Romantic Speculation Thread (Holiday Ship-To-Ship Combat)

[BlastYoBoots]

Romance is an integral part of the plot of Homestuck, at the moment. The trolls will continue to fill their quadrants, and events will shape themselves to allow this to happen. This goes farther than pairing completion; we know from Karkat's memo with John and Dave that at least one life still hinges on this nonsense.

If you want to predict the direction of the plot, the possibilities for intermediate flings and final pairings must be examined in detail. Plenty of romantic evidence exists, and ignoring it solely based on an anathema for shipping is shortsighted. And now you have a place to do so.

Sure, romantic speculation is shipping! In fact, you can discuss any form of shipping in this thread, if you wish. However, if you apply some scientific rigor, romantic speculation is also a treasure trove of information for IDE/Theorists. That's why this thread was conceived: to bring respect and organization to this noble (heh) process.

One goal of this thread is to maintain, and investigate/elaborate on, all pairing/fling outcomes that are definitive possibilities based on genuine romantic evidence. These first few posts of the thread will maintain a running character-analysis roster using a decision-tree sort of format, adhering to both genuine evidence and the theoretical RUL3S OF ROM4NT1C DR4M4 (or at least acknowledging them), and for now will mainly focus on matespritship due to its current, strong plot implications; the roster may be expanded for other quadrants later. All plot implications of these possibilities are necessarily noted and given importance!

Here are several operating premises, all suggested by varying amounts of evidence, which may assist you in your romantic speculation efforts:

All trolls will fill all their quadrants by the end of Homestuck, provided they live. This is clear from the following evidence:

But if there was one theme to be hammered through his thick skull, it would be the trolls' cultural preoccupation with romantic destiny. Yes, the romantic landscape is rife with false starts and miscues and infidelities, red and black. But every troll believes strongly that each quadrant holds one and only one true pairing for them, and it is just a matter of time before the grid is filled with auspicious matchups through the mysterious channels of TROLL SERENDIPITY.

Immutable fate is an unerring theme in Homestuck. Whenever destiny is invoked, its truth is set in stone. This is a clear example, and a heavyhanded one at that. (We may not see them all filled 'onscreen', but only if the (remaining) trolls end up in a romance-compatible civilization after the plot. A corollary of the above as well:

All trolls' quadrants will be filled with one, and ONLY one, true partner; trolls are monogamous in each quadrant. 8oy Skylark pointed this out; in addition, the enforcement of this principle practically guarantees monogamy for the kids as well.

Humans will only participate in the matespritship quadrant, and may or may not end up with romantic pairings. Humans are biologically incapable of romance with regards to other quadrants, until Andrew strongly shows us otherwise. (They may function temporarily in one non-standard quadrant for a troll, but since they will not feel romance regarding it, it is unclear whether or not this counts.) Additionally, the sheer number of trolls of each gender, the openings the humans provide them, and the flirting that is already happening makes the definite possibility of multiple such relationships very clear. And there's one other thing, from recent evidence:

At least one troll/human pairing is nearly inevitable by the time the two races meet in the Rift! This will happen specifically because Karkat is pissed off at the concept, and is actively trying to prevent it. As usual, the universe will ensure Karkat fails, hilariously and spectacularly.


From the evidence above, I will extrapolate a sample branch of possible occurrences at rift-meetup. This will serve as an example of the analysis to be performed in this thread.

Known Event: TROLLS/HUMANS MEET IN RIFT
Extrapolated Occurrence: At least one troll/human pair will fall into each-others' arms and make out, as this will make Karkat flip his bulge.

POSSIBILITIES:

[PLAYED STRAIGHT]: Karkat fails in exactly the relationships he attempted to prevent. This means:
- Dave x Terezi
AND/OR
- John x Vriska
...fall into a disgusting smoochfest right in front of his eyes. Now, one pair or the other may just eye each other curiously/interestedly, or in fact completely turn their backs (either may have had a falling out by this point). If the issue is NOT PLAYED STRAIGHT, you could have both pairs avoiding smooching in this manner, in combination with one of the other possibilities below...

[UNEXPECTED BY CHARACTERS]: This is where Karkat sees the humans he was watching playing nice with the trolls on entry, no smooching or nothing. Whew, he thinks. Success! And then this happens:
- Rose x Kanaya (further developed between now and rift)
AND/OR
- Jade x ? (relationship established between now and rift)
...make out with eachother dramatically. Cue shock and dismay on at least Karkat's part, if not many others as well.

[TOTAL SUBVERSION]: Karkat has prevented any smooching successfully. However, something has happened to make this utterly disappointing to him, a different form of self-caused failure. This is unlikely for now, but events may yet occur that result in this happening. (EDIT: Karkat's recent evolving feelings for Jade could result in this if unfulfilled.)

[EPIC REVERSAL]: Karkat and Jade go into sloppy smooching while everyone else watches in horror. Until the revelation that Karkat could take her (or any human) as a love interest in this memo, few considered this possibility (except mewtant-307k, sweet catch). It works here, as it's like a "take that" against his past self, whom he hates with a passion.

[UNEXPECTED BY FANDOM]: Karkat has prevented the PLAYED STRAIGHT pairings, and no other troll/human pairings seem likely to him or us! Whew, Karkat thinks. As expected, we think. All is right and what the fuck John is kissing Eridan.
- Rose x Kanaya (NOT developed enough for this between now and rift!)
- Jade x ? (troll we have hardly seen talk to her!)
- Other unexpected crack troll/human pairing
This is the Vriska x Nicholas Cage option. This is the complete motherfucking curveball, a total sideswipe based on information that Hussie knows (and has barely hinted at) and we don't. For example, say in all this spare time that Gamzee has been racking up silly points with Jade, to the point they convince themselves they're perfect for eachother. We only see this tangentially, barely - just like Vriska's penchant for boy-skylarks, her desire to toughen them into capable men, and John having Nick Cage's character as his ultimate final self-ideal just BARELY made that VriskCage moment make some sense. And then suddenly, Gamzee is passionately kissing Jade ballroom-dancing-dip-style (callback here) and we're all like what the fuck just happened. If Andrew is good enough - and he is - there will be just barely enough evidence for this to make sense, but not enough for anyone to predict it. We can rarely predict the specific outcome of an UNEXPECTED BY FANDOM possibility by its very nature, but if we're careful enough, we can tell where one would be most effective.


In the rest of this post, I'll store general pairing-direction evidence like the assumptions I noted a few paragraphs above, as well as templates and pseudo-definitions that may be helpful for romantic extrapolation and communicating your ideas. The subsequent post will be reserved for evidence for relationships corresponding to/from every individual main character, and possible flirting/fling/relationship branches for each, corresponding to specific blocks of likely time to occur such as before scratch planning, before the rift, after the rift, and other major character-specific events for which we have evidence. These will be complete with justification, written by myself or you guys.

Hopefully this thread will be of use for quite some time.


[GENERAL EVIDENCE TO COME]

[DEFINITIONS TO COME]

See here for troll relationship explanations! I highly recommend quoting from here when justifying non-matesprit quadrants.

[TEMPLATES TO COME]

Current character relationships/attitudes (by Tenebrais, upd. Dec 1)

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SPECIFIC CHARACTER ANALYSIS:

JOHN EGBERT

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CURRENT STATUS: Vriska is flirting with John; John has just been made aware, and has not yet reacted.

EVIDENCE:
For John moving towards others:
#1a - None. The Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo is the first time John has ever considered romance. He doesn't know how to react to Vriska's advances just yet.
#1b - In Karkat's first conversation with John (Karkat's perspective), John rejects Karkat's advances and says that he's not a homosexual.
For others moving towards John:
#2a - Vriska is currently flirting with John, as we know due to several different sources.
#2b - Vriska is head over nook for Nick Cage, who John sees as an ideal and seeks to emulate where possible.
#2c - Rose has made an extremely meaningful gesture with her half-knitted bunny gift to John, personally repairing and sending him an age-old memento she's had since childhood. She says she intended the depth of meaning in the gift as one-upsmanship, in part, and part an honest gesture in their friendship. However, despite the personality differences, this allows some room for interpreting the desire/potential romantic involvement.
#2d - Karkat is head over bulge for John as a kismet. Unfortunately, this is impossible as far as we know, and he sees no other romantic potential besides.
#2e - Rose rushed to meet John when he was at her house, making a pretty longing pose when she failed to catch him.
#2f - In the Alterniabound flash, we see that Vriska later gives John her entire pile of loot to keep him competitive with Dave. Given her love of treasure, she would not do this lightly.
For others moving away from John:
#3a - Vriska threatens to kill John amidst a conversation earlier in his timeline. As far as we can tell, this early conversation is initiated by Vriska farther in the future from her current conversations. This would be a big indicator of stress between John and Vriska in the imminent future.
#3b - Future Dave warns John to stay away from Vriska, and that a past Dave will tell him as much soon. Current Dave, before said past Dave, knows nothing of Vriska and is currently in blind approval of John pursuing it. This change could have been caused by (4a).
For important events that may affect relationships:
#4a - In the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo, Karkat indicates that Terezi and Vriska have gotten each of [John and Dave] killed at least once, as far as he knows. Due to wording confusion, this means that either:
-- Terezi killed John and Vriska will kill Dave (most likely)
-- John and Dave will each lose two lives, one to Terezi and one to Vriska each
Either of these events could easily lead to John falling out with Vriska. Harm to himself seems to go by the wayside, but it's easy to imagine him upset at the prospect of hurting his friends.
#4b - Vriska has said that she will find out who told John her name, and make them pay. Also, Terezi and Vriska are currently in rivalry to improve Dave and John respectively before the rift. Either of these, or the combination, could serve as petty enough a reason for Vriska to attempt on Dave's life. John would likely not take kindly to such an unjustified gesture towards his friends, something Vriska is not likely to see beforehand.
#4c - Rose is either in danger soon, is a danger to somebody (herself at least), or both. Either John, Dave, Jade, or some combination will likely be called on to save her, fight her, or both. This may naturally fall to John in his optimistic leadership role, and something may come of the result romantically; provided he succeeds.
#4d - In Karkat's first conversation with John (Karkat's perspective), when John seems preparing to enter the Rift, he says that he was under the impression that Karkat and Terezi were an item. Therefore, either John was kept completely out of the loop with regards to Terezi, or the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo was written by Karkat far earlier than the time right before the trolls enter the rift.
#4e - In a conversation with Terezi, Vriska argues that "a killer is a killer is a killer", and that Terezi is doomed to violate her morals, doing something horrible to somebody that she'll only wish she could take back. This foreshadows one of the following occurrences:
-- Terezi hurts one of the kids, betraying Dave's trust. (possible)
-- Vriska hurts one of the kids, betraying John's trust. (extremely likely)
-- Both. (also quite likely)
(John's earlier alt-timeline death at Terezi's hands isn't quite enough to satisfy the severity of this foreshadowing.)

