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yiminsuu · 7 months

Text

Please, Stay

Pairing: MK1 Syzoth/Reptile x F!Reader

Warnings: Sexual themes (+18), breeding, two cocks, angst and fluff, self-esteem issues, jealousy, friends to lovers, mentions of violence.

Author’s Note: Did I buy a ps5 just to play MK1? You bet. He needs all the loving in the galaxy and we'll give it to him no matter how much it costs! Please the way his family was taken from him was just so cruel, baby boy didn't deserve it...

Shattering noises reached my eardrums as I stepped into the kitchen of the academy, watching Syzoth sigh in desperation while his emerald eyes stared at the broken cup on the ground. I felt my heart breaking at his lost expression, yet I ceased all desire to touch him and walked away as silently as I could.

Since meeting Liu Kang and the others my seemingly normal life took a toll, transforming me into a 24/7 killing machine with 0 possibility of my enemies ever escaping Kombat. According to the Fire God, I always had this in my blood, now I just have to balance it… I just didn't expect that coming to a different realm and being incarcerated by a maddened sorcerer was the way to do so. That's where we met him, that's where we crossed eyes, that's where I fell enchanted by him.

Perhaps it was the anxiety of meeting someone new, or maybe I wanted to punch someone for the horrible things done to the people of Outworld, but there was no way of knowing I was attracted to what Baraka called a 'Zaterran', at least not at the time. Seeing Syzoth in his real form was surprising because I had never seen his kind, but the reptilian didn't know this, and in the beginning, I was sure he hated me to the core. He kept a certain distance from me unless I engaged against someone, he had my defense just like I had his, I didn't think much about it to be honest, I was sure he wanted to stay on the good side of the rest.

So when I spoke with Ashrah about our teammates in the gardens at tea time, she made it clear that she wanted me to talk more about Syzoth, indicating how protective he was over me when our battle against Quan Chi and Ermac took place, or when Li Mei chased after me when I made a mistake. I mean… I am practically a child compared to them, I found it normal that even Johnny would aid me at all times. I did notice their growing friendship as time passed, I was happy Syzoth could grieve his family in peace, and that he can have a joyful life from now on, yet after so much I don't think he's comfortable with me, don't think he'll ever be.

"Sometimes, people need to reflect on their past to come to peace with their mistakes."

"Thanks Ashrah, not undermining your achievements, but just because you did it doesn't mean others can do it as easily."

"Then why not come with me and Syzoth to Outworld? We will have a chance to speak our minds while we have dinner."

I declined, didn't feel like being the third wheel.

Realizing I was jealous was quite easy, but I swallowed it down, it's normal for me to get my hopes up to then be crushed mentally and emotionally. I was in silent rage, and I almost broke Raiden's skull in a friendly kombat so I decided to retreat to my accommodations with Liu Kang's permission who, weirdly, didn't stop smiling at me as I left. Following my encounter with Syzoth, I sprinted to my room and screamed into the pillow with genuine self-hatred for not asking if he was okay, and with regret in my mind, I drifted off to sleep.

Subsequently, waking up in the middle of the night to knocks on my door scared me, I thought there was some sort of emergency and I hurriedly opened the door to freeze immediately at the sight of the reptilian, he looked stunned at the speed in which I answered that he visibly gulped. "Syzoth, hey… I-Is something wrong?" Don't take me wrong, I did try to have conversations with him plenty of times, but he either avoided or ignored me, so I just gave up. "Do we have an emergency?"

I jumped in place when he changed into his reptile form, speechless at the action, we stared at each other in silence until his human form came back with a deep exhale. Even then, Syzoth refrained from saying a word for a good minute and turned to walk away before stopping and muttering something under his breath, cursing slightly. "Can I-- Can I come in…?" He questioned loud enough. With a furrowed eyebrow and with a growing heartbeat, I let him into my room and closed the door gently, once I glanced at Syzoth, his back was turned to my figure, and his head hanging low.

I cleared my throat, getting his attention, but he wouldn't budge from his position. "Did something happen? Is Johnny bothering you with the whole movie thing?" It's 3 a.m. but I'm sure Cage is still awake doing whatever an actor does in hopes his movie would be a success. "I can speak with him." I finished. Frowning at the lack of answer, I crossed my arms and my anger built up fast in my body. "Look, if you only woke me up to stand silent in the corner of my room you might as well leave, we'll speak in the--"

"Do you hate me?" I shut my mouth and widened my eyes at him.

Hate him? How could I? He's saved me more times than I could count. "Why… Why would--"

"I've seen how you watch me, how everyone watches me." There was so much sadness in his normally soft voice, his beautiful eyes staring into my own with every emotion he could find. "Do I look that monstrous, (Y/N)? Do I look so hideous you can barely withstand me to be in your company? You turn away every time I try to be with you in the same room, is it because of my true form…? Do I scare you? Or is this human skin just as mundane for you?" Syzoth transformed into his Zaterran form again. "Will I receive hate from you no matter what sort of shape I possess?"

Nothing came out of my lips, mostly because of the shock from his unexpected outburst, Syzoth looked away and took a few steps back from me, his whole demeanor changing into one of desolation. The room got darker when the moon hid behind clouds as if to make the reptilian a cruel favor. "Syzoth…" I called but got interrupted.

"Someone like you will never see me as an equal, and I should have known, but you… Looked so innocent in that cell that I couldn't resist securing you from harm. I beg of you, forgive me if I intimidated you as far as not accepting a dinner invitation, I want you to know you are the last person I ever want to hurt in any way. I'll stay away, just… Don't look at me with those eyes, the eyes of someone frightened, not you…"

Without thinking, I placed my hands on his reptile cheeks, his pupils dilating under my touch, he felt cold but I didn't let that bother me, there's nothing about him that could bother me. "I don't hate you, okay? And I'm not scared." I uttered to him, and in a flash, his human shape graced me, staring down at me with a glow in his eyes I'd never seen before. "But, you were--"

"Syzoth, you are the kindest soul I've met, you did everything you could to protect your family, you helped us defeat Shang Tsung and saved our lives countless times. Besides, I couldn't care less about your appearance, you are so handsome, soft-spoken, and courageous." I pursed my lips as I saw something shift in the way he looked at me, maybe I should've said something more worthy of being seen as his friend instead of stating the obvious, I have a crush-- No, I am full in love with him. I felt as if the world was torturing me all this time, and I failed to see I was the one torturing him with my avoidance of solving my own problems. "You mean it…? All of it?" Syzoth's hands rested on mine, his body slightly closer to touch mine.

"I do. I was surprised the first time I saw your true form, I'm not gonna lie, but I've grown accustomed to Outworld's unique beauty… What I did not like, on the other hand, was being called 'freakish'." I smiled brightly when he chuckled, the tension between us quickly evaporated, but I knew something changed. "I am sorry, you are anything but freakish." He paused, and my cheeks grew hotter as my hands were held by calloused ones. I gathered the little braveness I had and spoke. "I actually thought you hated me, you observed and followed after me everywhere, I was sure you wanted to kill me at some point."

"Oh, I didn't mean--" With the light of the moon, I saw his expression turn into a nervous one. "No! (Y/N), have you seen yourself in a mirror? You look so lovely, so breedable…"

Both of us stopped to process what the reptilian said.

Syzoth covered half of his face with his hood while I stood in place, screaming internally. "Fuck… I didn't want it to come out like that, I wanted to take you out first." I was thrilled at the thought of him having me how he desired, so I shut my mind from judgment and gulped down my anxiety, and kissed his cheek. He gazed at me with widened eyes, letting go of his hood and leaning closer to me, pecking my lips experimentally, so delicately as if I was going to break in his arms. I felt hot at the sensation of being wanted, and kind of ashamed for judging his relationship with Ashrah.

The Zaterran halted all movement to gaze at me. "I need your mind right here, baby. Please." I almost whined when he pulled me to him, kissing him as our clothing came off and sitting on his lap while he moved his head down towards my stomach and pressed open-mouthed kisses against my skin. "Your mouth feels good…" When I looked into his eyes, which were already staring back at me, I felt myself relax, his eyes were so soft and held so much love, that I felt like my heart was going to burst at the sight. Syzoth pressed his lips against my breast, squeezing the flesh of my thigh, enjoying how I shivered underneath his fingertips. I gasped when he bit my chest, breath hitching when he snapped away my underwear, inhaling my body as if it was the sweetest flower he found.

I kissed his forehead and embraced him by the neck, receiving a groan from him promptly. My breathing was turning heavy as his hands traveled from my thighs to my buttocks, pressing me against his clothed manhood. "W-Was that dinner supposed to be a setup?"

"Yeah… Truth be told, if you had gone I would have bent you over right then and there." Dammit Ashrah, you should've given me a hint. I shoved away the thought of her and planted a kiss on his neck, a breathless 'more' left his lips, sliding his remaining wear down and I gave out a wail when I felt two hard cocks on my behind. "Syzoth, you--"

"You don't have to take both, it's fine. I know this isn't something humans see every day…" He's going to be the dead of me, and the worst thing is, he knows about this by the expression he's wearing now. A soft mewl echoed in the room when one of his cocks brushed against my hole, he almost salivated at the sight of our bodies prepared to join together. "I promise I'll make you feel good, extremely good." Syzoth smirked as he laid on my bed, his thumb playing with my clit as his tip kept teasing my entrance, choked moans leaving my mouth and my fingers went to grab his short hair.

I let out a desperate whine when he suddenly entered me, my lips shaping an O as his finger abused my clit. "Syzoth…! F-Fuuck!" The sound of my wetness made me feel so self-conscious, but the way he looked so lost in pleasure excited me to no end. He retreated his finger when I arched my back, my walls clenching around his still-entering cock. "So warm… So perfect…" His piercing, green eyes kept eating at the scene, and his lips let out a sound of thrill for being able to be completely inside me, pushing my body against his as I shook above him, the moan that left me was unholy.

"Yes, yes, shit…" I heard him utter nonstop, his tail appearing to grasp around my thigh.

"Y-You’re stunning…" I told him, and the reptilian groaned deeply at my words, sitting once more and kissing me hungrily as he began moving. Syzoth bit my shoulder and spread my legs further apart so he could thrust deeper, he smiled weakly against my trembling skin, hugging me tightly as he felt his other cock rubbing against my asscheeks. I pushed his torso into mine, tears brimming in my eyes and both moaning between kisses. "Just like that, pretty… Take me all in…" I managed to nod, pulling Syzoth into another kiss as my legs wrapped around his torso. I was becoming desperate, the feeling of his cock stretching me out felt heavenly, I could feel every inch of him as he moved inside of me.

Syzoth grunted, tightening his hold on my body so it would become impossible for me to escape. "Fuck…!" He cursed loudly, forehead pressing against my neck. "(Y/N), please (Y/N)! Let me cum inside…!" His tip pressed against my cervix, and I attempted to shift my position a bit but his hold was unbreakable. He looked so needy with that fucked expression of his, so gorgeous with sweat running down his muscle, and purely swallowed by pleasure and pain alike. My forehead rested on his and he gasped, finally moving his hips faster, he was trying to reach the deepest depths of my being.

I could feel the love radiating off him in every action, the way he kissed me, how he embraced me, the affection in his eyes… I could feel it all, tears cascaded down my cheeks, kissing his lips. "Don't let go of me…" I whispered, holding onto him as my hips moved in sync with his. Syzoth whispered my name like a mantra, followed by many words of adoration amidst our lovemaking. "I will never let go."

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat 1 #mortal kombat x reader #mk #mk1 #mk x reader #mk1 x reader #reptile #reptile x reader #syzoth #syzoth x reader #mk reptile #mortal kombat reptile #mortal kombat imagines

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riding-the-sunset-bird · 2 months

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Time for another dive into the code! This time we're doing Warm, Moderate, and Cold Cove again, but for the transition between Step 2 to 3 instead of 1 to 2.

As a refresher to those who might not remember the original post talking about how it works from Step 1 to 2:

When making certain decisions in how you interact with Cove, the game will give you either warm points or cold points. These points are calculated at the end of the step to determine whether your Cove in the following Step will be warm, moderate, or cold. If you have more cold than warm points, the game will only use the cold ones, and same for having more warm than cold points. The points not used are essentially "thrown away."

A "warm" Cove is friendlier to others and cracks more jokes, a "moderate" Cove is closest to his Step 1 self, and a "cold" Cove is quieter and more blunt. They all interact with the MC similarly, except a warm Cove is more likely to tease the MC and not be as dependent while a cold Cove is more likely to side with/cling to them. His relationships with others will still be similar regardless of whether he's "warm," "moderate," or "cold," but how he expresses himself in those relationships may be different.

