NepetaQuest 2011

""There are major characters, and there are minor ones. If you're waiting for me to fire up NEPETAQUEST 2011, don't hold your breath.""

- Andrew Hussie

You are Nepeta Leijon.

It is twilight on your fifth wriggling day, a time trolls are intended to set aside to reflect on their FAILURES. You were NEVER GOOD at reflecting, or thinking in general, but you imagine your life could be a LOT MORE EXCITING! You live in a yawnring--you mean LAWNRING--precariously perched over the ocean. Your seaside community is close knit, and all of your friends live nearby. The sound of the ocean coming in against the cliffs is so soothing your recuperacoon seems redundant!

Occasionally from your window you see a group of FLARPers sailing for adventure on the HIGH SEAS. Someday you plan to join them! For now you continue to feel an unnerving sense of restlessness.

What will you do?

The Violetescence to Cordless's Red Dead Virgo, Nepetaquest 2011 is a Homestuck fanfic by username aceofspudz that manages to be a decent tale in its own right. Abounding with OCs and characters from canon, it expands upon the Trolls' already complex society and also devotes attention to a much-loved but oft-ignored green-blooded player. The story is considered by a significant portion of the fandom to be the basis of the (theoretical) Homestuck expanded universe; it is well-written and well illustrated, and pays very close attention to what goes on in the source material. Truly worth checking out, whether you're a Homestuck fan or not.

Much like its sister fic, Cordless, it has become a Dead Fic, with the author revealing how the future would have panned out at the end of the last forum thread.


 * Convenient mirror
 * Original forum thread
 * Second forum thread

Not to be confused with [https://web.archive.org/web/20130720203921/http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?38034-NEPETAQUEST-2011-Thread-4-Oh-god-the-quadrants! an ongoing fangame project] of the same name, riffing on the same Hussie quote and also starring Nepeta.

Nepeta Quest 2011 has the following tropes:
"You have to face that you might be going a little crazy."
 * Absurdly High Stakes Game:
 * Let's not forget the the fandom's outrage alone was not enough to : It also took a great deal of ingenuity on their part to make the best of an Unwinnable Training Simulation.
 * Advanced Ancient Acropolis: Aradia imagines she'll find one. Someday.
 * Bio Augmentation: Nezumi's white blood is due to this.
 * Body Sushi: Zander says it's in his job description (the eating part, not the lying down part).
 * Bold Inflation: Nezumi's typing quirk.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Aradia. Excellent at archeology, both in the discovery process and the more scientific aspects of constructing hypotheses, but

"Scoria: This is the greatest day of my life. Look at my ridiculous getup! And my very own my own bridge bunnies."
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Nepeta refers to the satellite dish she has been 'hanging out in front of for so many pages.'
 * Bridge Bunnies: Here.

"UU: We--you and I, everyone--don't have forever, Scoria. We barely have tomorrow."
 * Casanova: Zander.
 * Censor Box: Vriska's vision eightfold allows her to see through things. The subsequent appearance of censor boxes when she uses it on Scoria is justified.
 * Child Soldiers: Omega Cell has official military duties on Alternia besides harassing the protagonists.
 * Cleavage Window: The Alternian female Captain uniform has this, although neither character shown wearing it is well endowed enough to take advantage.
 * A Day in the Limelight: For Nepeta.
 * Deal with the Devil: The author gave the readers the choice of turning to Vriska or Scoria for help in a dangerous situation; Vriska's ability to help was clearly much greater but she is, well, evil.
 * Dramatic Irony: See Foregone Conclusion. One quote in particular sticks out:

"Later, much later, you realized you should have started with hearts."
 * Doesn't Like Guns: Nepeta doesn't have a high opinion of the guns in the armory.
 * Evil Laugh: Lampshaded by Nezumi
 * Expanded Universe
 * Exposition Diagram: After a cutesy Art Shift Scoria attempts to explain the Trollian conflict to a bewildered Nepeta.
 * Failed a Spot Check: Invoked by name.
 * Falling Into the Cockpit: Zander, once the ALF goes into manual control. Somewhat justified as he receives a lot of support to do something very simple.
 * Fan Disillusionment: The author has clearly become disillusioned with Homestuck due to the direction it has taken, and this may have contributed to the cancellation.
 * Fantastic Caste System: Naturally, and given a twist with two elements we never saw in canon: the presence of an openly mutant character who was made that way and
 * Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Nezumi's
 * Field Promotion: Decima receives one from Tyrell immediately before
 * Fix Fic: The author isn't real pleased with the direction Homestuck has been taking.
 * Forced Perspective: What appears to be an enormous building in the background is revealed to be a small model sitting in front of the character.
 * Foregone Conclusion:
 * It is very hard not to view every single event in the story through this lens. There are apparently a lot of differences between the world one sweep ago and the present day.
 * Actually, see Wham! Episode for why this may not be the case.
 * For Science!: Scoria's rationale for the development of the Trollian timeline feature.
 * For the Evulz: Pretty much the only reason Nezumi is antagonizing Nepeta and is because she's just that much of a bitch.
 * Well, it seems she also sees Scoria as her kismesis. When Vokken orders her to stop obsessing over her, she answers that she simply can't.
 * Plus Nepeta was on the hitlist her handlers supplied her with, which is supposed to be a list of potentially dangerous people. Why she was on there, we just don't know yet.
 * "Friend or Idol?" Decision: A variation. Using a CULLSAT, forces  to choose between saving  or.
 * Ghibli Hills: The Bright Coast, where Nepeta starts.
 * The Ghost: Eridan, Karkat, Equius, and Doc Scratch have all been either just barely off screen or only seen talking on chat clients. (Well, and in Karkat's case, as an internet personality, a symbol, and a sock puppet.) Decima, too, until The Reveal that she wasn't a troll.
 * Goggles Do Something Unusual: Nepeta's contacts.
 * Half The Woman She Used To Be:
 * Hand Puppet: Aradiasock and Wrongkat, who.
 * Heroic BSOD: Nepeta in the flashforward to LOLCAT.
 * Heroic BSOD: Nepeta in the flashforward to LOLCAT.