GENERAL ATTITUDES:
John holds no ill-will towards anybody, regardless of the circumstances - except for Karkat in his early-timeline, but only as a "jerk". This may change, but it hasn't yet. He has only recently been introduced to the possibility of romance between him and anyone else, through Karkat's memo with him and Dave.
ROSE: Rose is weird to John, on account of talking and behaving on a completely different, higher level. This does not bother John, however, who understands that Rose is smarter than him. Currently good friends. Recently weirded-out by the suggestion of pursuing her romantically, has not thought the idea through yet.
DAVE: Dave is awesome to John, but not so awesome that he can't be taken down a few notches with friendly insults. Currently good friends.
JADE: John thinks Jade is nice, and thanks her for allowing him to be friends with Dave and Rose as well. Suspicious of the weird quirk of "knowing things" she has, but this does not interfere with their relationship. Currently good friends.
KARKAT: Karkat may be pissed off all the time, but John appreciates that he is genuinely helpful, sometimes as if he was actually concerned with John's well-being. Has warmed up to Karkat over the course of the game, and holds no ill-will for him. Currently considers himself friends with Karkat.
GAMZEE: No contact.
TEREZI: John thinks she's kind of silly, and sort of a prankster, but not in exactly the same way as him; she talks on a different level at time, similar to Rose. Apparently killed him in an alternate timeline, but he doesn't hold it against her / think it was really malicious. Would probably not consider himself friends with her, not quite yet, but he isn't ruling it out.
SOLLUX: No contact. Has heard him referred to as a "hacker friend", who by virtue of that must be pretty awesome.
TAVROS: No contact.
ARADIA: No contact.
NEPETA: No contact.
VRISKA: John thinks Vriska is pretty cool, but also kind of bossy. Upon hearing of romantic interest on her part, he's uncomfortable and not sure how to react, as he's never considered romantic feelings with a girl before. Also uncomfortably fascinated by the idea that they may eventually kiss; still unsure about how to respond to her advances, as of yet. Considers him and her somewhere between acquaintances and friends at the moment.
EQUIUS: No contact.
KANAYA: Had a very early conversation with Kanaya, and considered her "kinda cool", despite constant condescension on her part. Later trolled her from Rose's computer. No relationship as of yet.
ERIDAN: No contact.
FEFERI: No contact. (Speculation: Would probably think favorably of Feferi, due to her disposition being similar to Jade.)

BRANCHES:

Initial State: Vriska (one-sided, incoming, aware)

Branching Event: Vriska kills Dave for petty or as-yet-unknown reasons. There is a virtual certainty that this will cause a dramatic break.
Justification: (3a) (3b) (4a) (4b) (4e)

Possible Outcomes:

NEAR-BREAK: John and Vriska have a falling out over this. (3a) takes place. John eventually understands and gets over this, like he did with Terezi killing him in an alternate timeline, and they fall back together.
Justification: Flimsy. (2b) indicates that Vriska may have the urge to pursue John further despite such a break, and may make efforts to repair it. However, this alone does not rule out the other, more robust options. Further, Vriska has other romantic options that she may find more favorable to pursue during the break - this will be discussed in Vriska's section.
Implications: John and Vriska would stay together until the Rift, and - thanks to there having been a dramatic break already - the relationship is almost exempt from danger and can progress accordingly. Upon entry, they would likely smooch-smooch, pissing off Karkat immeasurably.

FULL-BREAK: John and Vriska have a falling out over this, and do not repair the relationship. Either one may or may not pursue other partners immediately afterward.
Justification: Quite Strong. (3b) shows that Dave is actively warning this timeframe's John about Vriska, even after having experienced the time until the rift three times. It is reasonable to assume that he no longer needed to give these warnings closer to the rift; otherwise Dave would be complaining of warning John against Vriska multiple times in the past. Furthermore, character-wise, the branching event seems something that John would not easily forgive. On his end, it's hard to see him making up, and he's ambivalent towards active pursuit of romance at all, whereas other characters have more such "drive", so to speak. Finally, (4d) seems to indicate that either John is kept completely out of the loop regarding Terezi, or that the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo - in which Karkat considers John/Vriska and Dave/Terezi possible - happened well before the trolls enter the rift, and the relationship(s) have since broken from immediately-pre-Rift-John's perspective. (4d) is indeed a tossup either-or possibility; however, even that would halve the already limited chance of the two staying together. (4e) has been brought to my attention recently, making this outcome all but certain.
Implications: This would allow other relationships to be pursued by John, if he desires any at all for the moment.

Full-break #1 State: Open

Possible Outcomes:

NO ACTION: John doesn't feel a need to pursue anybody.
Justification: Strong. (1a) shows that no-romance is John's default state. It wouldn't be hard to continue in this manner, especially if other relationship dramas took up the slack in terms of plot-spice.
Implications: John is single until the Rift.

KNOWN PURSUITS: John pursues or is pursued by someone for which we have evidence of potential romance. The only option based in evidence here is Rose, until the Rift.
Justification: Flimsy. (2c) is shaky evidence, and their personalities don't seem to mesh well enough for a lasting relationship, at least in their current state and opinions. Further, (4c) is a harbinger of too unpredictable a danger to speculate on romantic possibilities just yet. We will be able to judge (4c)'s implications more readily when we've seen further details of Rose's descent into darkness.
Implications: John would have enough time for a relationship to just barely start between him and Rose before Rose vanishes off the radar, and/or they reach the Rift.

UNKNOWN PURSUITS: John pursues or is pursued by someone he has not met yet, but meets between now and the Rift.
Justification: Nonexistent. There is no evidence for others who haven't met John being interested in people like him, and none yet seem to match his personality/interests, as far as we know. This doesn't mean it's impossible, of course; be on the lookout for just such evidence to crop up, and the likelihood of this possibility will increase appropriately.
Implications: Possibly some WTF-smooching post-rift to make Karkat flip out.

John does not have much romantic evidence associated with him; for the moment, this is the farthest we can speculate. Be on the lookout for more such evidence, and we can sketch out more possibilities.

ROSE LALONDE
[pending]

DAVE STRIDER

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CURRENT STATUS: Terezi is flirting with Dave, and seems interested. Dave is cool with this and is reciprocating friendlily, up until becoming Future Dave; it is unclear, however, if his interest goes beyond this.

EVIDENCE:
For Dave moving towards others:
#1a - Dave and Terezi have been exchanging artwork, banter, and have teased each other. Dave has heard and believes that Terezi is interested in him, as we see in the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo. He has not flirted/advanced in kind, but he has deliberately done nothing to discourage her advances.
#1b - Dave and Rose have exchanged facetious banter in a similar manner to himself and Terezi. Rose and Terezi are the only ones who have been able to troll Dave successfully (see here). If Dave has romantic interest in Terezi, then it is quite possible that he could have it for Rose, due to the parallels.
#1c - Dave has a freaking dance party with Rose in his dreams.
#1d - Dave has given Jade a poster of manthro-SBAHJ that he made for her.
#1e - Dave has only smiled once in the entire comic: while talking to Jade.
#1f - Dave has facetiously joked about loving John.
#1g - Future Dave says to John "rose is crazy jades crazier and youre / well youre you". This may indicate an unwillingness to pursue Rose - and possibly Jade - due to their disposition in the time up until the Rift.
#1h - Terezi wants Dave to eventually show her his eyes, with the possible implication that he's already chosen to do so in the future. If true, and not an unintentional occurrence like his crying, it could indicate even deeper ties between Dave and Terezi in the future.
#1i - Dave has jokingly accused Jade of being flirty on several occasions, such as referring to her prognosticative riddle-spinning as coquettish, or the voyeurbot comment. These dig into Jade in a way they wouldn't to Rose, but the fact that he doesn't do the same with Rose is notable. Also, Terezi is currently flirting with him in a manner that could easily be described as getting Dave "chumped by your coquettish damn riddles", drawing a parallel.
For others moving towards Dave:
#2a - Terezi is currently flirting with Dave, and almost undoubtedly interested.
#2b - Terezi BLUH'd out Rose in a picture she she drew over. The drawn-over Rose was standing next to Dave, whereas she did not BLUH her out in a later picture when she was depicted in the distance. This may mean that Terezi sees Rose as romantic competition for Dave, due to an unseen event or her own conclusions. (It may, however, just be the result of an as-of-yet unseen falling out with Rose.) Just recently, Dave seems to be mildly promoting this kind of jealousy.
#2c - Terezi has BLUH'd out Karkat in pictures on multiple occasions. She seems to be falling out with him, her other romantic interest, at least temporarily. Since we've recently learned that Karkat is pushing red for Jade, this may be an indication of jealousy.
#2d - Terezi sees parallels between her life and Dave's ("orphan"), sees some of the same things in him that she likes in Karkat, and somehow already knows what a "coolkid" is and approves of the concept.
#2e - Rose has messed with Dave in chat, and they can talk on the same level. She has exchanged complimentary arrogance-fueling banter as well, but this told Dave that she wanted something material out of him, indicating it is not a common occurrence.
#2f - Did we mention that Rose and Dave had a frickin' dance party in their dreams? Not to mention Rose's internal narrative: "Dave shows you some of his sweet gear. Wow he is so cool."
#2g - Jade thinks Dave is sooooo cooooooool!!!
#2h - The [S] Past Karkat: Wake up update greatly reinforced Terezi's apparent feelings for Dave. Her role in starting the competition about improving him was downplayed (in favor of Vriska), and she's kept gifts from him and drawn over her private quarters with images of the two together. She's even drawn SBaHJ-style over her image of His Tyranny, indicating that her relationship with Dave is beginning to supercede her old interests/priorities. This indicates that their relationship will be harder to break.
#2i - The [S] Past Karkat: Wake up update also clarifies how Terezi could have distanced herself from Karkat, showing the seeming apathy towards her and spending time with her that Karkat has exhibited. Whether or not Karkat meant to do this is irrelevant here: Terezi clearly thinks that Karkat's interest isn't strong enough, and he isn't worth her time, for now.
#2j - Dave pissed off Gamzee, but apparently, according to Dave, they got over it in the past and had a rap-off. There's a chance Gamzee goes randomly hearts for Dave, but more likely he just likes him (or somehow continues to hate him). Not much to go on as of yet, but allows for the possibility to later take shape.
#2k - In the second Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo, Jade mentions a desire to be saved by a "knight". This foreshadows relationships between her and the "knight" characters: namely Dave (Knight of Time) and Karkat (Knight of Blood).
#2l - The second Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo shows Karkat growing feelings for Jade, which could potentially free up Terezi for a more devoted relationship.
For others moving away from Dave:
#3a - In Karkat's first conversation with John (Karkat's perspective), when John seems preparing to enter the Rift, he says that he was under the impression that Karkat and Terezi were an item. Therefore, either John was kept completely out of the loop with regards to Terezi, or the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo was written by Karkat far earlier than the time right before the trolls enter the rift. If the latter, then Karkat has not given John any impression that he is losing his ties to Terezi; however, there's a chance Karkat just thinks a break is impossible on principle.
#3b - Rose has been setting frivolity by the wayside, due to her descent into darkness. This may preclude any casual romantic development between her and others until the Rift.
For important events that may affect relationships:
#4a - In the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo, Karkat indicates that Terezi and Vriska have gotten each of [John and Dave] killed at least once, as far as he knows. Due to wording confusion, this means that either:
-- Terezi killed John and Vriska will kill Dave (most likely)
-- John and Dave will each lose two lives, one to Terezi and one to Vriska each
Dave is likely to see this as, at least in part, a result of Terezi and Vriska's competition. This might be enough to cause momentary tension with Terezi, but if so, it seems that Future Dave has long since made up with her. It is not enough to justify any sort of significant break.
#4b - Rose is either in danger soon, is a danger to somebody (herself at least), or both. Either John, Dave, Jade, or some combination will likely be called on to save her, fight her, or both. This may naturally fall to Dave due to his close ties and in-dream-person meetings with Rose, and something may come of the result romantically; provided he succeeds. It could even lead to a break in their friendship if they fight due to conscious disagreement, which Dave is more likely to do than the other kids.
#4c - In a conversation with Terezi, Vriska argues that "a killer is a killer is a killer", and that Terezi is doomed to violate her morals, doing something horrible to somebody that she'll only wish she could take back. This foreshadows one of the following occurrences:
-- Terezi hurts one of the kids, betraying Dave's trust. (possible)
-- Vriska hurts one of the kids, betraying John's trust. (extremely likely)
-- Both. (also quite likely)
(John's earlier alt-timeline death at Terezi's hands isn't quite enough to satisfy the severity of this foreshadowing.)
#4d - Dave confronts Terezi about the possibility of their relationship being mixed up in a "weird game involving flirtation and assassinations". This either sets up a weak breach in trust between current and 3x Future Dave (since repaired), a much deeper breach post-3x-Future-Dave causing a serious dramatic break, or both.
Exploitable callbacks foreshadowing relationship events:
#5a - John's statement that he is not a homosexual precludes Dave having a romantic relationship with him... but he could definitely settle for a bro hug bump. This may also occur with some other guy.