The warm-to-cold variation is a spectrum that goes from Warm, Warm-Moderate, Moderate, Cold-Moderate, and Cold. There is no Warm Cove who will do Cold Cove things and vice versa. With Warm-Moderate and Cold-Moderate, the idea is that you have a mostly Warm/Cold Cove respectively but with some mild variation.

There is a variable for "moderate" points in the game's code, but it goes unused in the game itself, meaning that a moderate Cove is more of a "default." If you were to go from the start of Step 1 and immediately to the end without doing any moments, that would be the best way of getting a "moderate" Cove. Engaging in moments is more likely to make your Cove warm/cold, so if you've played the game a lot and always go through a lot of moments without using the Cove Creator to change his personality, you could get a Moderate Cove for a potentially different experience.

In terms of the rules on how to get a warm/cold Cove, it varies. If the MC calls Cove out, teases him, includes/talks about other people, and encourages Cove to be more outgoing or do new things, he's more likely to be warm. Taking Cove's side, being protective of him, speaking up for him rather than letting him do it himself, and keeping things between him and the MC is more likely to make him cold. It's not a one-size-fits-all situation though, as a shy MC could make Cove warm because he's being encouraged to defend you whereas leaving Cove all by himself could make him cold.

Regardless of whether he's Warm, Moderate, or Cold, Cove will remain a sentimental introvert who gets flustered over romance.

Cove's appearance has nothing to do with whether he's warm/moderate/cold barring the rare cases where a choice might happen to overlap with it.

In terms of new information from Step 2 to 3 specifically, I'll say right away that whether your Step 2 Cove is already warm, moderate, or cold doesn't matter nor factor into how your Step 3 Cove turns out. All that matters is how you treat him in Step 2.

In addition, the point calculation works differently. In Step 1, having no more than 11 points in either Cold or Warm will give a Moderate Cove, having 12-19 points in either Cold or Warm will give a Cold-Moderate/Warm-Moderate Cove (depending on which you have more points in), and having 20 or more points will give a fully Cold/Warm Cove.

Also, if your points are tied, the game would "flip a coin" to decide whether it will opt for the cold or warm points.

However, Step 3 has more variation (well, not technically, but we'll talk about that later), first by making it even harder to get a Moderate Cove.

You only need 5 or more points in either warm/cold points to be locked out of a fully Moderate Cove (as a fully Moderate Cove would be 0-4 points). 5-9 will get you a slightly warm/cold Cove (we'll call this Moderate-Warm and Moderate-Cold for convenience), 10-14 or 15-19 (the game does two checks for this for some reason) will get you a Warm-Moderate or Cold-Moderate Cove, and having 20 or more will get you a fully Warm/Cold Cove as before.

In the case of a tie in points, the game will not do a "coin flip" anymore and will instead default to cold points.

One odd thing I will note (this wasn't relevant in the original post where I talked about Step 1->2) is that the Cove Creator actually sets some default cold/warm points as you pick the various buttons for Cove's personality.

The button on Warm gives 20 warm points and 10 cold points (again, these cold points are "thrown away" because the game only cares about what you have more of), the button between Warm and Moderate gives 12 warm points and 6 cold points, the button on Moderate gives 6 warm points and 6 cold points, the button between Moderate and Cold gives 6 warm points and 12 cold points, and the button on Cold gives 10 warm points and 20 cold points. These are the same points applied in any step where you can use the Cove Creator to change Cove's personality.

Now, did you catch something there?

Due to how Step 3 changed how few points are needed to lock you out of Moderate Cove (only 5 or more), it's actually impossible to get a fully Moderate Cove using the Cove Creator to change his personality. It will give you 6 warm points and 6 cold points, which will default to the 6 cold points due to the "coin flip" removal, thus giving you a Moderate-Cold Cove.

You can actually test this yourself if you have a save at the Step 3 Cove Creator. Set Cove's personality to "Moderate" and skim through the intro narration until it starts talking about Cove's family, right here:

Cove's relationships with his family improved over the years. Kyra visited several times after that summer, and things became easier between the two.

He was also closer with his dad than ever before. You knew they talked more, and that helped prevent a lot of friction before it could start.

If you had a fully Moderate Cove, you would get one of two follow-up narrations depending on if your Step 2 Cove was warm/warm-moderate/cold-moderate/cold or fully moderate.

if Warm/Warm-Moderate/Cold-Moderate/Cold in Step 2:

Cove's personality, however, drifted back to how it was in the past. He was pretty blunt and not overly social, but he had plenty to say when he felt like it.

if Moderate in Step 2:

Cove's personality, however, was recognizable from the past. He was pretty blunt and not overly social, but he had plenty to say when he felt like it.

You won't get this narration if you chose Moderate from the Cove Creator. Instead, you would get one of these:

if Warm/Warm-Moderate/Moderate in Step 2:

However, Cove grew into someone no one would call 'social'. He kept to himself, usually. He cared for the few connections he did have, but didn't reach outside them.

if Cold-Moderate/Cold in Step 2:

However, Cove still wasn't what anyone could call 'social'. He kept to himself, usually. He cared for the few connections he did have, but didn't reach outside them.

I actually checked just to make absolutely certain that I was on the latest version of Our Life (1.7.1) and I am. It seems that in the process of trying to give more variation to Cove's personality (or just making Moderate more unlikely), the Cove Creator was left out of the equation. I'd be curious to know if this happens on older versions.

Further puzzling is that I was going to list multiple examples to show the difference between Warm/Warm-Moderate/Moderate-Warm and Moderate-Cold/Cold-Moderate/Cold (similar to what I did in the last post for Step 2 Cove), but the thing is that I could not find any.

I searched and scanned through the code in an attempt to call upon any instance where it would check for a Warm-Moderate/Moderate-Warm or Moderate-Cold/Cold-Moderate Cove specifically, and in every case the game considered them to be fully Warm and fully Cold respectively.

In other words, whereas in Step 2 you had Warm, Warm-Moderate, Moderate, Cold-Moderate, and Cold Cove, Step 3 seems to stick to a strict Warm/Moderate/Cold Cove with no in-betweens. If anyone has any evidence to the contrary then by all means, message/toss me an ask, but I couldn't find anything to suggest otherwise.

This also makes Moderate Cove the hardest to get since you would need to actually achieve it in-game by avoiding warm/cold points as much as possible. Even just going through the Step 2 intro and ending only, I don't even think you could avoid being locked out of Moderate Cove if you're playing on Fond/Crush.

Getting back to the topic of choices though, here are the options themselves that'll give you warm/cold points throughout Step 2:

Step 2 Intro

After Cove comes by to deliver the fruit bouquet (Fond/Crush only):

"Thank you!" [warm +1]

"Thanks." [warm +1]

"You are too cute sometimes." [cold +1]

When Jeremy is complaining about his parents:

You kept quiet. [cold +1]

"You shouldn't talk about your parents like that." [warm +1]

"Sorry. It must suck being forced to do something you don't want." [warm +1]

"We just said hello. You don't have to keep complaining at us." [cold +1]

"Calm down. You don't have to yell so much." [cold +1]

"Who peed in your cereal this morning?" [warm +1]

When Jeremy mocks Cove's eyebrows:

"What?" [no change]

"No! Cove's wavy eyebrows are so cool!" [warm +1]

"How can you say that when you've got a bowl cut?" [warm +1]

"Don't listen to him. They're really unique and special." [cold +1]

"Well, they are kind of silly." [warm +1]

"Apologize to Cove right now. You can't treat people like that." [cold +1]

(immediately following above choice):

You just rolled your eyes. [warm +1]

You crossed your arms over your chest. [cold +1]

You shook your head. [warm +1]

You patted Cove on the shoulder. [cold +1]

You lunged towards Jeremy! [no change]

You grinned at all of this. [warm +1]

When Derek points out the fruit bouquet once Jeremy is gone:

"I need to save it." [cold +1]

"Why not? Let's eat." [warm +1] {note that the skewers will change Step 3 Cove's left wristwear: pineapple or strawberry will take it off, grape will give him the black wristband, and melon will give him the chain bracelet and beaded wrap bracelet with the jewel}

When Elizabeth shows up to confront the MC over the fruit bouquet (if the MC chose to eat it with Derek and Cove):

"Sorry, Elizabeth..." [warm +1]

"Get over it." [warm +1]

"Well, the morning's been kind of a disaster!" [cold +1]

"We were hungry?" [cold +1]

"It wasn't us. A seagull came down and ate it all while we weren't looking!" [warm +1]

When Derek and Cove try to make an escape from Elizabeth:

You ran! [cold +1]

You stayed. [warm +1]

After Cove sneaks into the MC's room (Fond/Crush only):

"What are you doing?" [warm +1]

"What's up, Romeo?" [warm +1]

"This sure is a surprise, but you're always welcome here." [cold +1]

"Is everything okay? What happened?" [cold +1]

"You're lucky I didn't start screaming." [cold +1]

"Amazing. My dreams have come true." [warm +1]

(following above scene) When Cove vents about being upset over his situation with his parents:

"There's nothing wrong with feeling bad. That is hard to deal with." [cold +1]

"We can deal with this." [warm +1]

"I'm sorry, Cove. You know I'm here for you." [warm +1]

"Yeah, that's... a lot." [cold +1]

You didn't know what to say. [warm +1]

(following above scene) After Cove asks if he can stay longer in MC's room:

"You can stay tonight, but we shouldn't make a habit of this." [warm +1]

"I've got a flashlight and some cards. Are you in?" [warm +1]

"Of course. You can always stay here, Cove." [cold +1]

(following above scene) When the MC realizes that Cove has stayed the night in their room:

"Cove!" [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

○ You laughed quietly. [warm +1]

○ You laughed loudly. [cold +1]

○ "Are you okay?" [warm +1]

○ You helped him up. [cold +1]

○ "Shhh! My moms are gonna hear us." [warm +1]

You laughed out loud. [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

○ You laughed even more. [cold +1]

○ "Are you okay?" [warm +1]

○ You helped him up. [cold +1]

○ "Shhh! My moms are gonna hear us." [warm +1]

You jumped out of bed. {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

○ You whispered in his ear. [cold +1]

○ You shook his shoulder. [warm +1]

○ You poked him in the face.

○ You tugged at his hair.

○ You threw a pillow at him.

You froze. {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

○ You whispered in his ear. [cold +1]

○ You shook his shoulder. [warm +1]

○ You poked him in the face. [no change]

○ You tugged at his hair. [no change]

○ You threw a pillow at him. [no change]

(following above scene) After Cove realizes that he'd fallen asleep and tries (fails) to calm down:

"It's going to be alright." [warm +1]

"We're going to be in so much trouble!" [cold +1]

"Just calm down." [warm +1]

"Settle down, before moms hear you." [cold +1]

You didn't say anything. [warm +1]

(following above scene) As Cove is trying to sneak out back to his house:

You wished him luck. [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

You rallied him to keep going. [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

You suggested he sneak out the door instead. {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

You urged him to hurry up. {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

When Kyra asks the MC if they have any restaurant recommendations:

You shrugged. [cold +1] {note that this will give Step 3 Cove the spiky hair}

"Not really." [warm +1] {note that this will give Step 3 Cove the middle-parted hair}

"Sure, I have a couple of favorites." [no change]

You nodded. [no change]

When Cove is sulking near the end of the outing with Kyra:

You made a silly face at him. [warm +1]

You smiled at him. [cold +1]

You gave him a sympathetic look. [cold +1]

You flicked his straw wrapper at him. [warm +1]

You left him alone. [cold +1]

Wave

Fond/Crush routes only

When Cove asks the MC if they want to come down to the beach:

"Sure! I'll meet you there when we're done." [cold +1]

"Oh- yeah, I could do that..." [cold +1]

"Alright." [warm +1]

"I can't this time." [warm +1]

After MC meets with Cove on the beach:

"I wouldn't have missed it." [cold +1]

"Sorry you had to wait." [warm +1]

"And stay inside all day? I don't think so." [warm +1]

If the MC brought a board with them to the beach:

"Cove, I'm not that good at surfing." [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

"I borrowed this board, but I don't know how to surf..." (if the MC is inexperienced at surfing) [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

"I'm ready to get in there." [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

"Wanna have a competition?" (if the MC is experienced at surfing) [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

"Will you give me some tips?" [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

If the MC didn't bring a board with them to the beach:

{note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

"What am I supposed to do while you surf?" [cold +1]

"I'll stay here and watch you surf." [warm +1]

"I'm going to find something to do while you surf." [cold +1]

After Cove jokes about clothespins if the MC went surfing with him (not for competition) and got into a splash fight with him:

"That was terrible on any scale." [warm +1]

"Please don't." [warm +1]

"You're adorable." [cold +1]

"I'm not sure that even counts as a pun." [cold +1]

"I love it." [warm +1]

If the MC chose to stay on shore and watch Cove surf:

You continued to watch quietly. [warm +1]

You started cheering him on after a really cool wave. [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