"AF: Hypothetical me is even more pathetic. Hy'pathetic'al, get it? AA: 0h put a s0ck in it"
 * Hidden Eyes: Barely Alive Troll.
 * Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Vriska states that there are trolls who hunt and kill others for sport, taking their horns as trophies.
 * Imagine Spot: Nepeta briefly imagines being a princess (in full Derse pajamas) and Scoria imagines using her powers on Vriska.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Scoria is fond of these.

"The rest of us scrabble and bite and fight to stay alive. All you had to do was make a simple decision."
 * I Need a Freaking Drink: Scoria after Colony Raiders 2.
 * Ironic Echo: Colony Raiders 2 is won by . Later, the exact same thing happens to thanks to . Heck,.
 * Just in Time: Decima's arrival . Later she is not so lucky in the Ironic Echo.
 * Kill Sat: CULLSAT.
 * Klingon Promotion: Decima receives one in Colony Raiders 2.
 * Lighter and Softer: Compared to simultaneous events in the source material.
 * Maid of Sexy/Maid of Moe: has elements of both.
 * Mathematician's Answer: Logrin's reply when Zander asks him his opinion of the contents of the NZMine.
 * Mock Guffin: Those aren't prophecies, Aradia...
 * Mood Whiplash: What follows Nepeta: Wess Dance.
 * Mordor: Due to fresh basalt and an erupting volcano, the area around Vriska's hive appears like this.
 * More Expendable Than You: Nezumi's Straw Vulcan explanation behind her Sadistic Choice.
 * More Than Mind Control: Nezumi claims this of her hold on Scoria, but admits she still can't make her destroy free will by activating Trollian.
 * Necessary Evil: Captain Tyrrel invokes it when he uses the
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Vriska is not sure if Scoria is this or a Genius Ditz. Being young, she neglected another possibility.
 * Original Characters: Scoria, Nezumi, Zander, Logrin, and BAT.
 * Power Perversion Potential: One commenter pointed out how creepy that was.
 * It's established that Vriska can use Vision Eightfold to see through people's clothes, and apparently she's done that many times before.
 * Powers That Be: SETC (Security Education and Training Command), which is responsible for training and culling children on Alternia.
 * Precursors: Aradia's investigating them in true Adventurer Archaeologist style. It seems that the author subscribes to the popular theory, judging by the true nature of the ancient prophecies.
 * Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Nezumi attempts this on Nepeta.
 * Prequel: To Hivebent.
 * Reality Ensues: The result of Decima's decision to
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Nepeta gets these immediately before killing the animals as part of her Imagine Spot.
 * Sadistic Choice: The second Colony Raiders match.
 * Screw the Rules, I Have a Nuke: In Colony Raiders, Terezi's Plan B.
 * Entirely Overt Test Of Character: An incredibly cruel one is forced upon Zander, and by extension, the audience, during the second Colony Raiders match.
 * But he was on the way of.
 * Nezumi seems to absolutely love these, since gave a secret test of character to  and, by extension, the audience. Outcome:.
 * Servile Snarker:
 * Shared Universe: Includes members of the Terron race, which was introduced in Cordless) (by fellow MSPA forumgoer Sega (no, not that Sega)).
 * Takes place before Cordless
 * Shout-Out: The Merchant of Venice: "Hath not a rat eyes..."
 * Terezi is quite clearly using an N-2 mine, complete with a crossplosion.
 * Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: The fact that time travel and communication down timelines effectively forces people to create Stable Time LoopS and keeps them from really making their own decisions is a major contentious issue with the characters here. Of course, it's a Foregone Conclusion that Trollian will be released with the timeline features,
 * Slouch of Villainy: Scoria has one at the start of Colony Raiders 2.
 * Space Elevator: One of these leads up to Chandelier.
 * Superweapon Surprise:
 * Take a Third Option:
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Lampshaded by Scoria when she puts on her Victorian-style diving suit.
 * The Big Board: The holographic display Zander uses to control movements of ships.
 * The Hero's Birthday: Story begins on Nepeta's fifth birthday.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Nezumi gives one to Zander during Colony Raiders 2.


 * Viewers Are Geniuses: Scoria makes a pun involving the unit of viscosity, the poise.
 * Wham! Episode: Not so much the act itself, but the fact that it means
 * Ironically, though, this is also the last page before the story was abandoned.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human??: Vokken clearly believes
 * Word of Dante: Several aspects of troll society detailed in the adventure, such as trolls opening shops in "waystations" or the use of caegars as currency have been adopted by other fanfiction set on Alternia.
 * You're Insane!: Scoria's response to Nezumi's fanfic.