GENERAL ATTITUDES:
Dave turns flirting and compliments around into ironically self-centered advertisements with colorful metaphors, as opposed to responding romantically in kind; this is a staple of his coolkid persona. He dislikes those who attempt and fail at social maneuvers, and especially those who seem to delude themselves. He does not have much patience for stupidity, and quickly points it out; conversations that are up on his level go much more smoothly.
JOHN: John is dumb and not exactly cool, but damn if he isn't Dave's good friend. Dave can be pissed off, however, when John doesn't listen to him and gets himself hurt. He's also convenient to show up in order to up Dave's awesomeness by comparison... until he outpaces him in the Medium. Still, they're good friends.
ROSE: Dave sees Rose as an equal, and can talk on the same level with her. He expects crafty insults and redirects from her (for which he holds no ill will). He'd totally hold an awesome dance party for her in her dreams oh wait he already did. Currently great friends.
JADE: Jade doesn't get her references right all the time and such, but Dave's patient with that. She's sweet enough to force him to actually crack a smile. Plus she has a badass grandpa, and can genuinely appreciate Dave's awesomeness. He's not above teasing her, as long as it's not mean-spirited. Currently good friends.
KARKAT: Oh man, this asshole is so uncool. Karkat's worst insults and pathetic efforts at deception, and self-deception, fall apart miserably before Dave. He can't stand the guy, and wouldn't give him a minute of his time if John didn't force him to. Not friends.
GAMZEE: This guy was, like, the best troll. He has that naive juggalo thing going, but Dave and Gamzee made up months ago and had the best rap-off in paradox space. Regardless of how Gamzee feels about Dave, Dave seems to think he's pretty awesome/funny.
TEREZI: She's weird as hell, flirty, and totally into Dave; what's new? Terezi is a good troll, especially compared to her peers, and can even get the better of Dave; he respects her for this. Currently great friends.
SOLLUX: No contact. (Speculation: Would probably think unfavorably of Sollux, due to his self-deprecating tendencies.)
TAVROS: This clown fails at his simplest trolling attempts, and comes off as extremely pathetic. He is nothing before Dave, and is thus all the more annoying for his perseverance.
ARADIA: No contact.
NEPETA: No contact.
VRISKA: No contact as current Dave. Future Dave thinks John should stay the hell away from her.
EQUIUS: Equius may have some complicated rhythm down, but he's totally uncool. Fawns over disgusting musclebeasts and shit without a hint of irony. The worst troll. Not worth any anger, but bad enough for Dave to mock or one-up.
KANAYA: This guy seems to be trying to pick up Rose. As much prey as Rose is for your smooth charms, this totally unsmooth alien seems to be an honest character, at least. Let him try. Currently no relationship.
ERIDAN: No contact.
FEFERI: No contact. (Speculation: Would probably think decently of Feferi, due to her disposition being similar to Jade's.)

BRANCHES:

Initial State: Terezi (one-sided, incoming, aware)

The RUL3S OF ROM4NTIC DR4M4 say that a break will come in this relationship. Furthermore, the [S] Past Karkat: Wake up update gives us (2h) and (2i) recently, which may be used to conclude that a stronger dramatic break than previously thought is required to divide the relationship even temporarily. This narrows down our options...

Branching Event #1: Karkat dramatically rescues Terezi, proving his interest/feelings for her. Terezi breaks with Dave for Karkat.
Justification: Mixed. (2i) shows that this is how Karkat has been alienated, and (2h) shows how hard Karkat would have to work to win her back. That makes this, more or less, Karkat's main option regardless of scenario. Secondly, there has to be an impetus danger for Karkat to rescue Terezi from; sleep, and its danger to the trolls at its current time, may serve this purpose. If not, then the only dangers allowing for this scenario would be the rush to the Rift, and whatever happens afterwards; this would not be able to happen at any prior point in time, otherwise. Still, this may not be strong enough unless Dave/Terezi is weakened beforehand: A milder version of Event #2 or Event #3 would allow more clearly for this, or make it more permanent.
Implications: This depends directly on the strength of Karkat's dramatic rescue. If the danger was more mild/emotional and Karkat wasn't risking his life in the process, Terezi would be open to reconsider and possibly come back to Dave. However, if this is a Dream!Jade level rescue, Terezi may stay with Karkat permanently (she's already had her dramatic break with him too). This would force Dave to find other romantic options. (2k) points toward Jade.

Branching Event #2: Dave betrays Terezi's trust, forcing Terezi to break things off.
Justification: Mixed. The lack of overt enthusiasm on Dave's part, especially compared to Terezi in (2h), seems to leave room for this to happen, possibly by smooching one of the other kids. However, timeline shenanigans seem to prevent most of these possibilities, unless we assume that Terezi didn't look far enough into Future Dave x3's timeline to see everything that happens. Given her previous planning, this is a serious assumption. However, a weaker version of this could be likely, where Terezi misinterprets Dave as having stronger feelings for someone else, and opens room for Event #1 or Event #3 to occur. (2b) seems to hint at such a possibility. (2k) indicates future relationship growth between Dave and Jade, which might cause this.
Implications: These would depend on Dave's feelings for the other kids, and his willingness to make a move in front of Terezi; given how he watches his image, a serious screw-up on his part is not as likely as a misunderstanding on Dave's part. If Terezi breaks with him over a misunderstanding and nothing else interferes, Dave could repair things into a permanent relationship.

Branching Event #3: Terezi betrays Dave's trust, forcing Dave to break things off.
Justification: Quite Decent. Terezi's competition with Vriska, combined with (4a) and especially (4c), could lead to such an event; a weaker version of Event #2 happening before this would almost fully justify this possibility. In retaliation for a perceived disloyalty/offense on Dave's part, she could do something to him or one of the other kids (like John again to assist her competition), something Dave can't forgive. This would fulfill the manipulative, murderous tendencies that Terezi has previously exhibited, but have never been on full display close to the current time. It's a part of her nature, a part the kids only tangentially saw with her alt-murder of John. This is one of the only imaginable events that would once again show off her skills to the readers... with disastrous consequences for her. (4d) seems to offer further confirmation.
Implications: Serious. The event must be quite severe for the relationship to break as it needs to, and if it's just a hair too severe, Dave may never forgive her. And even if it's the less severe scenario, it would provide Karkat opportunity to win her back ala Event #1, probably permanently. Dave/Terezi is still possible under such a scenario, but it seems likely that their relationship would need to overcome serious obstacles to re-secure, with a good chance of failure. Not knowing the situation, I'd give it a 1/3 or 1/4 chance that Dave/Terezi could pull through in such a scenario.


I was planning to do a further set of branching for Dave based on Event #3 occurring, but the possibilities would be too subject to nuances of the situation, and not knowing it beforehand renders said prediction meaningless. More evidence as to how Terezi would break Dave's trust - and what dangers Karkat could protect Terezi from - may allow me to expand this section in the future.

EDIT: New evidence, namely (2k), (2l), and a revised (2c), point toward Jade being an obvious next choice for Dave. In fact, if Event #3 occurs as a result of harm to Jade from Terezi, it would certainly coalesce into a good Jade/Dave relationship.

JADE HARLEY
[pending]


Trolls' section below.

[BlastYoBoots]

Post reserved for troll branchings, listed (but not necessarily filled out) in introduction order.
Added SOLLUX's brief analysis by 8oy Skylark. The humans have been split into the post above due to length issues.

NOTE: The thread title will usually change after every significant update.


KARKAT VANTAS

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CURRENT STATUS: Currently amidst a dramatic break with Terezi. Current Karkat doesn't even realize the break is taking place; Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo Karkat has acknowledged Terezi's growing relationship with Dave, but doesn't take it seriously as a deep threat to his relationship with Terezi. Held spade feelings for John at first sight, but later acknowledged the impossibility of a black relationship; still feels intense hatred for him.