You shouted at him to remember to pace himself. [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

You did an impression of a sports announcer. {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

You made a silly face when he looked back at you. [cold +1]

(following above choice) After Cove checks on the MC:

"I've found ways to entertain myself." [cold +1]

"It's been fun." [warm +1]

"Eh, I'm just a little bored." [cold +1]

"This was totally radical, dude." [warm +1]

"I couldn't take my eyes off of you." (if Crush) [cold +1]

(following above choice) When Cove tells the MC that he likes them being there:

You teased him. [warm +1]

You smiled. [cold +1]

You looked away. [cold +1]

When Cove imitates Jeremy (if the MC chose to go with him to the park):

"Ha ha." [warm +1]

"Don't scare me like that! One Jeremy is enough." [cold +1]

"That's not really nice. Funny, but not nice." [warm +1]

"You don't have to tease him." [warm +1]

"Ugh, parents don't know anything." [cold +1]

(following above) After the conversation with Cove starts winding down:

"We better get home." [warm +1]

"I wish days were longer." [cold +1]

You chose not to say anything. [warm +1]

Growing

When the MC greets Cove when he arrives at their house (Fond/Crush only):

With a wave. [cold +1]

With a low five. [warm +1]

With a nudge to the shoulder. [cold +1]

With a noogie. [warm +1]

With a hug. [cold +1]

After Cove explains why he's come over (Fond/Crush only):

You thought that was really sweet. [warm +1]

"How'd you know I was doing nothing? Maybe I had plans." [warm +1]

You nodded. That made sense to you. [cold +1]

"I was thinking the exact same thing." [warm +1]

When Cove admits that he hasn't eaten: (Fond/Crush only):

"Yeah, I get like that sometimes too." [no change]

"You should really eat properly." [no change]

"You didn't eat at all? Then you gotta have something now!" [cold +1]

"Great! We can eat lunch together." [warm +1]

During the second pause of tic-tac-toe or hangman when Cove complains about feeling stuck to the floor:

"I'll have to charge you rent then." [warm +1]

"You can be my new roomie if you want." [cold +1]

"Looks like we'll both be stuck here forever then. I'm sticky too." [warm +1]

"No way. I'll peel you off if I have to." [cold +1]

You just smiled at his whining. [cold +1]

During the third pause of tic-tac-toe or hangman when Cove wonders where the game's name came from:

"Maybe they named it that because people played it with tics and tacks."/'"Maybe it's what they had instead of real court trials back then." [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

"I've always wondered about that..." [warm +1]

"I'll have to look it up later." [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

"It's a really old game. No one's sure where the name came from." [cold +1]

After the MC played tic-tac-toe with Cove (Indifferent/Fond):

You laughed along with Cove. [warm +1]

"Well, you should've taken the challenge more seriously." [warm +1]

"You're the one who wanted to play in the first place." [cold +1]

"I'm still the winner and you're the loser!" (if the MC won) [warm +1]

"I let you win, actually." (if Cove won) [cold +1]

You shook your head at him. [cold +1]

After the MC's initial reaction to Cove's hangman phrase (Crush only):

You didn't say anything. [cold +1]

"No, you're cute!" [cold +1]

"...Thank you." [cold +1]

"I can't believe you!" [warm +1]

"Damn, Cove." [warm +1]

You just let out a small squeak. [warm +1]

(following above choice):

"I really think you're cute. Seriously." [warm +1]

"Did you mean it? Do you really think I'm cute?" [cold +1]

You didn't say anything. [warm +1]

After Cove talks about how he thinks their talk about romance has been good (Fond/Crush only):

"I think so too." [cold +1]

You shrugged. [cold +1]

"It was awkward." [cold +1]

"The conversation had a mind of its own." [warm +1]

You just nodded quietly. [warm +1]

After Cove comments that he loves it out on the poppy hill (Fond/Crush only):

"I do too." [no change]

"You do? That's surprising," you said jokingly. [warm +1]

"Your opinion sure has changed since you were first on this hill." [warm +1]

You quietly enjoyed the moment. [cold +1]

After Cove says that he's glad to have met the MC (Fond/Crush only):

You blushed at the statement. [warm +1]

"I feel the same." [warm +1]

"That's so nice of you to say." [warm +1]

You smiled silently. [cold +1]

"You're being too sweet!" [cold +1]

"You're special to me, Cove." [cold +1]

Family

After Cove comes into the home and notes the awkwardness (if the MC stayed with their moms):

You laughed. [warm +1]

You wiped your eyes. [warm +1]

You smiled at him. [cold +1]

You shook your head in answer. [cold +1]

When the MC can talk to Cove about what happened, if the MC stayed with their moms (Fond/Crush only):

"There's a lot going on right now." [warm +1]

"It's nothing..." [cold +1]

You didn't speak to him. [cold +1]

"I needed to talk to you." (if the MC visited Cove) [warm +1]

"Thank you for coming... I'm glad you're here." (if the MC went to their room or outside) [cold +1]

"My parents are dead!" (if the MC asked about their adoption story) [warm +1]

(following after above choice)

"You don't have to do this." [cold +1]

"I'm okay..." [warm +1]

You closed the distance and hugged him." (only if Cove did not hug the MC; this happens if the MC doesn't have enough "touch points") [no change]

You started to cry. [warm +1]

You took a step back from him. [cold +1]

If the MC is participating in Lee's idea and Cove comments on it (Fond/Crush only):

"Thanks." [warm +1]

"I was pretty good, huh?" [warm +1]

You blushed and said nothing. [cold +1]

"Luckily we had a crowd who's easily impressed." [cold +1]

Dinner

When Cove asks the MC the first time if they want to come over for dinner:

"Yeah, I'll go." [cold +1]

"I can't." [no change]

You kept listening. [warm +1]

When Cove asks the MC the second time if they want to come over for dinner:

"Yeah, I can come." [warm +1]

"I'll have to ask my moms and get back to you." [cold +1]

"No, I can't make it."

○ "Sorry." [no change]

○ "Alright, I'll go." [cold +1]

"Why am I the only one invited? Or did you mean the whole family?"

○ "I can't. Sorry." [warm +1]

○ "Alright, I'll go." [warm +1]

After the MC looks around Cove's room (only if they haven't been in Cove's room before):

"Are you trying to make your own beach with all this sand?" [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

"It's nice." [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

"Thanks for letting me come over." [warm +1]

You weren't sure what to do. [cold +1]

When the MC chooses where to sit/not to sit and Cove raises his eyebrows at them (Crush only):

You were nervous about that. [warm +1]

You smiled comfortingly at him. [cold +1]

You chuckled over it. [warm +1]

You felt very charmed by his reaction. [cold +1]

(following immediately after above choice):

You only shrugged back. [warm +1]

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." [cold +1]

"You're like an open book, you know that?" [cold +1]

"You're such a sweet guy, Cove." [warm +1]

"You're adorable!" [cold +1]

When Cove asks if the MC wants to name a fish (Fond/Crush only):

"Yeah, I do!" [warm +1]

"Can I?" [cold +1]

"No thanks." {note that this will give Cove the thin rectangular blue glasses}

When the MC has the opportunity to ask if they can name a fish (Indifferent only):

"Can I name a fish?" [warm +1]

You kept quiet. [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove the thin rectangular blue glasses}

When Cove comments on how it seems unfair that the MC can't have pets at their house:

"Right? My moms can be strict over the weirdest things sometimes!" [warm +1]

"I don't mind it too much." [no change]

"I get it." [cold +1]

After Cove talks about how humiliating the deal was for him (if MC told Cove about the deal in Step 1):

"I'm really sorry about what happened, Cove." [cold +1]

"Then I'm sorry, since I'm gonna bring it up forever." [cold +1]

"Yeah, I get why that'd be embarrassing." [warm +1]

You laughed. [warm +1]

You stayed quiet. [no change]

if the MC has either told Cove about the deal in Sandcastle or did not bring up the deal now in Dinner

When the MC is given the opportunity to question Cove on why they're there:

"Is there a reason they wanted me to come over tonight?" [warm +1]

You kept quiet. [no change]

After Mr. Holden thanks the MC for coming:

You thanked Cove's parents back for inviting you. [no change]

You didn't say anything to that. [no change]

You just felt awkward about the situation. [cold +1]

When there's a lull in conversation during dinner:

You brought up your own topic of conversation. [cold +1]

You left coming up with a conversation topic to them. [warm +1]

After Cove is denied having an immediate sleepover with the MC (Fond/Crush only):

You gave him some words of encouragement. [cold +1]

You patted him on the back. [cold +1]

"Pst, I'll sneak the phone into my room tonight." [warm +1]

"Hey, you could always sneak into my room again." [warm +1]

You pouted about it too. [cold +1]

if the MC chose to tell Cove about the deal here in Dinner instead of anything else

After Cove storms out of the room:

You immediately followed after Cove. [cold +1]

You just stood there. [warm +1]

After Cove and the MC head to the MC's living room:

"Are you okay?" [warm +1]

"What do you want to do now?" [warm +1]

"I'm really sorry Cove." [cold +1]

"You did the right thing by leaving." [cold +1]

"Do you want to be doing this?" [cold +1]

You said nothing. [warm +1]

After the MC listens to Cove vent about his dad's behavior:

You continued to listen quietly. [warm +1]

"I'm sorry you have to deal with all that." [warm +1]

"You're right, that's terrible." [cold +1]

"It could be worse." [cold +1]

"Even if it didn't go well, your dad's only trying to make you happy." [cold +1]

When Cove laments the idea that he might not've been friends with the MC due to his dad (Fond/Crush only):

You stepped forward and rested a hand on his shoulder. [cold +1]

You hugged him. [warm +1]

You smiled reassuringly. [warm +1]

You wiped his tears. [cold +1]

(following immediately after above choice):

"I'm really glad we got to be friends." [warm +1]

"Please don't cry." [warm +1]

"Hey, don't worry about it. Alright?" [warm +1]

You didn't need to say anything. [cold +1]

"I wouldn't have let anything your dad -or anyone else- did mess things up." [cold +1]

After Cove insults his dad's inability to make people happy:

"I'm really sorry." [cold +1]

"You don't actually mean what you're saying." [cold +1]

"Do you hate your dad?" [warm +1]

"I'm here for you." (Fond/Crush only) [cold +1]

You felt bad that things were so hard for Cove and his dad. [warm +1]

You didn't say anything. [cold +1]

(following after above choice):

"What about your fish?" [cold +1]

"I remember that day, when it happened." [warm +1]

(following after above choice):

"Your dad still needs to stop being so forceful, though." [cold +1]

"You might feel better than you do if you tried to make up with your dad." [warm +1]

"You guys really need to learn how to communicate." [warm +1]

"I'll be on your side no matter what you do about your dad." (Fond/Crush only) [cold +1]

You stayed quiet. [no change]

When the MC is deciding what they can do for Cove to help him:

"Do you want me to turn the TV on?" [cold +1]

"Do you want something to eat? Or drink?" [cold +1]

You listened to whatever he wanted to say. [warm +1]

You stayed with him silently. [warm +1]

Road Trip

After Elizabeth teases Cove and the MC about getting married:

You told her to cut it out already. [cold +1]

"Cove has a point. It wasn't a great comment." [warm +1]

"I'll marry you, Cove." [warm +1]

You ignored Elizabeth. [cold +1]

You were embarrassed. [warm +1]

"I'll marry Cove on the same day Shiloh's mom marries Cove's dad." (if the MC joked about Cove's dad marrying Shiloh's mom in Long Day) [cold +1]

When the MC takes a good look at Cove wearing a jacket (Crush only):

You averted your gaze from him entirely. [warm +1]

"Yeah, don't worry about it." [no change]

"You look good - in the jacket. That's all..." (if Nervous) [cold +1]

"That looks nice on you." (if Relaxed) [warm +1]

"You just look so good right now." (if Direct) [warm +1]

"Yeah. Everything is really good." [no change]

You nodded while saying nothing. [no change]

After Cove panics and says "Nothing!" if the MC asks what he likes seeing others wear (Fond/Crush only):

That was funny. [warm +1]

You paid it no mind. [no change]

(following above choice):

It was a topic that made him uncomfortable, so you let it go. [cold +1]

You had a little fun and that was enough. You changed the subject. [no change]

"You're not very good at these conversations, are you?" [no change]

"I swear I won't make fun of you." [warm +1]

"I just thought it would be fun to talk about..." [cold +1]

(following above choice) After Cove admits he likes seeing people wear ankle bracelets:

"Thanks for answering." [warm +1]

"I like them too." [no change]

"Huh, out of everything in the world, you picked that." [no change]

"So you think they're sexy?" [cold +1]

When the MC is in the loft and sees that Cove is still awake (Fond/Crush only):

You grinned back at him. [cold +1]

