Doc Scratch

is a mysterious, powerful being who HS 4102 (communicates) primarily with Vriska Serket via Trollian. Scratch uses pure white text and no chumhandle or trolltag, making the conversation difficult to read without highlighting. He types using accurate grammar and punctuation, without any of the defining "quirks" prevalent among troll conversations (though it could be said perfect grammar is a quirk in itself).

Doc appears as a humanoid figure in a white and green suit with a white handgun. His head is shaped like a cue ball, though the lack of outline makes it look less like a ball and more like a hole in space. He is surrounded by the same green-white flickering lightning effect that surrounds Bec.

Biography
Doc Scratch is an officer of, the indestructible demon destined to enter the universe upon its death. He is also Alternia's First Guardian, an entity meant to protect the planet on which he is born, as well as facilitate the planet's 'ultimate purpose'. Being omniscient, he is an extremely skilled manipulator. Both he and Becquerel obtain their powers and their (at least near) omnipotence from the same genetic code, which is transcribed in one of Rose's Journals. He also fits into the billiards concept introduced by, representing the cue ball. His name is an obvious reference to the pool term for pocketing the cue ball, and may also play on "Old Scratch," a traditional name for Satan.

Most of his genetic code came from an ~ATH book that that timeline's Gamzee Makara had written in with the blood of his co-players. The book was retrieved from the alternate timeline by an Aradiabot, but was taken by the Black Queen's agents, along with the Flarp books that other, smaller pieces of his code were stored in. Similar to how Becquerel had been created by Rose's MEOW code and a dog's paradox slime, Scratch was brought to life in the later stages of the session by the ~ATH book's honk HONK code, Team Scourge's 8r8k H34DS code, and Team Charge's t1CK t0ck code, along with the paradox slime of an all-knowing cue ball and Lil Cal. He was later brought to Alternia by the first meteor to travel there in its planetary timeline, and the last in the trolls' Reckoning.

He lives in a fancy apartment composed entirely of shades of green. His "computer" is just a typewriter that inexplicably sends and receives messages to and from actual computers. Also in his apartment are a pistol and holster, several complicated chessboards (all resembling different forms of Skaia), and no doorbell. Why would an omniscient fellow need to be alerted to the presence of a visitor?

Doc Scratch is responsible for visiting young Kanaya and facilitating her awakening on Prospit. Later, he manipulates Vriska into attacking her friends Tavros and Aradia. He personally distracts Aradia and Terezi from helping Tavros simply by standing near them during their Flarp session. He likely did this to kill off Aradia, who he was easily able to use as a pawn after her death.

After the Black Queen is exiled to the Alternian wastelands during the troll's Sgrub session, she is "given a new purpose" by Doc Scratch, who teleports to the wastelands where she roams. Presumably, he intends to recruit her into the Felt. This seems to be one of his few actions that can be traced to furthering English's machinations rather than guiding the trolls into playing Sgrub, though these two motivations are likely not mutually exclusive.

Doc Scratch worked out a plan with Rose to destroy the Green Sun, killing Bec Noir and himself, which is probably a condition for summoning Lord English. He suggested that the reason for Rose being sidetracked from paying attention to her friends, harsh methods of learning about the game, and the origin of her black were caused by unconcious manipulation by the Horrorterrors, so he advised her to rely on the Cue Ball for information rather than the aforementioned or the trolls. He specifically encouraged her to ask it if the Outer Gods were evil. Whether the answer to that question is inscrutable or not, Rose viewing the Cue Ball's answer to that question caused her to "go Grimdark", the most notable effect of which is to seek revenge on Jack. The effects of their powers exploding together have not been determined.

At around the same "time", the Troll's version of Jack, Spades Slick, has finally tracked down Doc, continuing his mission from the Midnight Crew Intermission to destroy the Felt. Doc eventually lost omnipatience with Spade trying to bludgeon him over his... dome... and curled the metal weapon into unusability, and offered Spade to partake of a bottomless supply of Licorice Scotty Dogs before asking him... something.

When Terezi scratched Homestuck's second disc thinking it could be played with a record needle, the comic gradually became more glitchy to the point of "unplayability" and he offered to heal the scratch in it for us before the Scratch happens in the comic's Act 6.

Personality


Scratch believes himself better than the kind of Vriska and Equius, as unlike them, HS 4144 ("He never lies"), and he always plays with his cards face up. He also seems to be extremely intelligent and composed, as during the very same conversation with Vriska, he states that even though he tells Vriska what his next moves will be during their matches, she still can't beat him. This basically boils down to the fact that he is an expert manipulator of people but does not rely on deception to accomplish it - a skill that Vriska envies in both Scratch and Terezi.

The fact that he writes in the color white and that he has no Trollian handle indicates that he prefers to remain an anonymous party and work behind the scenes, carrying out his schemes with the least amount of influence possible. He doesn't want to be directly involved in the happenings that lead to fulfilling the planet's ultimate purpose, nor to his employer's entry to the universe, and therefore prefers to coerce others to do it. Figuratively speaking, he seems to consider others to be less than players, mere pieces to be moved into place--or perhaps billiard balls which, when struck by the cue ball, will move, whether they desire to or not. In fact, though only a small portion of the conversation can be seen, HS 4505 (in one panel) we see Aradia conversing with Doc Scratch via Trollian, highlighting a portion of his text that suggests he doesn't understand the arrival of Jack Noir to the trolls' incipisphere, and isn't supposed to be involved with this particular incident. When he speaks to Vriska it is with an air of superiority, telling Vriska that "The short amount of time I have reserved for arguing with a child has expired."



Being near omniscient, anything unexpected or unexplainable is very troubling for him. For example, Vriska had been able to inch closer to victory during their matches of what appears to be chess on a game board that looks exactly like the Skaian battlefield after receiving the second Kernelsprite. In addition, Terezi had been able to initiate contact with him, even though he has no account name on the Alternian internet as well as uses a typewriter. She was able to do this with help from Sollux. He refused to tell her his name and instead told her to call him Mr. Vanilla Milkshake, foreshadowing Terezi's future habit of associating flavors with colors. Terezi then explained to him that the only reason Vriska was winning in their games was because she was cheating by using one of Doc's lost Magic Cue Balls. After being informed of this, Doc Scratch uncharacteristically HS 4163 (flips the fuck out) and blows up the Cue Ball in Vriska's face, removing her vision eightfold and her arm.

After setting all of the (other?) conditions for the summoning of, Scratch claims that he feels he has no further purpose, and has begun to yearn for his own destruction. At an unspecified point in time, he contacts Rose Lalonde, and, being omniscient, seems to be an incredibly useful source of information. He tells Rose about the Green Sun, the source of his power and that of the other First Guardians, and how to reach its location in the Furthest Ring. Rose, realizing that this could be used to her advantage, concocts a plan with the help of Scratch to navigate the Furthest Ring and destroy the Green Sun using the explosive properties of The Tumor, thus sending the immortal Doc Scratch to his desired doom, and according to him, fulfilling another condition for the summoning of English.

He is the one to blame for Rose's grimdarkness - rather than lying outright about the type of knowledge that can be gained from a cue ball, he merely "suggests" that she asks it to tell her if the Outer Gods are evil.

Trivia
As of HS 5664 (This update), you can view any adventure with a Scratch theme. The candy-corn top-border dividers are replaced with cue balls, the ads are replaced with an image of his room in the Felt Manor, the MS Paint Adventures logo is replaced with a cue ball, and the entire screen is shown in green. Clicking the Felt Manor image or the cue ball will revert it to normality.