EVIDENCE:
For Karkat moving towards others:
#1a - Karkat clearly thinks that he and Terezi are in a red relationship, or close enough to one that he doesn't have to worry about losing it. He continues to believe this for some time, despite Terezi becoming increasingly distant as the trolling of the kids progresses.
#1b - Karkat has confirmed the idea of Terezi and him being in this sort of relationship on many occasions, but has never once implied flushed feelings - or anything close - for anyone else.
#1c - Karkat places his feelings for Terezi firmly in the flushed quadrant, and not in others.
#1d - Karkat hates John enough to propose Kismesis, enough to think so at first sight.
#1e - John rejecting him still stings.
#1f - Karkat cares enough about his relationship with Sollux to ask that they're still friends after every cruel jest. He clearly values their friendship, possibly enough to eventually place it in some quadrant.
#1g - Despite his bitter hatred of Gamzee, Karkat didn't even begin to imagine Kismesis like he did for John. No obvious candidates for the level of hatred required for a Kismesis with Karkat have yet surfaced.
#1h - In the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo, some future Karkat voices concern against a developing relationship between Dave and Terezi. He doesn't seem, however, to consider his relationship with Terezi to have completely broken, or at least is too tired to communicate such. Andrew is deliberately hiding the timeline of this memo on Karkat's end, to veil the point at which Karkat realized the extent/danger of this relationship.
#1i - In the [S] Past Karkat: Wake up update, Karkat expresses to Aradia that he considered her living self a friend, and would have put everyone on the task of bringing her back to life if they'd had the time. This kind of straightforward personality compliment is somewhat rare from Karkat, despite the thin insult it came with; if Aradia is ever brought back to life, there's a chance she'd become a competing interest of Karkat's.
#1j - In the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo, Karkat easily sees fit to pair Dave off with Jade. He would not likely have done so if he'd seriously considered any romantic possibilities with Jade.
For others moving towards Karkat:
#2a - Terezi has held flushed feelings for Karkat, and only recently has begun to shove them aside.
#2b - Terezi constantly, increasingly talks about Karkat with Dave, comparing the two and their good points / issues. She clearly isn't completely over Karkat while pursing Dave.
#2c - Terezi persists in heated, playful verbal conflict with Karkat and in front of others, on multiple occasions (such as this one). This may have abated somewhat as she becomes stronger with Dave, but we're not sure.
#2d - Terezi is upset with Karkat's issues, his mistrust of her, and his lack of movement in the relationship. If Karkat were to prove himself by becoming more leaderlike and expressing his care for her properly, she could easily come to respect her again.
#2e - Dave's refusal to remove his sunglasses reminds Terezi of Karkat's refusal to reveal his blood color, and annoys her similarly. This source of tension may help tip her further away from Dave, in the right situation.
#2f - In Karkat's first conversation with John (Karkat's perspective), when John seems preparing to enter the Rift, he says that he was under the impression that Karkat and Terezi were an item. Therefore, either John was kept completely out of the loop with regards to Terezi, or the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo was written by Karkat far earlier than the time right before the trolls enter the rift. If the latter, then Karkat has not given John any impression that he is losing his ties to Terezi; however, there's a chance Karkat just thinks a break is impossible on principle.
#2g - Nepeta likes the idea of herself and Karkat together, according to her shipping wall.
#2h - Sollux values Karkat's advice, despite his criticism/negativity, and seems to take him seriously even if he doesn't show it to Karkat's face.
#2i - While current and past Jade have thought of Karkat as mean, future Jade apparently thinks of Karkat as somewhat kind and helpful.
#2j - Terezi and Karkat had a "moment" together in person, some time during their session. Terezi was close enough to smell Karkat's blood under his skin. It's implied they kissed or licked or tied tongues or something.
For others moving away from Karkat:
#3a - Terezi is currently flirting with Dave, and almost undoubtedly interested.
#3b - Terezi has BLUH'd out Karkat in pictures on multiple occasions, and has expressed frustration with him on others since the trolls gathered in the Veil. She seems to be falling out with him, while pursuing her other romantic interest, Dave.
#3c - Terezi sees parallels between her life and Dave's ("orphan"), sees some of the same things in him that she likes in Karkat (with less drama/issues), and somehow already knows what a "coolkid" is and approves of the concept.
#3d - The [S] Past Karkat: Wake up update greatly reinforced Terezi's apparent feelings for Dave. Her role in starting the competition about improving him was downplayed (in favor of Vriska), and she's kept gifts from him and drawn over her private quarters with images of the two together. She's even drawn SBaHJ-style over her image of His Tyranny, indicating that her relationship with Dave is beginning to supercede her old interests/priorities. This indicates that their relationship will be harder to break.
#3e - The [S] Past Karkat: Wake up update also clarifies how Terezi could have distanced herself from Karkat, showing the seeming apathy towards her and spending time with her that Karkat has exhibited. Whether or not Karkat meant to do this is irrelevant here: Terezi clearly thinks that Karkat's interest isn't strong enough, and he isn't worth her time, for now.
#3f - Dave and Terezi have been exchanging artwork, banter, and have teased each other. Dave has heard and believes that Terezi is interested in him, as we see in the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo. He has not flirted/advanced in kind, but he has deliberately done nothing to discourage her advances.
#3g - Terezi wants Dave to eventually show her his eyes, with the possible implication that he's already chosen to do so in the future. If true, and not an unintentional occurrence like his crying, it could indicate even deeper ties between Dave and Terezi in the future.
#3h - John is not a homosexual!
#3i - Karkat has attempted to deflect Dave from Terezi in the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo, and believes that he may have succeeded. Given that this is Karkat... his success is unlikely, to say the least. I analyzed this in the first post in this thread, as an example.
For important events that may affect relationships:
#4a - Sleeping is dangerous to the trolls right now. Karkat experienced it, was shaken (it takes quite a lot to shake Karkat), and ordered everyone not to sleep. Enough time passes between then and the veil that Karkat is becoming seriously tired again. Rescuing someone from sleep or impending sleep may prove a heroic move on Karkat's part, one that could prove his leadership skills and strengthen his relationship with the rescued party/parties.
#4b - Lord English is blowing stuff up, over the hours the trolls spend in the Veil. It's doubtful that they'll reach the Rift without getting through a bit of trouble first. This may give Karkat an opportunity to rescue one or more people, Terezi especially, and strengthen his relationships with them.
Exploitable callbacks foreshadowing relationship events:
#5a - John's statement that he is not a homosexual precludes Karkat having a romantic relationship with him... but he might still initiate a bro hug bump. This may also occur with some other pair of guys, seems like a one-shot reference that might go off in the Rift.

GENERAL ATTITUDES:
Karkat is exclusively ornery, all the time. He has generalized hatred and contempt for everyone, especially himself, mixed with sparing amounts of pity. His arrogant, self-deprecating tendencies tend to annoy those around him. He reserves his respect for those who prove themselves smart and effective, and those he can trust. He will blast insults out at you, no matter who you are; you can tell he likes someone when he can hold his tongue in the face of a compliment.
JOHN: John is the target of Karkat's blackest hatred and most bitter fury. He is dopey, unintelligent, useless, dodgy, and irritatingly upbeat. And, unfortunately, he is becoming Karkat's friend. Karkat can't deny that friendship is taking place; but gogdamn does he hate him, and he's still bitter that John rejected him. Currently friends despite INTENSE RAGE.
DAVE: The stuck-up, insufferable gogdamn arrogant shitstain that's trying to steal Karkat's girlfriend. At least he's smarter than John. Little shown contact.
ROSE: A stuck-up bitch not worth Karkat's time. No shown contact yet.
JADE: The stupid gogdamn bitch that caused all this mess. Soon, Karkat helps her; not necessarily by choice. Little shown contact.
KARKAT: Fuck this asshole. Yes, Karkat knows he's referring to himself. Past Karkat and Future Karkat can shut the fuck up and stop being ignorant gogdamn grubs.
GAMZEE: His chat quirk is grating, his friendliness even more grating, and the stupid fucking horns... Karkat is shocked that anyone (John) could provoke more hatred out of him than himself or Gamzee. Only friends because Gamzee refuses to think otherwise.
TEREZI: The annoying blind bitch ready to con Karkat and stab him in the back for lulz. At least she's smart, and the back-and-forth is enjoyable... Karkat knows he likes her, but refuses to say so out loud. Currently has flushed feelings for her.
SOLLUX: This smug fucking bipolar asshole is a rife target for Karkat's contemptous insults, especially since he sometimes accepts them. It's like he's the only guy who will listen to Karkat, sometimes. Karkat strives to maintain their friendship despite the acidic banter. Currently good friends, leanings suspect.
TAVROS: A useless fucking grub who won't stop playing games for girls. Very little shown contact.
ARADIA: She used to be a good gogdamn friend, but this spooky robot fuckery is complete bullshit. Will continue to be completely fucking annoying to Karkat unless they manage to bring her back to life, which he'd have the whole team working on if they weren't all doomed. Currently friends.
NEPETA: Karkat has little fucking patience for this autistic roleplaying sack of uselessness. Unless she could stop fucking roleplaying in front of him, Karkat has no chance of standing her. At least she doesn't come and pester Karkat like some of the other assholes do. Currently friends.
VRISKA: Karkat respects the skills of this arrogant, fucked-up, dangerous total psycho. And can't stand being around her for a minute, seeing as she's an arrogant, fucked-up, dangerous total psycho. Not really friends.
EQUIUS: Karkat considered Equius to be the only guy on the planet who's a bigger asshole than he is, and that was BEFORE he got that disgusting domination fetish. Now he can't take a fucking order without getting off. This blue-blooded asshole needs to die painfully and leave Karkat alone. Not really friends.
KANAYA: Despite being a flighty broad with a tendency towards snarky horseshit, at least she's fucking stable, which is more than Karkat can say about his other friends. If only she'd learn to get to the gogdamn point sometimes, god she can be dodgy. Currently good friends.
ERIDAN: Total fucking high-blood fishy asshole. Little contact.
FEFERI: Annoying glubbing high-blood princess. She disagrees with Karkat? Screw her. Let's see her all high and mighty once she's tried sleeping without a dream-self like he did. Little contact.

BRANCHES:

Matespritship (/♥):

Initial State: MID-BREAK with Terezi (her side, unaware until later)

Karkat will clearly pursue Terezi in this quadrant - and only Terezi - until he thinks she's left him completely for someone else. This may or may not occur. It would have to be personal and visible for him to think this; seeing her smooching in the rift with someone (most likely Dave) would be the most assured method.

Branching Event #1: Karkat reaffirms his commitment to Terezi (most likely through dramatic rescue) after Dave and Terezi have broken otherwise.
Justification: Generally plausible. Karkat likes Terezi enough to do it, Terezi has been practically waiting for some kind of affirmation from Karkat (2b) (3e), and their situation is generally dangerous (4a/4b). This all heavily foreshadows some kind of affirmation, and a dramatic rescue seems likely. (Depending on the strength of the break between Dave and Terezi, the needed reaffirmation need not be that powerful.)
Implications: If Terezi and Dave are mid-break, there would be no reason why Terezi wouldn't reunite with Karkat in this situation. As the relationship has already had its dramatic break, this would lock-in Terezi x Karkat permanently.

Branching Event #2: Karkat reaffirms his commitment to Terezi (most likely through dramatic rescue) before Dave and Terezi have broken otherwise.
Justification: Generally plausible, for the same reasons as Event #1. It would have to be a strong one, though. This may happen before or after the Rift, possibly even far after, and not even sloppy Dave/Terezi makeouts would make it much less likely!
Implications: This would cause a break, or near-break, between Terezi and Dave. Terezi would be uncertain of who to choose, and would seek affirmation of Dave's care that Dave may not provide. Unless Dave plays his cards very, very deliberately to win Terezi's favor (unlikely yet), or Karkat screws up badly enough to squander his reaffirmation (how?), Terezi will eventually switch back to Karkat, which would also lock-in Terezi x Karkat permanently.

Branching Event #3: Karkat, resigned, abandons pursuit of Terezi. He is later struck with the opportunity of a SURPRISE LOVE INTEREST.
Justification: Very weak. What other possible love interests does he have? And how could they get strong enough to compete with Terezi?
Implications: Even if he has a fling with someone else, Events #1 and #2 are still strong opportunities. Karkat would easily abandon someone else for Terezi if he got the chance, given the history they share. A permanent Terezi x Karkat reunite would still be likely!

A Terezi x Karkat ending is all but confirmed! However, there is still the unlikely, odd opportunity of a SURPRISE LOVE INTEREST. Who could possibly fit the bill?

Nepeta? Not unless she permanently swore off roleplaying in front of him!
Jade? Possible, but unlikely! A relationship would have to develop pretty strong and fast to woo Karkat from his bitterness over Terezi, and that's not likely with Jade.
Alive!Aradia? Also possible, if she's ever revived. Aradia was implied to have an interest in Sollux in the past, who can have a similar disposition at times, and Karkat apparently had an honest friendship with her. We know little enough about her that surprise interest wouldn't seem implausible.
Someone else? Perhaps the kids and trolls meet others in the rift. Namely, who is the penpal, and who are his friends? If they're not the Guardians or game constructs, *something* could happen here. After all, with all their gogdamn quadrants, the trolls' options can look pretty cramped at times.

Kismesissitude (/♠):
[on hold]

GAMZEE MAKARA
[pending]

TEREZI PYROPE

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CURRENT STATUS: Terezi is flirting with Dave, and seems quite interested. Dave is reciprocating friendlily, but hasn't outwardly confirmed romantic interest to her. She's distancing herself from Karkat, and is slightly, silently bitter about it not having worked out.