You made a silly face. [no change]

You waved at him. [warm +1]

When Cove laments his actions sleeping over if Sleepover happened and if the MC invited him up to the loft (Fond/Crush only):

You encouraged him. [warm +1]

You comforted him. [cold +1]

You teased him. [no change]

When Cove starts getting nervous after the MC has invited him up to the loft (Crush only):

You were feeling the nervousness too. [warm +1]

You felt comfortable being so close to him. [no change]

His reaction made you happy. [cold +1]

(following above choice):

You laid there silently. [no change]

You tried to ease things with conversation. [no change]

You nudged closer to him. [warm +1]

You touched his free arm lightly. [cold +1]

(following above choice, only if the MC chose to try and kiss Cove):

You laughed. [warm +1]

You just tried to check on him. [cold +1]

Mall

When the MC notices Cove and Derek in conversation:

You decided to keep listening. [no change]

You decided to join in with the conversation. [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

You couldn't resist teasing the boys." (if Relaxed/Direct) [cold +1]

When Kyra gives Cove the passenger seat:

You decided to stick up for Cove. [cold +1]

You decided to jokingly complain at the special treatment. [warm +1]

You were fine with that. [warm +1]

You kept quiet. [cold +1]

After Kyra leaves, leaving the MC and their group alone:

You were happy about it. Talk about an amazing opportunity! [warm +1]

You felt unsure about the situation. Was this really ok? [warm +1]

You felt okay about the situation. [cold +1]

You were unhappy about it. This was not what you'd had in mind. [cold +1]

If the MC hasn't brought money to the mall (meaning the others will offer to pay):

You accepted their offers readily. [cold +1]

You'd let them know if you really needed it. [warm +1]

You rejected the offer right up front. [warm +1]

If the MC asks Cove for a sip of his smoothie (Fond only):

You pushed a little more. [no change]

You jokingly begged him. [cold +1]

You waited for him to decide on his own. [warm +1]

If the MC asks Cove for a sip of his smoothie (Crush only):

You decided to let it go. [cold +1]

You teased him. [warm +1]

You reassured him. [no change]

After Derek races off to check out the ride-on machines:

You thought his idea was childish. [cold +1]

You wanted to ride too. [no change]

You didn't care one way or another. [no change]

You stayed quiet about it. [warm +1]

Once the MC gives Cove the windchime (if they chose to get one for him):

You talked about how he seemed to want it. [warm +1]

You suggested that the chime simply made you think of him. [cold +1]

You explained that since his family did kind things for yours, you wanted to return the favor. / You explained that Cove had given you gifts and you wanted to get him something in return. [cold +1]

You didn't know what to say. / You didn't know what to say now. [warm +1]

Birthday

While the MC waits for activities to start:

You tried to chat with the people around. [warm +1]

You just talked with Cove. [cold +1]

You found a quiet spot to sit. [warm +1]

You just stood around where you were. [cold +1]

When the activities begin and Cove wonders what's going to happen:

You shrugged. [cold +1]

You scanned the area to make a guess. [cold +1]

You made a joke about something that wasn't going to happen. [warm +1]

If the MC wins pin the tail on the donkey:

You were humble about it. [cold +1]

You felt bashful over winning. [warm +1]

You reveled in the win. [warm +1]

(following above choice):

You offered to share the candy with Cove. [cold +1]

You kept the prize for yourself. [warm +1]

If Cove wins pin the tail on the donkey:

{note that this will give Cove studious +1}

You congratulated Cove. [cold +1]

You were disappointed you didn't win. [warm +1]

You were really impressed with his win. [warm +1]

You shrugged the game off. [cold +1]

You teased Cove. [warm +1]

"You looked cute." [warm +1]

(following after above choice):

You asked if he'd be willing to share the prize. [warm +1]

You didn't ask. [cold +1]

If neither the MC nor Cove won pin the tail on the donkey:

You were also disappointed. [cold +1]

"It was a good game." [warm +1]

You shrugged it off. [cold +1]

You teased him. [warm +1]

If the MC chooses to wear a crown/headband:

"I'm a party animal now." [warm +1]

"It does look very good on me, thanks." [no change]

"I don't know why I'm doing this." [cold +1]

When Cove asks the MC if he looks weird wearing the party hat (if the MC encouraged Cove to wear one):

"You look great, Cove." [warm +1]

"It's completely perfect." [cold +1]

"It looks silly." [warm +1]

You just giggled. [cold +1]

You shrugged. [cold +1]

You shook your head no. [warm +1]

After Cove does a taste test of one of the gummy bears (if the MC agreed to partner up with him):

"You should've waited." [warm +1]

You tried one for yourself. [cold +1]

"What did it taste like?" [no change]

(following above scene) If the MC failed to catch the gummy bear due to casually trying to catch it while also not having any athletic points:

You felt bummed at losing. [warm +1]

You jokingly blamed Cove for blowing it. [warm +1]

You just laughed. [cold +1]

You shrugged it off. [no change]

You bent down to eat the candy anyways. [cold +1]

If the MC makes it to the final round of the gummy bear toss, noticing Cove's determination:

You were charmed by his attitude. [warm +1]

You equally wanted to win. [no change]

You didn't want to let him down. [cold +1]

You thought this was kinda funny. [cold +1]

You felt nervous under the pressure. [warm +1]

If the MC wins the gummy bear toss with Cove (by either Cove being any level of sporty - points accumulated during Step 2 itself don't count - or the MC having accrued enough athletic points during Step 2):

You high-fived Cove. [warm +1]

You put an arm around Cove. [cold +1]

You jumped into a hug. [warm +1]

You ruffled Cove's hair. [cold +1]

You nudged him in a friendly way. [cold +1]

You smiled at him. [warm +1]

(following above choice):

"Nice catch!" [cold +1]

"Woo!" [warm +1]

"We demolished the competition." [no change]

When Miranda offers to launch someone in the bounce house (Cove will ask to be launched if the MC turns her down):

"Ok, launch me." [cold +1]

"Not me!" [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

"I'd rather just watch." [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

You remained silent. [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

After Cove starts making sounds with the noise maker:

You asked Cove to stop. [warm +1]

You started blowing on your own noise maker. [cold +1]

You blew your noise maker back at Cove. [cold +1]

You were amused by Cove's antics.

○ You blew your noise maker back at Cove. [cold +1]

○ You told him to cut it out. [warm +1]

○ You jokingly tried to get away. [warm +1]

After Jeremy bullies either Cove, the MC, or both of them:

You poured your drink on Jeremy. [cold +1]

You pushed Jeremy. [cold +1]

You punched Jeremy in the face. [cold +1]

You drowned out his words with your noise maker. [warm +1]

You stood still, shocked. [warm +1]

You teared up. [warm +1]

(immediately following above choice):

"You're a dick!" [warm +1]

"You're ruining someone's birthday." [warm +1]

"I'm gonna find your parents and tell them what's going on." [warm +1]

"Don't say anything like that ever again!" [cold +1]

You laughed at his reaction. [cold +1]

You said nothing. [cold +1]

If the MC chose to retaliate (pour their drink on, push, punch, or swear) at Jeremy:

You shrugged. [no change]

"He deserved it." [cold +1]

You felt a little bad about it... [warm +1]

You were still mad at what happened. [warm +1]

"Do you think it was too much?" [cold +1]

If the MC did anything else in response to Jeremy:

You agreed Jeremy is totally nuts. [cold +1]

You wished that you had done something more. [warm +1]

You hoped that you would never see him again. [cold +1]

You weren't sure how to feel. [no change]

You were just happy Jeremy was gone. [cold +1]

You felt sad that he was so mean. [warm +1]

If the MC did not eat both the ice cream and cake, leading to Cove offering to take whatever's left (Fond/Crush only):

You slid your plate over. [cold +1]

You shook your head and kept your plate. [no change]

When Cove starts mashing his cake into his ice cream:

You raised your eyebrow. [cold +1]

You told him you do the same thing. [cold +1]

You thought it looked gross. [cold +1]

"I've never done that, but I want to now." [warm +1]

You didn't react. [warm +1]

After Cove and the MC reminisce on the ice cream cups (if Barbecue happened; Fond/Crush only):

You offered him a bite of your dessert." (if the MC is having dessert at all and did not slide their plate to Cove if they were only having one of the desserts) [warm +1]

You held up your fork and offered a bite of your dessert to him." (if the MC is having dessert at all and did slide their plate to Cove) [cold +1]

You asked him if you could have a bite of his dessert. [warm +1]

You smiled about the memory to yourself. [no change]

(following above choice) If MC asked/offered dessert and told Cove they were serious about it (Crush only):

"It's fine, Cove. I get it." [warm +1]

"Don't want to get my cooties, huh?" [warm +1]

"Different how? In what way?" (if the MC shared their ice cream with Cove in Barbecue) [cold +1]

You were a little down at his refusal. [cold +1]

After Cove confirms with Miranda that she didn't know what happened with Jeremy:

You got up and started bouncing again. [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

You laid back and closed your eyes to rest. [warm +1]

You changed the subject. [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

You told her about the ordeal. [warm +1]

Summerwork

After Cove thanks the MC for listening to him:

"Anytime." [cold +1]

"It's cool." [warm +1]

"You are welcome." [no change]

"Don't make a habit of it." [no change]

When Cove offers to check his own bag for the MC's homework (Fond/Crush only):

"Good idea." [cold +1]

"I don't want to." [warm +1]

"Alright..." [warm +1]

"It's not gonna be there." [cold +1]

Escapade

As the MC sees Cove spit out a watermelon seed into a bush (Fond/Crush only):

You shook your head in disapproval. [warm +1]

"Ew!" [cold +1]

You did the same and spat a seed into the bushes. [cold +1]

"I bet I can spit a seed farther than you." [warm +1]

(following above choice) When Cove asks if it's bad to have another slice):

You bumped him with your shoulder. [warm +1]

Unable to resist, you knocked the mostly finished slice out of his hand. [cold +1]

You smiled at him. [warm +1]

"No, it's alright." [cold +1]

"It's definitely bad." [warm +1]

You sighed affectionately. [cold +1]

After Cove leaves to go inside after the sunshower (Indifferent only):

You stayed outside to dry off. [warm +1]

You went inside. [cold +1]

When Cove offers to let the MC come inside his house to dry off (Fond/Crush only):

"Thanks, let's do that." [cold +1]

"You're the sweetest guy I know." [warm +1]

"I don't wanna cause trouble." [warm +1]

"I'm fine." [cold +1]

After Kyra opens the windows and turns up the radio:

You laughed and enjoyed the event. [warm +1]

You jokingly complained about the situation. [cold +1]

You were not a fan of this stunt. [cold +1]

You danced in your seat to the music. [warm +1]

As Cove panics over the papers flying out the window:

Amused, you helped. [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

You helped frantically. [cold +1]

You watched him struggle, entertained. [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

When Cove complains about feeling tricked by Kyra:

You sided with Cove. [cold +1]

You sided with Kyra. [warm +1]

You stayed quiet. [warm +1]

After Kyra talks about catching a movie and Cove points out that he doesn't have any shoes:

"You should always bring shoes when you're going out." [cold +1] {note that this will give Step 3 Cove the blue swimming trunks}

"I'm not wearing any either." [warm +1] {note that this will give Step 3 Cove the blue swimming trunks if you follow up with "I don't know" or the pink swimming trunks with "We can't"/"It doesn't matter"}

"It doesn't matter." [warm +1] {note that this will give Step 3 Cove the pink swimming trunks}

As Cove shifts awkwardly while waiting for Kyra to buy tickets:

You offered him your shoes." (if the MC is wearing shoes) [warm +1]

Still, you consoled him. [cold +1]

You teased him over it. [warm +1]

You complained with him. [cold +1]

You kept quiet. [no change]

If the MC chose to leave the theater early with Cove:

"Thanks for leaving, Cove." [warm +1]

"I'm sorry we had to go." [warm +1]

"You're a really good friend." (if Fond/Crush) [cold +1]

"You're a good guy." (if Indifferent) [cold +1]

You hugged him." (if Fond/Crush) [cold +1]

You just wanted to stay quiet. [warm +1]

After Cove explains to the MC why he thinks Kyra took he and the MC out for their escapade:

"Are you having a good time with your mom around?" [warm +1]

"Okay. I get it." [cold +1]

"She shouldn't have made me be a part of it." [warm +1]

You nodded in understanding. [warm +1]

"She's giving you a taste of your own medicine." [cold +1]

You said nothing. [no change]

When the MC recalls how Cove ran away when they were kids (if Runaway happened):

You kept that thought to yourself. [no change]

You whispered about it to Cove. [warm +1]

○ You decided to inform Kyra. [cold +1]

○ You nodded and kept the secret. [no change]

You said it out loud. [cold +1]

(following above choice if the MC told Kyra about Cove running away):

