. If I stuck Karkat with Clint, there would be a bloodbath, and I'm not sure who loses the most blood.

Davesprite is someone struggling with who he is, whether he's the Real Dave, or just someone who was lucky enough not to die since he swerved this timeline (no, Davepeta does not happen in this universe). Also, he's kind of looking after Karkat, alongside Kanaya, because Kanaya would be damned before she let Karkat be in danger, and in fact, her strong relationship and feelings towards Karkat is the only reason they both ended up in the same universe with the same guardian. Thank Karkat's 'bloody' powers.

Roxy, as we all know, is an incredibly selfless and precious child who would give up anything for the happiness of her friends, and while usually drunk, is also the only one who ever has her shit together. She, like Karkat and Davesprite and Kanaya, has heart, and so she gets to be under Steve. 

Eridan, however, is an asshole, but he can be well-meaning sometimes. He's mostly in this group full of kind, selfless people so he can develop as a person.)

Bruce Banner

• Gamzee Makara
• Jane Crocker

(Bruce gets to watch over Gamzee, who also has trouble getting his murderous monstrous side in control. Jane makes sure that neither of them go berserk. Really, she should be the one in charge of this team.)

Aradia Megido

• Sollux Captor
• Jake English
• Equius Zahhak
• Nepeta Lejion

(Sollux is here because he and Aradia were already travelling together through dreamspace or whatever you call it. They found Nepeta, who was dead. I figured if I'm going to get Nepeta to go with them, we might as well throw in her moirail Equius. I told you, I like giving people happy lives when I can be bothered. Jake is here because YO HE'D GET ALONG WITH ARADIA SO WELL. THEY'RE BOTH ADVENTURE NERDS.)

Vriska Serket and Terezi Pyrope

• Tavros Nitram
• Aranea Serket
• Cronus Ampora
• Horuss Zahhak

(Terezi and Vriska would co-guardian a team, you know that. Tavros is there because Vriska, come on, he's always been a loyal one to her even though she's a bitch to him, and it'd be a good thing for them to apologize to each oher. Aranea is a bigger bitch who needs to be watched 24/7, and who better to do so than the Scourge Sisters? Cronus is the chill dude who gets relegated to peacekeeper because everybody needs to chill. Horuss is useful, especially with both Serkets and Terezi. Really, I just made these teams out of consideration for who worked well with who.) 

Meenah Peixes

• Kankri Vantas
• Porrim Maryam
• Kurloz Makara
• Meulin Lejion

(Meenah is the QUEEN, okay, and she'd get these people in line because first of all, we have Kankri, who never shuts up. Meenah could probably shut him up with a snap of her fingers. Porrim is there because she's Kankri's kinda-mom (like Karkat and Kanaya). Kurloz is, like Gamzee, another wildcard, and who better to look after him than Meenah? Meulin is his matesprit, and I'm not about to cause him grief.)

Tony Stark

• Feferi Peixes
• Dirk Strider
• Damara Megido

(If you didn't notice I put royalty in Tony's roster. Feferi, the princess; Dirk, the prince; Damara, who despite being a Maid and a Rust Blood is scary as all fuck, and if anyone can get her to chill, it's Tony and his devil-may-care attitude. Honestly, he's best equipped to look after a princess and an engineering-computer-science genius with all his toys, and the killer queen with his easy-go-lucky, secretly truobled, demeanor.)

Latula Pyrope

• Rufioh Nitram
• Mituna Captor

(Rad girl Latula takes care of her anxious friends.)

The Guardians
(They don't have charges, but they are a separate group. They would be Dad, Bro, Mom, and Bec (now fused with Jade, but just let me get there; I mentioned Bec in the fics for a reason). The Post-Scratch Guardians' appearance are still being debated.)

The Ancestors
(Same with the Guardians, they don't have charges but are a separate group, composed of all the troll Ancestors.)

Calliope

Caliborn
(well fuck sorry)

Take note that this lineup is temporary, and may very well change if the story calls for it.

Also, little tidbit - Loki's official 'earth name' is Luke Winters. The kids know that he's Jotun (as do the other Safehouse main troop - Palmers, Mrs. Harrison, Mr. G), and about the Casket - and this is a story for another time, like when I upload that part of the fic. As much as Loki is at war with being a Frost Giant, there's not a lot of things he identifies with, and the kids are actually helping him come to terms with his identity, as is evident by the first chapter of Lullaby.

Also: Luke Winters - 4 letters, 7 letters.

Fits perfectly with the Homestuck kid naming scheme. (The only kids whose names do not fit in the naming scheme are, curiously enough, John Egbert - who was given the ability of the Homestuck juju - and Jade Harley - who fused with her first guardian dog.)

Dave Strider (4/7)

Rose Lalonde (4/7)

Dirk Strider (4/7)

Roxy Lalonde (4/7)

Jake English (4/7)

Jane Crocker (4/7)

John Egbert (4/6)

Jade Harley (4/6)