EVIDENCE:
For Terezi moving towards others:
#1a - Terezi and Karkat have a history of romantic tension, where Terezi is forward and Karkat is shy/noncommittal. This comes to a head in the long conversation they had before we cut to [S] Make her pay.
#1b - Terezi is currently flirting with Dave, and is almost undoubtedly interested.
#1c - Terezi BLUH'd out Rose in a picture she she drew over. The drawn-over Rose was standing next to Dave, whereas she did not BLUH her out in a later picture when she was depicted in the distance. This may mean that Terezi sees Rose as romantic competition for Dave, due to an unseen event or her own conclusions. (It may, however, just be the result of an as-of-yet unseen falling out with Rose.)
#1d - Terezi has BLUH'd out Karkat in pictures on multiple occasions. She seems to be falling out with him, her other romantic interest, at least temporarily.
#1e - Terezi sees parallels between her life and Dave's ("orphan"), sees some of the same things in him that she likes in Karkat, and somehow already knows what a "coolkid" is and approves of the concept.
#1f - The [S] Past Karkat: Wake up update greatly reinforced Terezi's apparent feelings for Dave. Her role in starting the competition about improving him was downplayed (in favor of Vriska), and she's kept gifts from him and drawn over her private quarters with images of the two together. She's even drawn SBaHJ-style over her image of His Tyranny, indicating that her relationship with Dave is beginning to supercede her old interests/priorities. This indicates that their relationship will be harder to break.
#1g - The [S] Past Karkat: Wake up update also clarifies how Terezi could have distanced herself from Karkat, showing the seeming apathy towards her and spending time with her that Karkat has exhibited. Whether or not Karkat meant to do this is irrelevant here: Terezi clearly thinks that Karkat's interest isn't strong enough, and he isn't worth her time, for now.
For others moving towards Terezi:
#2a - Dave and Terezi have been exchanging artwork, banter, and have teased each other. Dave has heard and believes that Terezi is interested in him, as we see in the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo. He has not flirted/advanced in kind, but he has deliberately done nothing to discourage her advances.
[pending]
For others moving away from Terezi:
#3a - In Karkat's first conversation with John (Karkat's perspective), when John seems preparing to enter the Rift, he says that he was under the impression that Karkat and Terezi were an item. Therefore, either John was kept completely out of the loop with regards to Terezi, or the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo was written by Karkat far earlier than the time right before the trolls enter the rift. If the latter, then Karkat has not given John any impression that he is losing his ties to Terezi; however, there's a chance Karkat just thinks a break is impossible on principle.
[pending]
For important events that may affect relationships:
#4a - In the Fruity Rumpus Asshole Factory memo, Karkat indicates that Terezi and Vriska have gotten each of [John and Dave] killed at least once, as far as he knows. Due to wording confusion, this means that either:
-- Terezi killed John and Vriska will kill Dave (most likely)
-- John and Dave will each lose two lives, one to Terezi and one to Vriska each
Dave is likely to see this as, at least in part, a result of Terezi and Vriska's competition. This might be enough to cause momentary tension with Terezi, but if so, it seems that Future Dave has long since made up with her. It is not enough to justify any sort of significant break.
#4b - In a conversation with Terezi, Vriska argues that "a killer is a killer is a killer", and that Terezi is doomed to violate her morals, doing something horrible to somebody that she'll only wish she could take back. This foreshadows one of the following occurrences:
-- Terezi hurts one of the kids, betraying Dave's trust. (possible)
-- Vriska hurts one of the kids, betraying John's trust. (extremely likely)
-- Both. (also quite likely)
(John's earlier alt-timeline death at Terezi's hands isn't quite enough to satisfy the severity of this foreshadowing.)
[pending]
Exploitable callbacks foreshadowing relationship events:
[pending]

GENERAL ATTITUDES:
[pending]

SOLLUX CAPTOR

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CURRENT STATUS:
♥ Probably with Feferi.
♠ None; thinks Dave is an iin2ufferable priick though.
♦ No overt moirallegiance movements, although there are a few possibilities
♣ Eridan hates him, but Sollux is apathetic about the whole thing

EVIDENCE:
For Sollux moving towards others:
♥#1a - Probably in a relationship with Feferi. Has been taking on her fish puns.
♥♦#1b - Used to have a relationship with Aradia; the nature and intensity of this relationship is unclear, and it apparently died with her. However if Aradia's revived somehow, there may be a relationship formed.
♣♠#1C - Sollux has fought Eridan in the past over Feferi. However, it seems that apathy is winning over any caliginous leanings, and Eridan hasn't found someone to try and auspice him into action.
♠#1d - Sollux finds Dave an iin2ufferable priick. He can't stand the guy. However, he refuses to contact him.
For others moving towards Sollux:
♥#2a - Feferi kissed Sollux alive and has been hanging close ever since. A relationship is heavily implied.
♦#2b - Karkat may be willing to fill Sollux's pale quadrant. However, neither of them feel that way right now, and Sollux's trust in Karkat was damaged when he died.
♦♣#2c - Eridan hates Sollux for "taking Feferi." He tries to get Terezi to auspice his relationship with Sollux. Eridan considers himself pathetic for this.
For others moving away from Sollux:
♥♦#3a - Aradia had a relationship with Sollux in the past, but calmly and casually manipulated him into starting SGrub.
For important events that may affect relationships:
♥♠♦♣#4a - Sollux currently refuses to talk to any of the kids on principle. Conversations with the kids have severely affected other troll's relationships. Talking to any of the kids may completely screw up Sollux's quadrants.

#4b - Sollux has forecasted that he will soon become blind. How well he takes such a development when it occurs will likely affect his relationships.

GENERAL ATTITUDES:
Sollux is bipolar, very often leaning towards the apathetic side. He's self-deprecating and doesn't interact very much with others around him.
JOHN: N/A
ROSE: N/A
DAVE: No Contact; Sollux thinks he's an iin2ufferable priick.
JADE: N/A
KARKAT: They have a very good hatefriendship, but Karkat's blustering gets on his nerves easily, and he's become more distant recently.
GAMZEE: N/A
TEREZI: He considers her competent, but doesn't like how intrusive she is. Friendly.
TAVROS: N/A
ARADIA: Used to have a relationship with her. He doesn't really enjoy her attitude now that she's a dead sprite robot.
NEPETA: N/A
VRISKA: He does not care for Vriska.
EQUIUS: N/A
KANAYA: He generally doesn't get irked at Kanaya, but
ERIDAN: Sollux may hate him kind of, enough to be willing to fight with him, but his apathy gets in the way of anything stronger.
FEFERI: Sollux is very close with her; he's begun using her fish puns and she's always near him.

BRANCHES:

FLUSHED (/♥)
Initial State: Feferi, mutual

This relationship as of right now isn't important enough to require a dramatic break. Feferi doesn't have any other apparent flushed leanings, and Eridan, the only person pushing flushed for her, couldn't drag her into matespritship even if he saved her life right now.

CALIGNOUS (/♠)
Sollux has no clear cut relationship in this quadrant yet. While Eridan hates him he seems to be pushing for auspisticeship, and while he hates Dave Sollux refuses to even converse with him or the other kids.

PALE (/♦)
Sollux has no clear Moirail, either; while Karkat may be able to calm his mood swings and fulfill this quadrant, as of right now their relationship remains only hatefriendship. It's also true that Karkat right now is too blustery to actually listen to Sollux. It's been brought up that dying while under Karkat's guidance may have broken Sollux's trust of Karkat, as well.

ASHEN (o8</♣)
Eridan is apparently leaning ashen for Sollux, and Sollux at least hates Eridan enough to duel him in [s] Make her Pay. But Sollux doesn't appear to care usually.

TAVROS NITRAM

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CURRENT STATUS: Tavros has no explicit romantic interests right now besides Vriska, and his relationship with Vriska is complicated. Thanks to Vriska's interest in John he's kind of fallen to the way side, but she's still expressed bitterness about it to John.

EVIDENCE:
For Tavros moving towards others:
♥♣♠#1a - Tavros' relationship with Vriska is confusing and complicated. He appears to have some sort of feelings for her but has yet to sort them out.
For others moving towards Tavros:
♥#2a - Vriska smooched him and wanted him to reciprocate. Tavros responded in a confused and indecisive manner, and their adventuring on LOMAT seems to be of only a friendly nature. Vriska said she was fine with his rejection.
♦#2b - Kanaya has helped Tavros in the past, and helped him come up with "Rufio."
♦#2c - Terezi is friendly with him and encourages him to listen to Rufio, but makes sure he understands that he's imaginary, thus keeping him grounded.
♣#2d - Kanaya auspisticed between him and Vriska in the past, but his & Vriska's relationship has stabilized since.
♠#2e - Vriska has tormented him on a regular basis in the past, and complained about hating him to Karkat. She does trick him into trying the stairs in Alterniabound, but she seems less malicious recently.
♦#2f - Tavros is to the negative side of moirallegiance what Kanaya is to the positive side; he gets a lot of attention from people who want to help improve him because of his pitiable nature, and as such has a lot of pale options.
For others moving away from Tavros:
♥#3a - Vriska is currently interested in John rather than Tavros; Tavros has fallen out of her attention.
For important events that may affect relationships:
♥♦♣♠#1a - Tavros growing a spine could change the nature of many of his relationships, particularly his one with Vriska.

GENERAL ATTITUDES:
Tavros has no spine, and even people who hate him have a hard time getting on his bad side. As such he's friendly with nearly everyone.
JOHN: N/A
ROSE: He went to Rose about getting to Dave, and listens to her opinion.
DAVE: He was disturbed and scared by Dave's double innuendos, but came around and started some lyrical Sick Fires.
JADE: He's friendly with Jade, and sympathizes with her because of how he enjoyed his time on Prospit.
KARKAT: He's friends with Karkat, but Karkat doesn't think much of him. Someone should quit playing games for girls.
GAMZEE: Gamzee and Tavros are on really good terms, and they both love having terrible rap-offs.
TEREZI: He is friendly with Terezi, and she encourages him.
SOLLUX: N/A
ARADIA: He and Aradia were friendly back in their Flarping days; He and Aradia were the only ones that did it all for fun. No seen contact since.
NEPETA: He's friendly with her and enjoys talking to her, but he's allergic to cats.
VRISKA: His relationship with Vriska is confusing and complicated to him. He seems to like her good side and is friendly with her, but is somewhat afraid of her and her tormenting.
EQUIUS: N/A
KANAYA: Kanaya helped him by suggesting he create Rufio.
ERIDAN: N/A
FEFERI: N/A

[b][u]BRANCHES:[b][u]

Flushed

Caliginous

Pale

Ashen

ARADIA MEGIDO
[pending]

NEPETA LEIJON
[pending]

VRISKA SERKET
[pending]

EQUIUS ZAHHAK
[pending]

KANAYA MARYAM

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CURRENT STATUS:
♥: She's broken off her ties with Vriska, including distancing herself from these unanswered feelings. She's taken a great interest in Rose, who has not yet attempted to reciprocate.
♠: Currently has no obvious attempts at a Kismesis, for or against her.
♦: Broken from her relationship with Vriska, and trying to avoid filling this quadrant with Rose.
♣: Vague; may resume auspisticing between Tavros and Vriska temporarily if the situation calls for it.