You laughed. [cold +1]

You felt extremely embarrassed." (if "You said it out loud" was chosen from above) [warm +1]

You apologized to Cove. [warm +1]

You didn't feel like this was a big deal. [cold +1]

When Cove offers to talk to the MC's moms over Kyra keeping MC later than expected (Fond/Crush only):

"Thank you." [cold +1]

"Thanks, I might need it." [warm +1]

"I'm just glad we're heading back now." [warm +1]

"This was worth it even if they get mad." [cold +1]

You nodded. [warm +1]

(following above scene if the MC borrowed Cove's shirt) After Cove tells the MC to keep his shirt:

"Thanks." [warm +1]

"You're the best." [cold +1]

Secretly, you had hoped to not have to give it back. [warm +1]

"Good. You weren't gonna get it back no matter what." [cold +1]

You were at a loss over this. [warm +1]

Soiree

(obviously, all Soiree points require that the MC ask Cove to the soiree)

After Cove nods in response to the MC asking him out on a real date (Crush only):

"Yay!" [warm +1]

"Really?" [cold +1]

You exhaled deeply. [warm +1]

"Thank you!" [cold +1]

"You're welcome." [no change]

(following above choice) after Pamela teases Cove about treating the MC well:

"You're making him uncomfortable!" [cold +1]

"Stop embarrassing me." [warm +1]

"You don't have to worry." [warm +1]

"You don't have to worry. Cove's definitely going to be good to me." [cold +1]

"Come on Cove, what kind of answer was that?" [warm +1]

When the moms ask the MC when Cove is going to arrive:

"He's getting here at seven." [warm +1]

"Soon. Probably." [warm +1]

"I'm not sure." [warm +1]

"I'm picking him up from his place." [cold +1]

"I'll go get him!" [cold +1]

When Kyra asks the MC if they want her to call Cove for them (if the MC went to pick up Cove for the soiree):

"That would be great, thanks." [warm +1]

"It's alright. I can wait." [cold +1]

"Can I go check?" [no change]

You went over to Cove's room to check yourself. (Fond/Crush only) [no change]

After Cove compliments the MC's look:

"You're looking good, too." [warm +1]

"I wish I could say the same to you." [warm +1]

"What is that you're wearing?" [cold +1]

"You look wonderful." [cold +1]

After the MC's initial response to Cove giving them a flower (Fond/Crush only):

"You didn't need to do this, Cove." [warm +1]

"I'm sorry I didn't get you anything." [cold +1]

"Thank you, Cove." [no change]

"I still like this one 'cause it's from you." (if the MC told Cove that they didn't like the flower) [warm +1]

You left the conversation there. [no change]

"You're so wonderful." [cold +1]

After Cove asks if it's fine to eat if the MC chose to go have food with him:

"Yeah. I only like these parties because of the free food." [warm +1]

"I knew you'd come just for the free food." [cold +1]

"Yep. I wonder what they'll have this time?" [no change]

"No one will mind. Really." [cold +1]

You simply nodded. [warm +1]

When the MC chooses to ask Cove for a dance:

{note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

"So... would you like to dance, maybe?" [warm +1]

"Hey, Cove. Let's dance." [cold +1]

"Cove, can I have the pleasure of your company on the dance floor?" [warm +1]

"C'mon, it's time to dance." [no change]

"I'd like to dance. With you. If that's okay?" [cold +1]

When Cove comments on his obligation to dance if the MC asks him to dance and asked him earlier to be their practice date (Fond only):

"That's right." [warm +1]

"You don't have to." [cold +1]

"I guess?" [cold +1]

"Only if you want to." [warm +1]

"Thanks." [no change]

After Cove steps out of sync with the music if the MC asked him to dance (Fond/Crush only):

"We should have stuck to the Hokey Pokey." [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

"It's okay." [cold +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

"Dancing is harder than I thought." [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

"I'm signing you up for dancing lessons." [warm +1] {note that this will give Cove sporty +1}

You quietly took a break. [warm +1]

Once Cove walks off to sit at a table (Indifferent only):

"Uh, Cove? Are you alright?" [cold +1]

"What's wrong?" [warm +1]

"Are you gonna get up soon?" [no change]

You didn't say anything. [no change]

(following above scene if MC chose to stay with Cove):

"What's wrong?" [warm +1]

"Feeling tired?" [cold +1]

"Are you sick?" [cold +1]

"What's up?" [no change]

"For what?" [warm +1]

After Cove walks away from the soiree (Fond/Crush only):

"Are you alright? And why are we here?" [cold +1]

"What's wrong?" [warm +1]

"Why'd you drag us out here?" [no change]

"Look at us, breaking the rules." [no change]

You didn't say anything. [no change]

(following above choice after the MC stays with Cove and he explains that he feels ready to go home):

"To your home planet?" [warm +1]

"Don't try running that far." [cold +1]

You kept quiet. [no change]

"I'm sorry you're not having fun anymore." [warm +1]

"Should I get my moms?" [cold +1]

Step 2 - Ending

If the MC wants to wear anklets for Cove (Fond/Crush only):

You put one ankle bracelet on. [cold +1]

You decided to wear several anklets." (if the MC owns multiple anklets) [warm +1]

You didn't wear one. [no change]

While the MC is waiting for Cove to arrive (Fond/Crush only):

It would only be polite to get the door for Cove. You went downstairs to wait. [cold +1]

You couldn't wait to see Cove, so you went downstairs to meet him when he arrived. [cold +1]

Cove knew your house well enough. You could lounge in your room to wait for him. [warm +1]

As Cove is talking about how he can't believe his mother is already leaving (Fond/Crush only):

"Yeah." [no change]

You nodded. [no change]

"She'll be back." [warm +1]

"Time's going by so fast." [cold +1]

After Cove notices the MC if they chose to wear an anklet/multiple anklets (Fond only):

"What do you mean?" [cold +1]

"Sorry." [cold +1]

"It's not about you." [warm +1]

You kept your mouth shut. [warm +1]

After Cove notices the MC if they chose to wear an anklet/multiple anklets (Crush only):

"Does it look good?" [warm +1]

You stayed quiet yourself. [warm +1]

"Sorry..." [cold +1]

"What's the problem, Cove?" [cold +1]

(following above choice):

"Yes." [cold +1]

"No." [warm +1]

"Maybe." [warm +1]

"I don't know what you're talking about?" [cold +1]

You shrugged. [no change]

If the MC chooses to confess to Cove with words (Crush only):

"I know you're crushing on me and I feel the same about you." [warm +1]

"I like you Cove. I really, really like you!" [cold +1]

"I... I have a crush on you." [warm +1]

"You're pretty and wonderful and the best person I know! I like you so much." [cold +1]

It was just too difficult to get the words out, no matter how much you wanted to. [no change]

(following above choice if MC didn't back out of confessing):

"I don't know, either." [warm +1]

"You don't have to do anything." [cold +1]

"You could tell me how you feel." [cold +1]

"Calm down." [warm +1]

You laughed. [no change]

You shrugged. [no change]

If the MC confesses to Cove by kissing without caution (Crush only):

"Was that alright?" [warm +1]

"Um, are you okay?" [cold +1]

"Surprise!" [warm +1]

"I really like you Cove." [cold +1]

"I'm sorry." [cold +1]

You couldn't say anything. [warm +1]

If the MC confesses to Cove by kissing cautiously and Cove apologizes (Crush only):

"It's okay." [cold +1]

You laughed. [warm +1]

You began to cry. [warm +1]

You were annoyed. [cold +1]

"I'll survive. Probably." [warm +1]

If the MC confesses to Cove by asking for a kiss (Crush only):

"Because I want to right now." [warm +1]

"I don't know." [warm +1]

"I don't wanna wait any longer." [cold +1]

"Why not?" [cold +1]

You couldn't answer. [cold +1]

If the MC tried to kiss Cove in Road Trip, leading to Cove bringing it up himself in their room (Crush only):

"How about a do-over?" [cold +1]

"Do you want to try again?" [warm +1]

You silently returned his gaze. [cold +1]

You smiled reassuringly. [warm +1]

When Cove points out how them getting into a relationship would make things different (Crush only):

"Things don't have to be different." [cold +1]

"I pretty much imagined you'd react like this." (if the MC didn't try to kiss Cove in Road Trip) [warm +1]

"This is hard for me." [warm +1]

"Should we find a crystal ball for answers?" [cold +1]

After Cove starts freaking out after sharing a kiss with the MC (Crush only):

You were full of nerves. [warm +1]

His reaction was really cute. [warm +1]

You thought his fluster was funny. [cold +1]

It worried you that he was so frantic. [cold +1]

(following above choice) After Cove calms down (provided the MC didn't verbally confess):

You smiled at him. [cold +1]

You hugged him. [warm +1]

"I like you, too." [cold +1]

You breathed a sigh of relief. [warm +1]

"I like you even more!" [cold +1]

After Cove points out that he and the MC's parents will probably take issue with their romantic relationship (Crush only):

"It's not fair." [warm +1]

"I wish we were older." [cold +1]

"It's okay." [cold +1]

"It doesn't matter, though. We like each other and that's what's important." [warm +1]

You didn't know what to say. [cold +1]

After Cove hesitates before crossing the street, anxious about his mom leaving (Fond/Crush only):

You smiled at him reassuringly. [cold +1]

You gave his back a pat. [cold +1]

You rested your hand on his arm. [warm +1]

"This isn't the last time you'll ever see her." [warm +1]

When Derek starts fantasizing about doing a show on the shopping street:

You thought it was a great idea and wanted to be a part of it. [warm +1]

You felt he could try this idea on his own. [cold +1]

You thought Derek needed to abandon that bad idea, stat. [warm +1]

You gave a look to the other two. [cold +1]

After Cove, Derek, and Elizabeth start speculating about the misprinted globe:

You wanted to side with Cove. {note that this will give Cove studious +1}

You backed up Derek. [no change]

You agreed with your sister. [no change]

"No, it's Australia." [warm +1]

You stayed out of it. [cold +1]

When the MC, Derek, and Cove spot Jeremy:

You stood there, shocked. [warm +1]

You glared at Jeremy. [cold +1]

You waved at Jeremy. [cold +1]

You decided to smile at Jeremy. [warm +1]

You looked away. [warm +1]

If the MC mentioned the realization that they probably won't see Jeremy again once summer ends:

"Good riddance." [cold +1]

"I think I might wanna see him again, sometime." [cold +1]

"Maybe he'll become nicer in the future." [warm +1]

"I'm happy it's over." [warm +1]

You stayed quiet. [warm +1]

If the MC chose to chase after Jeremy (if Birthday happened):

"Good riddance." [cold +1]

You tried to apologize for how you acted last time." (if the MC retaliated against Jeremy in Birthday) [warm +1]

"I just thought it'd be nice to say bye." [warm +1]

"Don't come back." [warm +1]

"I wish we could've really gotten to know each other." [cold +1]

You didn't say anything. [cold +1]

If the MC admitted to the families that they confessed to/kissed Cove (Crush only):

You were also feeling extremely, extremely embarrassed. [warm +1]

You felt bad for putting him in this situation. [cold +1]

You felt good for telling your friends and family something so important. [warm +1]

You didn't know how to feel anymore. [warm +1]

You were annoyed at the others for making Cove more nervous. [cold +1]

After the families tease Cove for not having manners like Derek:

"Manners-smanners." [cold +1]

"Who cares? I don't think it's that big of a deal." [warm +1]

You teased Cove for his bad habit. [warm +1]

You complimented Derek on his politeness. [cold +1]

You joked that Derek was basically an adult. [warm +1]

You kept quiet and took a bite of food. [warm +1]

If the MC chose to go outside after Cove to the poppy hill:

"You really should go to sleep." [warm +1]

"I know how you feel." [cold +1]

"I feel good." [warm +1]

"I hope you feel better." [cold +1]

You shrugged back. [warm +1]

You nodded. [cold +1]

(following above if Cove does an action that he claims is doing what the MC does):

"You do that all the time too." [warm +1]

"So do you, Cove!" [cold +1]

You were stunned he noticed enough to take note of it. [cold +1]

"I don't do it that much." [warm +1]

Not being able to argue with his assessment, you accepted it. [warm +1]

You felt bashful about his joke. [cold +1]

After Cove climbs up to the MC's window in his wetsuit to ask if they want to go to the beach with him (Fond/Crush only):

"Always." [cold +1]

"Here we go again..." [warm +1]

"It's way too early, Cove." [warm +1]

"You're crazy." [cold +1]

"Cove. You're so cute." [warm +1]

You gave a decisive nod. [cold +1]

Hope that helps, or at least is interesting in some form~

This one was a real doozy, not just because of having more chances than in Step 1 to give Cove warm/cold points but I really thought I was going crazy with the whole Moderate situation.

