by marathemara

LATULA: 1 should prob4bly run 1t by mt. s33 wh4t h3 th1nks.

MEENAH: oh shit you and captor

MEENAH: thats still a thing after all this pseudotime or

LATULA: h4h4 y3444h.

MEENAH: still red?????? #38o

LATULA: uh huh. >8]

MEENAH: mother glubber

MEENAH: seriously didnt think T)(ATD last

LATULA: 1dk, th3r3z w4y mor3 to h1m th4n. w3ll, 4ll th3 t3rr1bl3 4nd stup1d sh1t h3 s4ys 4ll th3 t1m3.

LATULA: 4nd 1ts 4lw4yz f3lt l1k3 h3 n33ds m3 1f th4t m4k3s s3ns3, 3v3n 4ft3r dy1ng. so th3r3z th4t!!!!

(Openbound transcripts can be found on the MSPA forums, along with transcripts of all the other walkaround pages)

Stable and long-lasting pairings are hard to come by in the Homestuck universe. We’ve already talked about the one conciliatory pairing that’s lasted as long as the characters involved have been in the comic. But there is a concupiscent pairing that has lasted even longer: Latula Pyrope and Mituna Captor, who dated during their lifetime and, to Meenah’s surprise, remained a couple for the eons after their deaths.

Why have they lasted so long, in spite of the passage of time and the drama that has plagued the other members of their session? I think it’s mostly that Latula is the only person who’s really nice to Mituna, aside from Kurloz, his moirail. Kankri and Cronus are actively abusive to him, Damara is just generally murderous toward her peers, and everyone else seems to ignore him. But Latula recognizes that there’s more to Mituna than his disability (though she never tells us what), and she actively defends him against the other alpha trolls.

(If you approach Mituna while playing as Damara, you get the following response:

LATULA: h3y d4mz!!!!

LATULA: 1f you go 4nywh3r3 n34r h1m, 1 w1ll fuck1ng k1ll you!

Probably a figure of speech, since all the alpha trolls are dead already, but the intent is still there.)

It’s notable that, even with the aloof R4DG1RL persona that Latula projects, she cares so openly about another person. Especially one who, based on the way other people treat him, is too disabled to be worth caring about even by Beforan standards.

That R4D persona is another thing that probably helps keep Mituna and Latula together. Both of them have used it since before their deaths to shield their own personal faults from criticism by others. (We can only assume Mituna was better at it when he was healthy.) It’s likely that both of them actually unironically enjoy skateboarding, playing video games, and wearing cool clothes, but like Dave, they’ve turned their interests into an ironic defense mechanism.* The difference is that Mituna and Latula do it together, and I think it’s wonderful that they can share it.

All these qualities together–the shared interests/defenses, Latula’s protectiveness of Mituna, and the sheer staying power of their relationship–make Latula and Mituna a lovely couple, and maybe even a couple to admire, in spite of the fact that they were created as a parody of an Internet stereotype.

*Like the Striders, the Pyropes and the Captors also hide their eyes. But so do the Zahhaks, and that’s more of a Void thing than an ironic defense mechanism, so there isn’t really a pattern here.