EVIDENCE:
For Kanaya moving towards others:
♥/♦#1a - Kanaya has been consistently contacting Rose and trying to develop at the very least friendship with her. She's decided to avoid Moirallegiance with her, possibly hoping to establish something more flushed with her, considering her discussions about it in Alterniabound.
♥/♦#1b - Kanaya previously had a Moirallegiance with Vriska, and wanted more Flushed relationship. She has since decided that Vriska isn't worth it after Vriska "betrayed" her and went with Tavros, as seen in her distance from Vriska in the sprite flash.
♣#1c - Kanaya previously auspisticed for Tavros and Vriska. This may have fallen apart, or it may have been re-established.
♣#1d - Kanaya likely has previously been, is, or will be auspisticing between Eridan and Vriska, as seen here. The image also shows Kanaya auspisticing between Tavros and Vriska, which has been the case in some capacity in the past.

♥#1e - Kanaya is currently completely infatuated with Rose and her personality. Look at her recent comments to Rose on her sarcastic charm. Since Kanaya likes Rose this strongly, we know that a ridiculously strong break would be required for Kanaya to end things before Rose does. Rose is the more likely culprit for initiating a dramatic break.
♦#1f - Kanaya seems well suited to the task of Moirallegiance with a receptive party, as seen in her helpful manner and its effects on Tavros (Rufio) and Vriska. She has moirail options regardless of what happens, as long as her desires to fill other quadrants don't interfere with them.
♠#1g - Kanaya seemed curiously inadverse to the concept of chainsawing Tavros's legs off. This may have been, in part, fueled by a spirit of retaliation for stealing Vriska's heart, and indicates a possible Kismesis on her end if future events alienate the two further.
♠#1h - Kanaya doesn't seem to hold her usual patience for Eridan, and actually resorts to teasing/mocking him. If Eridan retaliates against Rose and harms her, he may earn her scorn.

For others moving towards Kanaya:
♦#2a - Vriska was trying to re-establish a connection of some sort to Vriska during Alterniabound. Kanaya, however, outwardly spurned her.

♦#2a cont. - Kanaya broke off her Moirallegiance with Vriska because she was leaning matesprit for Vriska, but the other party was not. Vriska, however, misses their Moirallegiance in retrospect, and wants it back. If Kanaya were to secure a matespritship so her feelings wouldn't be mixed, she could reciprocate properly as Vriska's moirail.
♥#2b - In her conversation with Eridan, Rose indicates that she's had troll romance explained to her; likely by Kanaya. She seems to have dismissed the "alien" quadrants in terms of applying to her, but more to the point, the explanation may have primed her to consider romance, and how it applies to her in the last hours of their session and beyond. The wording of her dismissal - "Alien romance, I forgot. Pass." - may indicate that Rose has already decided on someone to pursue, as well (possibly Kanaya).
♥#2c - Rose has previously accused Kanaya of sounding like she's flirting with her. Given some of Kanaya's recent comments, Rose would continue to be clearly suspicious that Kanaya might have feelings for her.

For others moving away from Kanaya:
#3a - No real indicator of other trolls moving away from Kanaya as of yet. Although a lot of the trolls, most noticably Karkat, seem to be a little disturbed about her willingness to mutilate Tavros in order to give him robo-legs.

♥#3b - In her conversation with Eridan, Rose's phrasing - "Alien romance, I forgot. Pass." - could indicate that she has no interest in romance with any of the trolls, in general. If true, this may mean that she's decided on one of the other kids to pursue.
♥#3c - Rose has some evidence that she could potentially lean toward Dave romantically (see his section), and a tiny bit for John as well. Either of those would obviously interfere with the possibility of a long-distance relationship with a female alien, if they grow true.

For important events that may affect relationships:
♥♦♣♠?#4a - Whatever happens during the time that Kanaya can't follow rose has a distinct possibility to effect her relationship with her as well as any of the other trolls.

♥♦♣♠?#4b - Both Aradia and Kanaya indicate that Rose's inevitable path is a dangerous and destructive one. The events to come and her choices threaten *someone's* safety, and probably her own as well. Who she hurts and how during her descent into darkness will likely shake up some of her related relationships.
♥♦♣♠?#4c - Vriska will soon cause harm to Dave, and possibly some of the other kids. If Rose learns this and retaliates against Vriska, doing serious harm to her, Kanaya may turn against Rose in Vriska's defense.

Exploitable callbacks foreshadowing relationship events:
♥#5a - Karkat's fear of kissing erupting between John or Dave and one of the trolls would be perfectly justified by a sudden Rose/Kanaya makeout on rift entry. This would make ample sense with Kanaya worried about how Rose will fare in the gap of her timeline she can't see, and Rose not sure she'll make it to the other side of the Rift intact.

GENERAL ATTITUDES:
Kanaya likes to be helpful to people, and tries to avoid conflict. Therefore she ends up on the good side of most of the trolls, but is seen as too unemotional and psychologist-like to receive flushed leanings yet.
JOHN: Doesn't find him very intelligent, but seems somewhat trusting of him.
ROSE: Is infatuated with her, but also has to actively dismiss her own moirail leanings.
DAVE: She goes to Dave to learn about Rose. She doesn't appear to hold him in high regard but listened to his advice.
JADE: No Contact.
KARKAT: She trusts him and respects him as a leader; she came to him for romantic advice and seems to respect his opinions even when she disagrees.
GAMZEE: No onscreen contact.
TEREZI: No onscreen contact.
SOLLUX: She seems to respect him for his talents, and mentions that usually he doesn't get upset at her.
TAVROS: Appears to have a fairly good relationship with him; suggested the idea of Rufio and auspisticed between him and Vriska in the past.
ARADIA: Tries to act as Aradia's conscience before SGrub, reminding her that she's at fault for what's about to occur. No known contact since.
NEPETA: No onscreen contact.
VRISKA: Used to have flushed feelings for her, and was her former moirail. Is currently bitter and avoiding her.
EQUIUS: No onscreen contact.

ERIDAN: Views him as uncomfortably overemotional and conflicted, someone that not even she could handle, can't see how Feferi does it. Resorts to mocking him.

FEFERI: Is shown to have a friendly relationship with her, pre-Sgrub. Teases her about her typing quirks. Feferi says they should share notes, suggesting that they often have chats.

BRANCHES:

Matespritship (/♥):

Initial State: Rose, one-sided(?), suspicious

(1a) and (1b) indicate that unless Rose drastically betrays her, Kanaya won't be the one to break off the relationship.

Branching Event #1: Rose isn't interested in girls/aliens/Kanaya, and dismisses her, likely before the Rift.
Justification: Generally plausible. The fact that these are human kids makes homosexuality somewhat unlikely to start with, of course. Add in the fact that Rose has not shown any interest yet, and this is (and will remain) an eminently plausible scenario until we receive evidence to the contrary. Rose choosing someone else over Kanaya, or even smooching them (unlikely, as Kanaya never observed it), would also fall under this category (3c).
Implications: The relationship would be shut down with little chance of renewal, except through a heroic near-sacrifice to save Rose, post-Rift. More likely, Kanaya would pursue her other options in the meantime; Vriska might be a more stable and attractive option by this point.

Branching Event #2: Rose seriously, seriously betrays Kanaya's trust. The most plausible way for her to do this would be badly hurting Vriska somehow, in retaliation for Vriska harming Dave (4c).
Justification: Unlikely. The fact that these are human kids makes homosexuality somewhat unlikely to start with, of course. Add in the fact that Rose has not shown any interest yet, and this is (and will remain) an eminently plausible scenario until we receive evidence to the contrary.
Implications: Kanaya would cut ties with Rose, yell at her over chat; she'd then probably pursue other relationships, especially Vriska. True betrayal from Rose would help her see Vriska's unaware "betrayal" in a kinder light.

Branching Event #3: Kanaya betrays Rose's trust in some way, and Rose distances herself somewhat. The most plausible way for this to happen may already be happening: in refusing to dissuade Rose from the dangerous path she's taking, Kanaya may cause Rose to resent that nobody warned her of what was to inevitably result from her actions. Rose may also misinterpret Kanaya's active shying away from moirallegiance as a cowardly way of divorcing herself from responsibility for Rose's actions, emotionally protecting herself at Rose's expense. (It's hard not to see it this way, if you don't have a good handle on the nuances of Moirallegiance!)
Justification: Fairly strong. (1a), when combined with Rose's inevitable descent into darkness (4a), is quite portentous. It'd be the easiest dramatic break to occur, as its requirements have already been established; all we need to do is watch as events play out as we've been told they would, and with no changes, this would be our dramatic break. Furthermore, the other events require substantial deviation from expected events: Event #1 requires a confession on Kanaya's part before the Rift, and she seems to have gotten her sentiments across to her satisfaction, for now (sixteenth conversation). Event #2 requires seriously violent cross-dimensional retaliation that seems rather against Rose's nature, among other things.
Implications: This kind of break would practically ensure a permanent Rose/Kanaya outcome. The break relies on a misunderstanding of Kanaya's feelings/intentions, on Rose's part. This could be cleared up relatively quickly with an in-person meeting (post-Rift), and could result in Kanaya confessing as well - flowing directly into a (5a)-style smooch smooch. Furthermore, Kanaya would stay loyal to Rose up until the Rift, despite the misunderstanding, even if Rose confronts her beforehand (somewhat unlikely, given her early cutoff-time).

The winds look good for Branching Event #3, and when you consider that Kanaya's other main matesprit choice (Vriska) has moirail leanings for her instead, ending up with Rose seems her most likely option. Branching Event #1, however, still remains generally plausible.


Moirallegiance (/♦):
[quick note:] Kanaya's clearest moirail option is Vriska. Both have expressed interest in Moirallegiance at different points; if their other quadrants get filled - so that Kanaya doesn't conflate it with matespritship, and Vriska has learned to be more stable/appreciative - there's nothing stopping these two from becoming moirails (1f) (2a). If the two fall in a different quadrant with eachother, this will be up in the air, more or less.

Kismesissitude (/♠):
[quick note:] Anyone who seriously harms Rose, given Kanaya's infatuation (1e), should fear for their lives. Currently, the most likely person to do this is Eridan, who Kanaya already finds hard to stand (1h).

Auspisticeship (o8</♣):
[quick note:] If Tavros does not come around to Vriska, Kanaya may have to keep the two on healthy terms. Given Vriska's likely break with John, however, she'd need to fall in love with a different person other than Tavros for this to be open, and we as of yet have little evidence of Vriska doing this (excluding Nick Cage).

ERIDAN AMPORA
[pending]

FEFERI PEIXES

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It's kind of terrible but this is the best I could do with what we've been given for Fef.

CURRENT STATUS:
♥ Is hanging very close to Sollux right now.
♦ She's broken away from Eridan; he was too much to handle in her opinion.
♣ No obvious ashen leanings.
♠ No obvious black leanings.