#our life #our life: beginnings & always #olba #cove holden #type: cracking the cove

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aryxchse · 1 month

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omg congrats on 400 followers!! :0

ur writing is so wonderful and it’s so well deserved!!!

for your little celebration, could i possibly get a love talk with jason grace :3

cabin seven girlie here :’) like they’re just cuddling in bed and she’s warm (because daughter of apollo and the sun 😮‍💨) and maybe he’s showering her in kisses or pulling her closer because he’s cold or something haha

love ur work!!!!

the sun is engaged to the sky.

a / n ; hey baby! love you so much for the compliments, i'm glad you think that way🫶🏻 hope you'll like it my fellow sunshine girl!!!

the cabin 1 was always somehow cold.

as a daughter of apollo, whenever you entered here you felt like you have to warm this place up. for yourself and for your boyfriend jason.

this was another day of you using jason's cabin like it's your own. your cabin was full of people who tried to sing, or make music, loudly. so what else you supposed to do?

when you entered the cabin, the cold air made you shiver. you looked at the zeus statue and sighed in dissapointment. at least make your cabin warm, dickhead.

you opened the curtains jason closed before he left, and let the sun enter here with your powers. you speacifically pointed jason's bed, 'cause he always adored the warmness you created for him.

smiling in satisfaction with your work, you jumped on jason's bed and get in a comfortable position. you pulled out your little backpocket notebook to write some poems for him, while waiting for him to arrive.

not after a while, jason entered the cabin. he smiled at the effect you had in cabin 1, so he didn't waste any time to rush to you.

"hey sunshine," he called, ruining your personal space and laying on top of you. a little 'oof' left your lips as he put his whole weight on you, but you didn't mind. "hey wind boy."

he kissed your neck lightly as you put the blanket on top of him, totally caging him with the warmness. he immediatly hugged you tighter, caging yourself with his big body.

"you're cold," you said, caressing his biceps. jason only hummed in response, too tired because gods now what. he entered his cold hands in your shirt and you giggled as you jolted up. he chuckled with you but used his body weight to press you down again.

"and you're warm." he said, using your heat to warm his hands. his feet find yours, and right now jason was using you as his personal body heater. "so warm, always." he murmured to your neck. "my warm girl."

you smiled, probably getting warmer with his words. maybe he did that on purpose, who knows?

"poor boy," you whispered, playing with his blonde hair. you seemed to know all the ways to melt him, he thought.

you picket out your notebook again to entertain yourself as jason slept peacefully in your warmness. every once in a while he left light kisses to your neck, maybe your colarbone. and if he's not lazy, to your lips.

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson and the heroes of olympus #percy jackson series #pjo hoo toa #percy jackson imagine #jason grace x y/n #jason grace x you #jason grace headcanon #jason grace imagine #jason grace pjo #jason grace #arya's 400 follower event

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ghost-emoji-anon · 1 year

Text

hi! i'm not entirely sure how this is going to play out if i post something here and now, but i'm going to post it and see how it goes! it's for the call of duty fandom and audience, but hopefully whoever follows me here can engage with it as well. :)

right so, könig obviously has his sniper mask on at all times. sticks to himself and doesn't go out of his way to make friends. talks when he's being spoken to, etc. that sort of thing. that is until one day someone new is joining the team

he sees you. first thing he notices is the mask you wear and his interest in you went from 0 to 100 real quick. but he doesn't want to jump to conclusions, maybe you're wearing it because you just got off a recent mission before coming here.

but that all changed when he sees you and your mask on at all times. in and out of the battlefield. he notices your demeanor is different on the field and out of it. you remind him of himself sometimes, but you're a little more open to speaking to others than he is so he's sort of afraid to approach you. so he just silently admires you from afar.

you, obviously you, take notice of this giant man off in the back keeping to himself and no one around you ever says anything about it. you wonder why no one takes notices of könig, but you never bother asking anyone that. you just silently watch him from afar as well. neither of you catching the other watching.

but by some odd miracle, you two are paired up on a mission. you really don't know how that even happened but you're grateful for whoever is watching over you and glad you've gotten some opportunity to at least speak a few words to him.

what you expected was a silent man on a mission... what you got was the complete opposite. you can very well get used to this, because you were in the same boat. both of you grinning under the masks, neither of you seeing the others smile but could only tell just by looking into the others eyes.

that one simple eye contact was what sent you and könig a jolt of some sort of electricity and now the pair of you became inseparable.

the others on the team noticed how well you worked together and more often than not, you two were paired up. getting the job done quick and efficiently.

as the months came and went, you formed a sort of friendship that bordered onto something more.

down time was soent with him. he taught you simple words and phrases in German, you taught him your own. (whatever language you speak)

he shared his favorite foods from his homeland, you did the same.

very rarely would you two open up on your personal life, but it was starting to get to the point where you two would indulge the other on your past.

he told you about his hard time growing up, being bullied and the like.

you told him of your own insecurities.

each day was a anew experience with him and as the months continued to go by, you and him had gotten to the point where you would nap/sleep in each other's rooms.

and one day, the tension was so high between the two of you that you could no longer hide the one thing you kept from him

your face.

so you asked him to come by your room one. kept the lights low but just enough that he could still see you when you finally decided to take your own mask off.

he stops by and wonders what was going on

you tell him exactly what you were going to do and of course, he panics a little inside and reassures you that you don't have to do this. but you tell that it's something you want to do and that you felt like you can trust him with everything you have. all of you.

he nods in understanding and that's when you let out the breath you didn't know you were holding

slowly, you remove your mask. lifting it from your neck and up. your neck is exposed first. revealing the soft flesh of your skin and könig nearly chokes on air.

he's antsy. his fingers are lightly drumming across his thighs and he doesn't know what to do with himself at this very moment. but he lets you continue

his eyes are taking in everything and it nearly makes you nervous but it also fills you with this adrenaline

your chin is next then your lips

könig's throat is DRY

your nose and cheeks come into view and at this point, he doesn't know how he hsdnt passed out yet

and then finally

you reveal the rest of your face and könig is just staring

you're not sure how you should react to his staring but you almost think it's a bad idea until he mutters something in his native language

you know the word, you've heard him say it before and he told you what it means as well

he called you beautiful.

you nearly choke on your own breathing just from that one word alone

what you weren't expecting was for him to do the exact same thing. you never asked him to, you didn't say you expected him to do the same but he did

könig did it just for you. only you.

he didn't take his time, he just took off his mask like it was something he did with everyone. but that's how you knew that he could trust you with everything.

you both stared at each in awe. taking in each other and memorizing the lines, ridges and everything and keeping it within your memory for as long as you both drew breath

neither of you ever realized the two of you were getting closer and close, not until both of your breaths mingled with one another and you both shared a small, hesitant chaste kiss.

what felt like eternity was only a couple of seconds. both of you opening your eyes and giving each other a smile that only you two had the pleasure in finally seeing

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ambassadorarlert · 6 months

Text

toxic!armin head canons

author’s note: this fr has been a long time coming. it took a while to gather my thoughts lmao. he can’t be sweet all the time, right??😭

warning: modern au. toxic characteristics — obsession, jealousy, possessiveness. gaslighting.

18+ ONLY MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

we're not gonna look away from armin's whole underlying character trait of being a known manipulator. he is going to gaslight you.

armin starts his mind games as a last resort. when he's desperate to have his way. when he's being back into a corner, and you're holding your ground in an argument or disagreement. when you're winning and he's losing. he'll play into his unfortunate-baby face-sweet-boy persona and say, "i'm only telling you/doing this because i love you!" armin slaps, "I don't know what you want me to do." at the end of most arguments because he knows it will make you quit arguing out of pure frustration.

we can all agree armin goes through your phone

he immediately clicks on iMessage to see who you’ve been texting. snoops through everything. pictures, contacts, notes. all of it. armin goes all up in your private dm’s, discord, looks through your snapchats. who you’ve been sending tiktoks to. he’s so extra, he even scrolls on your social media timelines. your dash. your fyp. just to see what you’re always looking and giggling at bc who is making you laugh if it’s not him ? arminknows he won’t find anything and that you would never do anything behind his back. but he looks anyway and holds his breath just in case. and, if he does find something he doesn’t like, he will confront you about it and not even address the bigger question

major attachment issues. in bold, italics and regular size font.

the root cause being his parents died when he was really young and was only raised by his grandpa who worked all the time. /: armin definitely has mommy issues. he's very anxious to pleasure you and do everything you want him to bc a.) he's hopelessly devoted to you b.) for some reason he think it'll make you love him more. armin will get really attached to you after the first date, and everything in your relationship moves quickly. he says i love you first. 3 months into the relationship you’re moving in together. engaged after 1 year, married 6 months later. he’s sensitive and in tune with everything you’re doing and feeling and saying. the slightest change in your voice, oh you must be mad at him. when you're literally just tired and have 0 energy, he must be annoying you. armin needs regular reassurance and validation. he will straight up ask “do you still love me?” at least once a day.

armin gets jealous so. so easily.

armin thinks he's not good enough for you and that you deserve someone who can do the things he can't, while simultaneously not being able to bear the thought of you being with another man. he views other guys as a threat and is off-putting on purpose. he goes through your followers and interactions daily and reports guys who leave compliments and thirsts. he gives guys dirty looks when he see's them obviously looking at you. will ask trap questions like "would you still be with me if you could start your life over?" armin is well liked among your girlfriends but makes no effort with your guy friends, and has succeeded in distancing you from a few of them. he disguises ultimatums as open communication. armin's jealousy is a delicate spectrum.

he's very possessive of you.

you're his everything and he wants everyone to know that. you're so gorgeous, he's not gonna hide you away. armin recognizes that you're your own person, and you can show off however you'd like. as long as he's somewhere in the background. he encourages that you tag him in all your posts. he fights for his life trying to convince you to let him come with you while you go out with your friends and he wins most of the time. but when he has to stay home, he stays up and waits for you, he double/triple texts and asks when you'll be home even though you made a point to give him a timeframe. and don't even be 5 minutes late because armin already has seventy-five questions lined up. if he's feeling extra silly, he'll start a fight over text. 🤪

2023. do not copy or repost any work by arlertwitch on any other platform. violators will be prosecuted. 🪼 — @artsyblkblocked / @sleazymac-n-cheesy / @arlerts-angel / @chiinni / @aegonslawyer / @stoned-eren /

#its not even his fault fr.#he’s just protective that’s all.#he’s been through a lot and he can’t always help it ok #my writing #armin arlert #armin imagine #armin headcanons #toxic!armin #armin drabble #armin one shot #armin x reader #armin x y/n #armin x you #armin x black reader #armin x fem reader #armin x black y/n

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betweengenesisfrogs · 6 months

Text

A HOMESTUCK MANIFESTO

I want to think about what comes next after Homestuck.

That’s a challenge to the world as much as a personal mission statement.

I want to see writers and artists and creators making the next Homestuck, taking its themes and binding them into new fabrics, giving life to new creatures even more beautiful and uncanny than the original species.

I hunger to see new forms of story and image evolving with Homestuck in their DNA.

This process is already underway. Homestuck is a massive boulder dropped into the waters of culture, and the full wake of its ripples is still to be felt. But let’s call attention to this process and ask: what would happen if we engaged in it more consciously? If we sifted through our feelings about Homestuck to create something new, deliberately, with great and wonderful purpose?

The tools we need are within our grasp. Homestuck presents itself as magic, but it’s a work constructed in time out of specific storytelling choices. So let’s understand those choices. Let’s understand how Homestuck did what it did, and use Homestuck’s tools to build art that grips the soul of future generations as strongly as Homestuck did ours.

What follows is not a traditional literary analysis. It does not cite its sources; it does not seek to give us a comprehensive understanding of Homestuck. If it does, it does so only to the extent it suits its larger purpose.

Our goal here, our quest, if you will, is not to understand the Homestuck that exists, but the Homestuck that comes next.

Let's begin.

0. THE WILD GARDEN

Let’s lay the absolute groundwork here.

Homestuck is constructed as a re-appropriation of itself. Or to put it another way, it’s a big improvisational move, a process of “yes and”-ing so hard it develops a sprawling continuity.

Tiny details are constantly re-contextualized to become part of something else. A joke might turn tragic. A silly aside might turn into something profound.

But it didn’t have to be that way.

It’s crucial to understand that what we experience as continuities were in fact choices made at specific times. Homestuck is a garden where seeds were scattered in every direction, grown en masse, then weeded down to create patterns and forms.

The shape of the garden is designed to conceal the gardener’s hand. But the gardener’s choices are there, every step of the way.

If we are to follow in its footsteps, what choices should we make?

Let’s talk about themes.

1. THE MEANING CRISIS

Nobody in Homestuck knows what they’re doing.

And neither do we.