EVIDENCE:
[b]For Feferi moving towards others:[b]
♥#1a - Sollux sacrificed himself bringing Feferi into the Medium, and she kissed him to restore him to life. Since then they've stayed very close. A relationship is heavily implied.
♦#1b - While Feferi broke off with Eridan, if Eridan was to stabilize a bit and find another flushed interest, she may be willing to moirail him again.
♦?#1c - Feferi goes out of her way to make Jade comfortable after her dream about the Horrorterrors. She does her best to help her deal with it, in her own glubbing way. Their relationship may venture in to the pale quadrant or it may just develop into a friendship.
♠#1d - Feferi pulls a rather nasty prank on Vriska in Alterniabound; it's the first time we've seen her act more cruel to another person. She seems to take it as a joke, though.
For others moving towards Feferi:
♥♦#2a - Eridan has shown that he's infatuated with Feferi; although she's broken ties with him he most likely hasn't given up hope. If he can find a new flushed interest and/or stabilize so he's less demanding, he may be able to enter the pale quadrant with her. Unlikely that he will enter flushed with her.
♥#2b - Sollux is staying close to Feferi, and has even taken on using her fish puns. Their relationship is heavily implied.
[b]For others moving away from Feferi:[b]
???
For important events that may affect relationships:
???
GENERAL ATTITUDES:
As one of the sea dwellers Feferi isn't developed very much. We know that she cares for all living things, and that she has a strong sense of duty, but her relationships show a tendency to not understand the other person's point of view.
JOHN: N/A
ROSE: N/A
DAVE: N/A
JADE: She's very comforting & placating to Jade after Jade witnessed the horrorterrors, but doesn't understand her deal.
KARKAT: She doesn't like Karkat's negative attitude in Hivebent, but seems to at least acknowledge his role as leader.
GAMZEE: N/A
TEREZI: They don't appear to be very close from what we see in Alterniabound; while they are on friendly terms their conversation is very business like. No other known contact.
SOLLUX: She's very close to him, and is always seen by his side on the meteor station.
TAVROS: N/A
ARADIA: N/A
NEPETA: N/A
VRISKA: Feferi plays a rather nasty prank on Vriska, which Vriska seems to respect her for. She rather obtusely references the fact that they aren't friends.
EQUIUS: N/A
KANAYA: Feferi contacts Kanaya to discus what's going to happen, and talks about exchanging notes. It appears the two are close friends, and share a lot.
ERIDAN: Eridan was too much for Feferi to handle as a moirail, but she stayed with him out of a sense of duty. Now that it's no longer necessary she's broken her romantic ties with him.

BRANCHES:

Flushed
Initial State: Sollux (most likely mutual.)
Currently the relationship between Sollux & Feferi isn't important enough to require a romantic break.
Calignous
quick note: We haven't seen any trends towards Caliginous relationships from Feferi yet, except for the fairly minor prank she pulled on Vriska (1d)
Pale
Initial State: MID-BREAK with Eridan (both are aware of it but Eridan dislikes the standing)

Branching Event: Eridan stabilizes/finds a new matesprit and becomes a more attractive moirail option (1b)(2a)
Justification: Generally plausible. All of the trolls have growing up to do, and Eridan's pathetic vies for attention are the kind of thing that would be turned around if he grew. Getting a new flushed relationship is less likely to occur but may or may not be necessary.
Implications: It would most likely solidify their relationship permanently; they have a pre-established connection to develop on and what caused it to fall apart will have mostly been cleared up through Eridan's development.

Branching Event: Eridan's interest in Feferi reverses from red to black because of her actions.
Justification: Very Unlikely. Eridan's infatuated with her, and that isn't likely to change anytime soon.
Implications: Permanent fall out, and possible movement into a black relationship.
Ashen
quick note: Feferi's tendency to try and care for everyone means she will most likely be auspicing a relationship, rather than being auspisticed.

[Terin]

It was just a few months ago that Andrew created the ectobiology clusterfuck. It feels quite strange that it seems like this is now a real possibility beyond very basic interactions. I still feel like it'll end up being crazily subverted in some way, but all these romance elements could just be going the way of "incorporate ironically into the story, then take at face value over time."

Also, Rose and Kanaya are moirails, obviously!

[8oy Skylark]

It was just a few months ago that Andrew created the ectobiology clusterfuck. It feels quite strange that it seems like this is now a real possibility beyond very basic interactions. I still feel like it'll end up being crazily subverted in some way, but all these romance elements could just be going the way of "incorporate ironically into the story, then take at face value over time."

Also, Rose and Kanaya are moirails, obviously!

Kanaya is actively trying to avoid a moirail relationship with Rose now.

Although Rose is capable of a Moirallegiance as well as a Matespritship, thanks to its non-concupiscient nature and Rose's currently dangerous state of mind.

[SquirrelPants]

I guess I don't have a lot to say for this thread apart from the fact that I love the idea and the first post being so long and detailed makes me pretty happy. Can't wait to see all these theories and shit everyone has.

Also, didn't Kanaya have...someone? Someone she WANTED to be Moirails with, at least. I don't recall that part ever being resolved.

[BlastYoBoots]

It was just a few months ago that Andrew created the ectobiology clusterfuck. It feels quite strange that it seems like this is now a real possibility beyond very basic interactions. I still feel like it'll end up being crazily subverted in some way, but all these romance elements could just be going the way of "incorporate ironically into the story, then take at face value over time."

Or "start to incorporate at face value, then surprise us by taking ironically". And we're not into nested levels of irony here, yet.

Either way, keep in mind that you're touching on a principle of dramatic fiction used by Andrew. The fact that this exists does not make events unpredictable; rather, it tells us how we may predict them! Everything is evidence that can be used to build atop and guide our speculation, even - especially - the very subversion of our speculation. See the "UNEXPECTED BY FANDOM" option above; we know he'll reserve such an option for the moment of maximum impact, as he did with VriskCage.

Also, Rose and Kanaya are moirails, obviously!

This is a great time for me to demonstrate how to disagree with someone by citing evidence. Two things:

Humans will only participate in the matespritship quadrant, and may or may not end up with romantic pairings.

This quadrant presides over MOIRALLEGIENCE, the other conciliatory relationship. A reasonable human translation would be the concept of a soul mate, but in a more platonic sense, and with a more specific social purpose.

Trolls are a very angry and violent race. Some are more hot-tempered and dangerous than others, to the extent that if left to their own devices, they would present a serious threat to society, or even to themselves. Such trolls will have an instinctive pale attraction to a more even-tempered troll, who may become their MOIRAIL. The moirail is obliged to pacify the other, to function as the better half. The two partners in a strong pale relationship will serve to balance and complement each other's emotional profiles, and thus allow their other relationships to be more successful.

Kanaya may have urgings in the moirail direction towards Rose, as she has in the past towards both Vriska and possibly Tavros. However, keep in mind that she likes being helpful, just like Rose may dabble in psychological explanations for the benefit of her friends. Also keep in mind that she deliberately represses her pale leanings so they don't rule out the possibility of a redder relationship! See here:

TT: That's thoughtful of you.
TT: To strive to pacify me as I scuffle down this black corridor.
GA: Wait
GA: Is That What Im Doing
TT: Is it?
GA: On Second Thought
GA: Thats Not What I Want To Do
TT: Oh.
TT: That's a pity.
TT: Who will make sure my soul isn't forfeit in service of gods then?
GA: Well
GA: I Hope That Doesnt Happen
GA: But Id Rather Not Get Stuck In That Kind Of Pattern Again

Emphasis mine. Have I made my point? Feel free to disagree with me, using evidence. That's what this thread is for.

[Terin]

Also, Rose and Kanaya are moirails, obviously!

This is a great time for me to demonstrate how to disagree with someone by citing evidence. Two things:

Humans will only participate in the matespritship quadrant, and may or may not end up with romantic pairings.

This quadrant presides over MOIRALLEGIENCE, the other conciliatory relationship. A reasonable human translation would be the concept of a soul mate, but in a more platonic sense, and with a more specific social purpose.

Trolls are a very angry and violent race. Some are more hot-tempered and dangerous than others, to the extent that if left to their own devices, they would present a serious threat to society, or even to themselves. Such trolls will have an instinctive pale attraction to a more even-tempered troll, who may become their MOIRAIL. The moirail is obliged to pacify the other, to function as the better half. The two partners in a strong pale relationship will serve to balance and complement each other's emotional profiles, and thus allow their other relationships to be more successful.

Kanaya may have urgings in the moirail direction towards Rose, as she has in the past towards both Vriska and possibly Tavros. However, keep in mind that she likes being helpful, just like Rose may dabble in psychological explanations for the benefit of her friends. Also keep in mind that she deliberately represses her pale leanings so they don't rule out the possibility of a redder relationship! See here:

TT: That's thoughtful of you.
TT: To strive to pacify me as I scuffle down this black corridor.
GA: Wait
GA: Is That What Im Doing
TT: Is it?
GA: On Second Thought
GA: Thats Not What I Want To Do
TT: Oh.
TT: That's a pity.
TT: Who will make sure my soul isn't forfeit in service of gods then?
GA: Well
GA: I Hope That Doesnt Happen
GA: But Id Rather Not Get Stuck In That Kind Of Pattern Again

Emphasis mine. Have I made my point? Feel free to disagree with me, using evidence. That's what this thread is for.

It was meant more as an off-the-cuff remark to get things going, although I still do think it has something to it.

Mostly going by this quote -

LET'S READ ABOUT IT AGAIN

The purpose is to pacify a partner who is dangerous. It's not all about being platonic soul bros forever.

None of the kids as of this moment would work in a relationship like this, except Rose, pretty obviously.

The kids obviously don't have any direct understanding of anything outside the standard matespritdomshiphowever, but it's very possible for them to inadvertently be in one of the other quadrants. Rose doesn't have to do much to have Kanaya try to pacify her destructiveness. Someone could end up being an auspitice, as well, just by being in between two of the trolls. Jade may do this later.

And while Kanaya said that she doesn't want that based on her experience with Vriska, I doubt it'll be that clear cut. There will mostly likely be some conflict down the road in regards to her past, and what she wants to do. Also, being moirails seems like less of a big deal than matesprits, so if that's possible, then the other one seems like it should be possible, from Kanaya's perspective.

[8oy Skylark]

Emphasis mine. Have I made my point? Feel free to disagree with me, using evidence. That's what this thread is for.

While I agree with this in theory, there's a flaw in it too.

Regardless of whatever's going on, this is a speculation thread. Meaning while some things can be supported by canonical evidence, other things are theories based off of character analyzation or other evidence that can't be taken directly from the comic.

[BlastYoBoots]

Shit. That quote of yours from Andrew throws a gigantic goddamn wrench in things:

LET'S READ ABOUT IT AGAIN

The purpose is to pacify a partner who is dangerous. It's not all about being platonic soul bros forever.

None of the kids as of this moment would work in a relationship like this, except Rose, pretty obviously.

Specifically, it can potentially be used to justify any quadrant for any human as an eventual possibility, even if they wouldn't feel it in terms of romantic attraction (just as you said). It is unclear as to whether or not Andrew meant the circumstances were right with Rose, or that Rose could possibly fill Kanaya's destined Moiralligience quadrant.

There is a very large difference between those two things, and the nuance could mean plenty for the plot. In my opinion, however, we'll need a little more confirmation to flip from what previous evidence told us - the "null hypothesis", as it were, that trolls' destined quadrants can't be filled without mutual feelings - to the convenient clusterfuck of full multi-quadrant troll/human possibilities. If there's a shred more evidence in canon or another such statement from Word of God, we should be inclined to switch modes as such would suggest. It would be completely confirmed, however, by a fulfilled pale/ashen/black relationship between human and troll appearing in canon.