All the old idols have broken down. The values we were taught in our childhood fail to measure up to the problems of the world we live in. We grasp after careers and lives we were told would make us happy and wonder why we’re left empty. The selves that we were told were us now fit us about as well as clothing we’ve outgrown. Crises loom, political, economic and environmental, and everywhere it feels like the people who are supposed to guide and lead us aren’t doing enough.

It's widening gyres and slouching beasts all the way from here to Bethlehem, is what I’m saying.

The reason people go absolutely insane for Homestuck is that it depicts this crisis of meaning. It shows the questions we might want to ask, and attempts to provide some kind of answer.

The protagonists of Homestuck struggle with what I’ve called “received narrative.” That is, they’ve inherited stories from their families, from the world, that they try to use to define their lives, and it doesn’t work. But these stories are so familiar that it’s hard to think outside them. They have to develop new stories by which to live. Sometimes they succeed, but other times they can’t escape the gravity of the ones they were given.

With me so far?

Great. Now understand that all this was improvised and discovered largely accidentally over the course of ten years.

Here’s a seed that became quite an impressive tree:

The streets are empty. Wind skims the voids keeping neighbors apart, as if grazing the hollow of a cut reed, or say, a plundered mailbox. A familiar note is produced. It's the one Desolation plays to keep its instrument in tune.

It’s a joke. But it was never just a joke. There’s an idea here of dissatisfaction with the stereotypical idea of American suburban life. Egbert here is looking for something more, dissatisfied for reasons they can’t fully articulate. This is typical fantasy protagonist stuff, but there’s something more here, too.

Eventually it’s redirected towards the idea that there really is an unseen riddler. But let’s put that aside for now.

This page, in its moment, says: your life is not the full picture. There’s something else out there, waiting, that’s going to change everything.

That's a potential set-up for a very powerful payoff. It gives us the sense that Egbert and all their friends are going to have to rethink what they know. That this suburban life is not going to be enough for them, that somehow or other they’re going to encounter something they aren’t prepared for, and they’ll have to find a new way of acting and being. That, try as they might to avoid it, they’re going to change over the course of this journey.

But to understand how they change, we need to talk about SBURB.

2. THE PORTAL FANTASY OF IT ALL

A lot of people like to joke that Homestuck is an isekai. I think it might clarify things to use the term portal fantasy instead.

Portal fantasy is simply the fantasy subgenre of characters, usually kids, going to a magical other world. Maybe they make friends, maybe they learn lessons and stuff. You know the drill. I don’t have to to tell you more because the story structure is already so familiar. That’s what gives it power.

Portal fantasy differs from the related Japanese genre of isekai in that isekai in its current form is much more heavily based on video games such as MMORPGs. In the most pervasive isekai narratives, protagonists are rewarded not so much for achieving personal growth as being able to exploit the game mechanics of a game-like system. That’s pretty different from your typical Narnia scenario.

The influence of portal fantasy is everywhere in Homestuck, especially in the beginning. We have nods to the fantasy films of the 1980s that gave us our contemporary idea of this story structure, such as The Neverending Story (itself, in its original book incarnation, a phenomenal commentary on the genre). Our protagonists are genre savvy; they recognize what’s happening here.

But it doesn’t fit quite right. The odd note is first sounded when Egbert asks Nanasprite if what they’re doing is going to save the world. They’re bit unsettled to learn the answer’s no, that something else is going on here. Next we have the fantasy worlds: the planetary lands each present a veneer of exciting adventure. But their inhabitants, the consorts, aren’t fully-realized people, they’re largely cute animals going through the motions, not really understanding the story they’re telling. The carapacians are a little better, but they’re still trapped in a fatalism that feels uncomfortable.

As things rev up in Act 4, we learn about doomed timelines from alt-timeline Dave and Rose, how your entire existence in this setting may be fodder for something other than you. When we learn the true purpose of SBURB and its froggy details in Act 5, we see that SBURB is more like a biological creature, mainly interested in its own reproductive desires. It was never really about the portal fantasy at all. The kids are just along for the ride.

So when we see that Rose wants to tear through SBURB, find out a way to escape fate, and snatch meaning from the jaws of futility, it makes sense. We’ve been given hints already that this is the conflict at hand: the characters vs the story that’s telling them.

(Note: it’s certainly possible to have a reading that SBURB is not evil so much as empty, that it reflects what you bring into it, that its will for you is your will for you. But that’s also a difficult thing, right? If you lack self-understanding, it’s a struggle to bring about your ideal reality.)

What we haven’t mentioned yet is that this is all mediated through the lens of video games. Which makes perfect sense. Because where do we seek meaning, especially as kids? In imaginary worlds that make more sense to us than real life, that give us achievements to take pride in and clear objectives to pursue.

SBURB evokes mechanics from games like Final Fantasy. We see its players complete objectives, cast magic spells, gain power-ups with colorful costume changes. But unlike the narratives implied by traditional video game progressions, leveling up doesn’t mean you grow as a person or process your trauma. Later, in Act 6, when we meet a player who has made his life about winning the game (Caliborn), it’s horrific to behold.

Homestuck is a portal fantasy, but it’s fundamentally a portal fantasy about games. It’s a portal fantasy that shows us how characters seek meaning in being the best at arbitrary game mechanics, but ultimately fail to find it.

So I guess…it actually is an isekai? Huh. Wild.

(But seriously, Homestuck is actually fairly prescient in predicting the ideas that come out of isekai and LitRPG. It’s engaging consciously and deconstructively with the weird ideas of self-fulfillment these genres are drowning in.)

So what might a Homestuckian work look like? It will almost certainly critique a false narrative we live by. It may comment on portal fantasy, or our personal satisfaction that comes as easily as playing a video game. But it doesn’t have to be limited to these things. It might talk about our popular TV shows and movies. It may take apart what’s flawed in Marvel, the latest triple-A game, or the modern dark fantasy novel.

Among its tools will be discomfort. Showing a disconnect early on between our character’s expectations and their happiness can serve as foundation to build on, so that when the flaws of the genre narrative are revealed, it feels like the truth. We may see characters who accept their narratives passively, or rebels like Rose Lalonde, who chose to rip everything apart in search of something better.

These are only some of the possibilities.

When I tell you the stories we live by mislead us, what is your relationship to that? If you were to tear these received narratives apart, what would you focus on, what would you try to say? The art that comes out of this question will be deeply personal to the soul who makes it.

But here’s another question:

Just who is giving us all these narratives, anyway?

3. THE PARENT FLIP

The world we live in was not made by us. It was shaped by forces that predate us, over which we have no control and are born into the grasp of without the knowledge of how to escape.

For instance, our parents.

The guardians who raise us provide our template for how to interpret life. We spend a large part of our lives immersed in the world they built, believing as they believe, living by the values that they instruct us in, so that we might carry their goals forward to the future.

This is an effort that is certain to fail.

Because the problems of today aren’t the problems of twenty or thirty years ago. At best, their messages can only to help in a limited way with the crises we go through as we live our lives. At worst, they actively hinder us from dealing with them productively.

If we are to escape the broken patterns of our world, then we need break out of the stories an earlier generation gave us.

How are parents discussed in Homestuck?

Initially? As jokes.

If we take our “future knowledge” goggles off for a moment, we can see that the early depictions of the kids’ parents are a goofy parody of standard parental tropes. Mom and Dad are nameless, faceless, exaggerated cartoon stereotypes, and conflict between them and their children is initially expressed through a silly video game fight.

There’s a seed of something real here, though. What we’re parodying is a familiar trope of tension between parents and children in kids’ fiction and YA fiction. But that trope exists for a reason. This conflict is rich with potential for any story about growing up. And Homestuck has smuggled the idea of it in as a silly RPG parody.

So we can extrapolate, for instance, that there’s tension between Egbert and their father in part because Egbert doesn’t know yet who they want to be, and that Rose and Mom’s relationship is awkward and contentious, with alcohol involved. We see that there’s something profoundly uncomfortable going on between Dave and his Bro, and Jade’s life in the shadow of a dead Grandpa suggests a psychology that’s not entirely a healthy one.

Understand that I’m not saying that all this was there from the start. Rather, a choice was made to develop these interesting possibilities out of the jokes, to tell a story about how parents that act like these ones might have affected their children.

A major turning point in this regard is when Egbert learns their father’s seeming clown obsession was the result of a failed attempt to connect with them. It’s quite silly, but it plays around with the idea of a gap in perception between parent and child. It’s also a sign the story’s starting to take more of an interest in character psychology, suggesting that what Egbert processes consciously is not the same as their deeper unconscious feelings. This in turn can become a setup for a portrait of Egbert as someone who represses things they don’t want to think about. From this moment, in the long term, comes June Egbert.

When the psychology machine revs up for all the characters in Act 4 and Act 5, it’s able to do so because this foundation was laid.

We also, as early as Act 3, get hints that the parents have intentions and personalities outside of how the kids perceive them. The original purpose is to hint at a larger conspiracy around SBURB, with Mom building a secret lab, Dad trying to investigate the mystery, and Grandpa jumping in and out of time. But what this suggests is that the psychology of the parents might at some point come into play.

But the most exciting development in the relationship between parents and children is Act 6.

The great role reversal. The parent and child flip.

How do you make your faceless parent figures into characters?

By making them kids.

We’re so used to this concept now t that it’s hard to remember how wild it is that Roxy is a teen version of a main character's mom. But the concept is genius. Meeting these characters on the same level forces our protagonists to understand them as people and reflect on their fallibility.

For us as readers, it adds detail and nuance to the cartoonish portraits we got in the beginning. Conversely, we also see what our protagonists might have been like as parents themselves—and turns it from a story of “parents just don’t understand” to a story of how people, despite their best intentions, can wound each other.

(The Homestuck Epilogues are a difficult text to evaluate, but one of the best things within them is Egbert’s arc in Candy, where we see how Egbert might have done as a parent, how their struggles with finding purpose in the world might lead them to embrace a narrative of parenthood yet struggle to have a good relationship their kid. It’s brilliant, and the culmination of everything we’ve talked about here.)

Thus the Homestuckian work of art will be concerned with themes of parents and children. It will play with the boundary between what children understand about their parents and what they don’t. It will show parents as people—fallible people, who make mistakes with severe costs, whose stories fail their children and themselves. It may build from a simple base of what children understand, or it may weave parent and child perspectives together. It may even show us how children fail when they become parents themselves. It will show us the cycles we are trapped in, how we wound and are wounded by our context.

And it will force us to look for a way out.

4. CLASSPECTS AS SIGNPOSTS

Hey. You want to know a secret?

Come closer, and I’ll whisper it to you.

Classpects aren’t actually all that complicated. Ultimately, they boil down to one thing:

Symbols we can use to construct a self.

If Homestuck is about a crisis of meaning, then classpects are part of its answer.

What do we do, when the world gives us no story we can live by?

We make one. We make one out of whatever symbols and messages we can find and put together from the stories we’ve read, from the people who teach and inspire us. Such collages are powerful things. They give us a way out of the dark, they give us a sense of something we are and can be, where there was nothing before.

They give us, in short, a personal mythology.

Classes and Aspects have often been read as codes to be unpacked and solved. It might be more productive to see them as creative tools, signposts designed not to narrow down meaning, but to allow us to explore it.

For instance, the portrayal of Light in Homestuck is unique. As a symbol, it combines notions of brightness, knowledge, future, luck, wealth, and narrative focus. These things aren’t inherently linked out in the world, but they are here, and that’s a choice, and an interesting one. It encourages us to imagine connections between these concepts, and to see if they have any relevance to ourselves. Identifying with the concept of Light, in other words choosing to value clarity, luck, and importance, might be a powerful tool for finding one’s way in the world.

Classes play with signposts at an even more basic level. Sure, we can talk about what a Knight does in the context of the story.

But a knight is already a powerful symbol. We bring so much cultural context to it. The word conjures up images and narratives of devotion, duty, violence, the slaying of dragons, armoring oneself against the world, and the rescuing of princesses. If we put that together with a concept like Time, we get a distinct character. If we put that together with our own experience of the world, we can create powerful concepts for who we want to be.

Interestingly, this complicates what we said about SBURB. As much as our protagonists struggle to find meaning within it, there’s still something there that they can latch onto. Classes, aspects, denizens, even consorts and lands—these things don’t have to be devoid of meaning. We can choose to affirm them; we can build something out of them, and say, yes, this is me, this is myself.

But it’s a double-edged sword.

We are responsible for the narratives we choose to live by. And we may find ourselves falling into a narrative that hinders us more than helps us, that creates a self-destructive self.

What does it mean to believe deeply that you are a thief, that taking from others to benefit yourself is the best way or comes to you the most naturally? What does it mean to tell yourself over and over that you’re a prince, with all the attendant baggage of power and grim responsibility that comes with that concept? Or, to follow the path further, what does it mean to tell yourself over and over that you are a destroyer or must be destroyed?

If we are to escape the story we’re trapped in, we must take care, lest we trap ourselves in a story of our own making.

Homestuck never quite resolves the ambiguity around these symbols of self, around whether SBURB hurts or helps, whether classpects are things you create or things that create you. But this ambiguity is a productive one. It gives us symbolic tools we can use in the creation of meaning, and it shows us the side of them that should make us wary.

The work that is to come after Homestuck will be about symbols. It may show us how we seek them in popular culture, or the people around us. It may use some of the clusters of meaning that that we see in Homestuck, but it will not be limited to them. It will write its own language of symbols, joining Light and Time to notions like Memory, Need, Rupture, and War, and be filled not just with knights and princes but brigadiers, lancers, healers, druids, taxidermists, sentries and waifs. It will build with tarot cards, enneagram types, and Babylonian gods. It will place all the signposts we’ve created in millennia of existence into new contexts and meanings.

By such means will it show us a way forward.

There’s one kind of symbol we haven’t talked about yet, however.

The kind that holds a mirror up to the world.

5. THE POWER OF ALTERNIA

There’s a reason dystopias have been so popular in young adult fiction. Sure, they’re cliché now, but they speak to something raw and visceral.

When you’re growing up into a world that doesn’t make sense, it’s natural to find refuge in emotional extremes. Stories of blood and violence, fates worse than death, and governments that demand horrific things of their citizens speak to the anxieties of the adolescent mind. They validate the feeling that something is wrong—that the world we’ve inherited is broken and unfair and has no place for us. And they’re right.

Alternia taps into these dystopian feelings perfectly. What makes it so fun is that it’s an inversion of a teenage fantasy. It’s a world where there are no parents, where kids can have access to power and violence, where you can sit around and play video games and design your own house. It almost feels like a response to the “parents don’t understand” themes of the early acts.

But the dystopia’s there, and it’s sneaky. A land of lost boys and girls isn’t actually all that great to live in. It’s lawless, survival of the fittest, with children killing each other left and right. And the future adult roles most of the troll kids aspire to are a glamorous veneer over competition for slots in a fascist military hierarchy. Which is to say nothing of the blood caste system as a way in which the kids are taught by their world to abuse and exploit each other. Crushes, personal slights, competition for status, group dynamics, attempts to define identity – all these familiar teenage dynamics play out on a backdrop of maiming and murder.

Which is perfect. Because when you’re young, all those social interactions genuinely do feel like life or death, and adulthood a regime of exploitation and horror bearing down on you. Alternia is a heightened, exaggerated version of reality. It expresses an emotional truth, not a literal one, validating our most intense feelings and giving us a road map to understanding them.

No wonder so many people wanted to skip to Act 5 and get to the trolls.

(See also Hiveswap Friendsim and Pesterquest, which explore these themes really really well.)

And Alternia, for a world where parents aren’t really a thing, tells us a surprising amount about the parental generation. In mid Act 5-2, Ancestors are added to Alternia’s wordbuilding, and we learn that as much as the trolls skipped having traditional parental figures, they were never devoid of role models. The deeds and exploits of notable figures throughout ancient Alternia gave them models to think about each other and themselves—even when those models were toxic ones. In a way, this isn’t so far from the human kids at all.

Furthermore, as time goes on, we acquire an origin for Alternia’s fascist worldview. Doc Scratch, manipulator of society, stands in for all those aspects of the world that work to create the false narratives we are born into, a true evil father figure – or uncle, if you prefer. And he's an extension of the ultimate evil father figure, Lord English, who controls not just Alternia but the timelines of the human children as well, whose belligerence and apathy give us aeons of toxic narratives and abuse. We see that story played out in Alternia in every interaction, in every moment, the beliefs its architects live by.

This is the power of dystopia—it can hold a broken mirror up to the world we live in.

Therefore the Homestuck that will come after Homestuck will worldbuild gardens of horror. It will not pull its punches but show us insidious societal systems and the effect they have on the people who live under them. It may depict fascism, authoritarianism, feudalistic tyranny, or all three. It will be unafraid to evoke blood and guts but use them to paint a picture of what we want, what we fear, and how we break under our false horizons.

As it depicts the path out, so, too, will it have its reverse side—it will show us all the hells and purgatories we’re trapped in.

6. SAILS TO THE WIND

Much has been written (including by this very author) about Homestuck’s metafictional aspects – the way it comes to foreground a more direct clash between character and narrative.

But the point I want to make here is that the metafictional angle wouldn’t work without these earlier choices. They allow the comic to talk about these concerns long before any notion of canon rears its head.

There are many ways of approaching these themes, and we don’t have to be limited to notions of Ultimate Selves and Beyond Canon to explore them. Such things are valuable, but they are only one retelling of the myth. If we are to make the next Homestuck, we must make our own.

I want to illustrate the space of possibility by offering some examples of works that explore similar themes. Note that I’m not saying these works were influenced by Homestuck in any way, but rather that they use some of the same tools to speak to the same questions, anxieties and concerns.

In trying to make what comes after Homestuck, we might consider:

Revolutionary Girl Utena, which foregrounds the archetype of the Prince as duelist, tyrant, and hero and dares its characters to break free from the false reality that shapes even these aspirations and dreams.

The Familiar by Mark Z. Danielewski, author of Houseof Leaves, whose core narrative concerns an twelve-year-old girl in thrall to an entity whose intentions are unclear but may be shaping the fabric of reality itself; which depicts the inner lives and uncertainties of her parents with just as much detail as they struggle, and sometimes fail, to make the right choices to help her; a story which, even in its incomplete form, explores a notion of a greater S.E.L.F that is not just you but also those who share something with you, where characters from other realities blur into transcendent archetypes in this one.

Digimon, perhaps the quintessential work of portal fantasy, not only Digimon Tamers, which steers the genre into a place of trauma, cosmic horror, and adults horrified by children saving the world, but also Digimon Adventure, which creates strong character arcs for eight very different children as they try to navigate a strange alien world, and shows us their struggle to reconcile with their parents as part of the process of understanding themselves.

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende,foundational text for Homestuck, which tells us not only about the rich possibilities inherent in reading oneself into fantasy worlds, but also the terrible potential for harm in making oneself an emperor over them.

Pale, by Wildbow, author of Worm, an urban fantasy story about three teenagers thrust into a world of magic and murder, a world where symbols literally create reality, where concepts like Carmine and Aurum have a powerful pull, where the Self is something that can be nourished or taken apart and put back together, a story where the parents are not just supporting cast but fully realized people forced to reckon with the ways in which they have deeply failed their children, and which contains perhaps the most thorough investigation of the question of “is it good for children to go on magical adventures?” ever committed to the page.

Heaven Will Be Mine, by Aevee Bee,in which the giant robots we pilot through space become the symbolic manifestation of our inner selves and our way of bringing about our ideal reality, and, relatedly, We Know the Devil, in which the repression of those selves causes them to burst out from us in terrifying and glorious new forms.

Crow Cillers, by Cate Wurtz, an often trauma-filled horror comic in which a group of kids and, eventually, adults, tries to fight back against an ever-present death cult that has its grips on every corner, all the while encountering Psyforms, beings made of pure mind, while characters from television and cartoons dance in the margins and all the while the line blurs between audience and art until it becomes difficult to tell who created who—a story that asks what it means to find meaning in stories when the corporate entities that own them are trying to devour us.

It's a tragically short list, I know. But perhaps it conveys some of the angles we might take.

We can also look at works that are known to have inspired by Homestuck. There aren’t many yet, but there are a few.

Undertale is famous for its Homestuck influences, with parallel timelines, an idea of agency that persists across them, and a contentious relationship between player and character, but for my part, I’m just as interested if not more so in Deltarune, which seems to be slowly building a grand thesis about portal fantasy, where the kids' adventures in the Dark Worlds seems to be offering them an escape and helping them become their best selves—but hints at a coming challenge to that simple worldview in the question of who’s really experiencing that escape.

The Locked Tomb, by Tamsin Muir – This is the big one, that really shows what building on Homestuckian themes can achieve. It turns out there really is an audience for weird aggro formalism in scifi publishing if you make it sufficiently gay. But smartly, like Homestuck, the Locked Tomb builds its weird mysteries gradually, adding on layer after layer on the solid foundation of characters we can follow and get invested in. There’s so much to notice – there’s the highly categorized teenagers involved in a murder feud, there’s the constant whiplash of humor and tragedy, there’s the endlessly open spaces in the story to interpret and project on to.

But to me, what stands out the most is the portrait of God and his court as every bit as emotionally chaotic as the sniping teenagers. You go to heaven, and God’s making out in the corner with his friend group, and you look for the adult in the room but the adults in the room don’t know what they’re doing and they never really did. It’s a portrait of the parents, it’s a portrait of the Ancestors, it’s a portrait of the gods of the new world, and it’s exquisite.

The Locked Tomb gives us a world at war with its own mythological narrative, rich with angst and irony. It’s a worthy successor to everything Homestuck was doing. It shows us how much these themes can say to us, and it gives us a hint at how powerful Homestuck's legacy might be.

7. THE APOTHEOSIS OF HOMESTUCK

There’s a lot of discussion about how to continue Homestuck. How to do it justice. What post-canon might look like, and what it might not. What fan comics, what fan fics, what semi-official works truly live up to the spirit of its characters and its multiverse.

To be clear, those discussions are awesome. I’m so glad those things exist, and it’s wonderful to see them unfolding.

But I don’t want the process to stop there. I'd be disappointed if it was only about adding to and re-articulating Homestuck itself.

I want this—

—This multifaceted, complicated, emotionally laden thing that is the experience of engaging with and creating with and interpreting Homestuck—

To go out into the world and to be infused into the world, to become waves spreading further and further. I want to experience the Homestuck artistic movement, the Homestuck school of thought. I want it to be an influence on the fiction of the coming generation of authors, and the next, and the next.

I want Homestuck to be one of those albums that's too obscure to be known by the general public, but everyone who listened to it went on to start an enormously successful band.

Homestuck can appear like a thing that was conjured out of the ether, but it isn’t. It’s a product of a particular time.

But that in itself is profound. When you create art, you reach back to all the things that have shaped you, and you listen to what the world around you needs, and you try to say what needs to be said. Which means you're a part of a history and culture that needs to say those things, which will be different from the things that needed to be told yesterday, and different from the stories that will be needed tomorrow.

There’s no otherworldliness to it, no platonic other reality. But for all I've talked about art being made of choices, there's still something transcendent here.

To make Homestuck—and to make art inspired by Homestuck—means being a node in a web formed of millions of people, where a light passes down the chain to you, and for the briefest of moments, you get to be filled with its presence, before it moves on to the next person in the chain.

That light isn't yours. Not really.

But at the same time, you do get to choose how that light manifests.

And to engage with that process consciously—to think deliberately about what we want to create—that gives us power and agency over that process, our sense of the world, and ourselves.

So let’s do this. Let’s make the thing that Homestuck is telling us can exist, the thing it’s paving the way for, the thing we know in our soul can come to be.

Let’s make the next Homestuck happen.

—Ari

POSTSCRIPT

“To put out a manifesto you must want: ABC

to fulminate against 1, 2, 3

to fly into a rage and sharpen your wings to conquer and disseminate little abcs and big abcs, to sign, shout, swear, to organize prose into a form of absolute and irrefutable evidence, to prove your non plus ultra and maintain that novelty resembles life… I write a manifesto and I want nothing, yet I say certain things, and in principle I am against manifestoes, as I am also against principles… I write this manifesto to show that people can perform contrary actions together while taking one fresh gulp of air…”

— Tristan Tzara, “Dada Manifesto 1918”

"The cyborg is resolutely committed to partiality, irony, intimacy, and perversity. It is oppositional, utopian, and completely without innocence....the cyborg would not recognize the Garden of Eden; it is not made of mud and cannot dream of re-turning to dust...This is a dream not of a common language, but of a powerful infidel heteroglossia. It means both building and destroying machines, identities, categories, relationships, space stories...I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess."

— Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto"

“What we need is works that are strong straight precise and forever beyond understanding... let each man proclaim: there is a great negative work of destruction to be accomplished. We must sweep and clean…to divest one's church of every useless cumbersome accessory; to spit out disagreeable or amorous ideas like a luminous waterfall, or coddle them—with the extreme satisfaction that it doesn't matter in the least…freedom: Dada Dada Dada, a roaring of tense colors, and interlacing of opposites and of all contradictions, grotesques, inconsistencies: LIFE.”

— Tristan Tzara, “Dada Manifesto 1918”

“These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me,

If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing,

If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,

If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.”

—Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

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#homestuck #homestuck analysis #what comes next after homestuck #the future of homestuck #homestuckian art #you are actually 100% sure walt whitman said that

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