Until then, all such speculation has its probabilities severely limited, only justified by a tenuous and characteristically vague statement by Andrew. We can consider it, but I'd think twice before extrapolating crucial plot implications.

Regardless of whatever's going on, this is a speculation thread. Meaning while some things can be supported by canonical evidence, other things are theories based off of character analyzation or other evidence that can't be taken directly from the comic.

Character analysis is evidence. You're stating facts regarding the characters and their apparent patterns, facts regarding characterization patterns Andrew has used as well, and formulating a possible conclusion thereof. Similar to how I went into RUL3S OF ROM4NT1C DR4M4 where I linked to it; the fact that the plot has followed certain patterns, especially patterns used throughout literature, is evidence for those patterns being used again.

All you have to do is show your work.

[rampantVariable]

BlastYoBoots, many times I have thought to myself: "Is this man completely, utterly, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt INSANE?" The answer is now a clear, and concise: YES.

On topic, who would Karkat NOT want a relationship with? It's safe to assume that he will fail and wind up with that person, due to failing to keep himself out of a relationship with them.

[BlastYoBoots]

So Gamzee's locked in for Karkat, then?


Also, here's something someone pointed out in main chat:

Eridan

He'll try to contact Jade.
He'd be all standing in a quadrant like he was playing four square holding a bucket of slime or flowers or whatever and Jade will be like no thanks bro
That's how it'll go down.

This is a perfect example of very unconventional, yet very strong evidence! The fact that there will probably be a callback to this exact line is evidence for *someone* making an advance of this fashion on a human. Probably one they yet know little about (thus not seeing the cultural differences).

The human recipient doesn't have to be Jade, but it would be funniest this way, and there's the most unseen chat with obscure trolls as room for it. Possible trolls are any who have not had much contact with the kids yet, such as: Eridan, Feferi, Nepeta, Sollux, Equius, and maybe Gamzee by some miracle.


...Holy shit, Eridan is actually the most qualified for this to take place. I can't believe it. Oh shit he's even into happy flighty girls.


FUCK, how did none of us see the evidence before now?! THIS is why we need this thread.

[8oy Skylark]

BlastYoBoots, many times I have thought to myself: "Is this man completely, utterly, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt INSANE?" The answer is now a clear, and concise: YES.

On topic, who would Karkat NOT want a relationship with? It's safe to assume that he will fail and wind up with that person, due to failing to keep himself out of a relationship with them.

Not exactly. Karkat fails at things he makes a conscious effort at, but it doesn't mean he fails at everything he wants to happen. He managed to find a matesprit (as evidenced in the conversation starting here, regardless of whether it falls apart later.

I don't think Karkat has anyone he particularly is against. Any detestation he feels he would try to direct into a Calignous relationship. He's mentioned this issue with getting a Kismesis here, and I doubt anything's changed significantly since then besides an attempt and failure to align with John.

[Niaya]

Oh hey look at all these crazy walls-o-text up in here, this is SRS BSNS

But yeah it's been mentioned before but there's an evident pattern forming between the trolls and the kids they keep in contact with, based on the trolls' former flushed interests.

Vriska pursued Tavros, the Page of Breath, and is now interested in John, the Heir of Breath
Terezi pursued Karkat, the Knight of Blood, and is now interested in Dave, the Knight of Time
Kanaya pursued Vriska, the Thief of Light, and is now interested in Rose, the Seer of Light

When we consider the fact that the kids also share similar personality traits to the former troll interests (boy skylarks, smartasses, dangerous girls) the pattern becomes even more apparent. So if we're to assume this trend will continue, then it's a fairly safe bet that Jade will be contacted by Eridan, with Jade sharing similarities to Feferi both in title and personality. But then again, Jade is always the pattern breaker, so who knows.

Edit:

...Holy shit, Eridan is actually the most qualified for this to take place. I can't believe it. Oh shit he's even into happy flighty girls.


FUCK, how did none of us see the evidence before now?! THIS is why we need this thread.

I did. I mentioned the theory before in one of the chat threads, just reposting it now in more detail.

[BlastYoBoots]

And now we have a central place to remind anyone interested about the likelihood of that possibility. Aren't you glad I made this thread?

I just have to spend a couple of goddamn days in a row adding all the evidence and character speculation to the first posts.

There goes my free time. But that's later tomorrow, anyway. Time for sleep.

[sebastian]

Emphasis mine. Have I made my point? Feel free to disagree with me, using evidence. That's what this thread is for.

While I agree with this in theory, there's a flaw in it too.

Regardless of whatever's going on, this is a speculation thread. Meaning while some things can be supported by canonical evidence, other things are theories based off of character analyzation or other evidence that can't be taken directly from the comic.

And let's not forget another very important thing in homestuck. the "Sure, why not?" factor, someone throw a random idea in the forum, Andrew like it and goes with it. no need for evidence, narrative rules or anything. And so Tavros is in a wheelchair, Parcel Mistress is female and gog know what else.
So yeah, following evidences and narrative rules to predict what could happen is fine and dandy but with the way Andrew write it would be extremely easy for him to introduce any evidence he want to support any possible output (all he need is another pesterlog in a certain point of time that we didn't have yet seen, or take a previously random sentence/item and turn it into a foreshadowing/reverse foreshadowing/callback, (for an -hopefully- absurd example tomorrow we could find a Dave/terezi chat where we find out that the idea to send John to the denizen was Dave's rather than Terezi's, would not that be a surprise?), or simply ignore evidences and go "This is what happen, most shocking twist until now x2 combo".

edit:

And personally I'm for a Tavros/Jade pairing, just because they would be so cute together. Failing that Tavros/Nepeta would be nice, too.

Of course we all know that in the end Tavros/Gamzee will be the canon pairing.

About Karkas, what about a kismesis with Equius? they seems to dislike each other a lot. Now that I think about it Equius is probably the only troll didn't tried to help with his relationship problems, (of those he talked to, of course)

[PaulPower]

On the subject of using character analysis and patterns as circumstantial evidence, are we allowed to use repeating themes like the uprooting of ablutionary devices and PCHOOOOO-series objects crashing through windows?

Regarding ablutionary devices, so far five server - client pairs have been shown doing this:

- Rose to John (toilet and bath)
- Jade to Dave (toilet)
- Terezi to Karkat (toilet; romantic tension, possible matespritship currently on the rocks thanks to Dave and Terezi's flirting)
- Kanaya to Vriska (toilet; romantic tension, unrequited love from Kanaya to Vriska)
- Aradia to Equius (bath; romantic tension resulting in a weird fluctuating matespritship/kismesis thing)

If you followed that through, you could use it as a basis for John/Rose and Dave/Jade. Similarly for John crashing through Rose's bedroom wall paralleling Tavros with Vriska (after all, Andrew joked about John/Rose at the time of the Tavros/Vriska updates). Might also be worth noting that Rose is a Light player and John a Breath player, as with Vriska and Tavros.

As for characters analysis:

Vriska, Kanaya and Terezi all seem to feel something for John, Rose and Dave respectively. I'll take that as read. The question is one of reciprocation.

John had never thought about girlfriends before the Karkat-John-Dave memo (not counting Liv Tyler), which fits with both him being the youngest kid and his general personality (although he's remarkably comfortable for his age with the concept of friends who are girls, but that might just be part of the general gender equality theme running through the comic). It would be fittingly ironic if Karkat warning John not to get romantically involved with Vriska was what planted the idea of getting romantically involved with Vriska in John's head in the first place. Then again, Karkat may have planted the idea of romantic involvement with Rose, too - John's reaction is one of shock, but that fits in with the "never even thought about romance before now" thing. So who knows how he'll feel once he's thought about it for a bit. Between Nannasprite, this and Rose's potentially dangerous current mindset, John and Rose's next conversation is going to be really messed up.

Rose keeps her emotional cards very close to her chest, to the extent that she may even be in denial to herself. This could apply to any potential romantic pairing - John, Kanaya, heck anyone. She does seem to be a bit more friendly with John than Dave or Jade (granted the sample size isn't large enough with Jade) - since Jade and Dave both think of John as their best friend, it seems thematically appropriate that Rose should too. She certainly seems to tolerate John making tactless statements more than she would if Dave made them, and while she often calls Dave "Strider", she calls John by his first name practically all the time (the only exception being the narrated "You cannot hope to defeat Egbert in a prank-off"). She also seems convinced that John is the right person to lead them. It's all circumstantial and probably quite flimsy, but I wouldn't expect anything obvious from Rose. As for Kanaya, there's no real evidence yet that Rose feels anything for her - but again, Rose keeps her emotions very tightly controlled. We've also missed like twelve conversations between them, the contents of which being wide open to speculation.

Regarding the idea of Rose being potentially dangerous and needing a moirail: if Kanaya doesn't want to do it, it's possible that one of the kids could step into the breach. Even if moirallegiance isn't a human concept, one could still develop spontaneously if John, Dave or Jade (most likely John) felt that Rose needed someone watching out for her. This could all take place separately from any concerns about matesprit shipping.

Dave is of course the irony master: it's dangerous to take anything he says at face value. On the other hand, it's also dangerous to assume that he means the opposite of what he says, because he might be using double-layered irony (or, in a more general case, 2n-layered irony). His flirting with Terezi might be ironic, or his telling Karkat that his flirting with Terezi is ironic might be ironic. Or oh gog I don't know. His reaction to Karkat's "breeding programme" is typically Dave: probably ironic, possibly doubly-ironic.

Jade... who knows? Wouldn't surprise me if Eridan tried talking to her, following the "taking an interest in the Kid who most resembles their previous romantic interest" pattern. She does think that Dave is "sooooooo cool" but whether that leads anywhere or not is another matter.

Actually, there's something interesting in there: Eridan is quite similar to Dave: they're both hipster-y, they have similar typing styles, although Eridan is more extreme than Dave. Maybe Jade might like Eridan because he's like Dave? So it could work both ways: trolls might like kids because they remind them of other trolls, but kids might like trolls because they remind them of other kids. Taking this and running with it: there are parallels between Rose and Vriska, which is what attracts Kanaya to Rose. But maybe they're also why John likes Vriska? And Terezi is a bit Jade-like. Kanaya doesn't fit the pattern at all though, as she's very unlike John - well, except that she cares for her friends (... oh wait, hold on. She's quite like Jade, isn't she, what with the lunchtop and frog ruins and Space role and all). So I dunno. SPECULATION.

Finally, addressing the question of "something is going to backfire regarding Karkat's desire to prevent troll/human relationships", one possibility got missed: polyamory. It would be pretty funny if Karkat thought he'd succeeded in getting the humans paired off and settled down, only for sloppy human/troll makeouts to happen anyway because one or more kids decided that the multiverse could always use more love. It might also be one of the few things that would actually shock him: even with four quadrants, trolls seem to be very set on the idea of one-partner-per-quadrant. It'd make for a nice jab back at the "wait, incest/homosexuality are a problem for you guys?" stuff. Granted it'd be pretty shocking for the readers too, but since when has that stopped Andrew?

I appreciate that these arguments relies heavily on circumstantial evidence. I also appreciate that I'm biased towards John/Rose, but I've tried to acknowledge that bias, "show my working", and accept other possibilities. Feel free to start tearing it all down .

[BlastYoBoots]

And let's not forget another very important thing in homestuck. the "Sure, why not?" factor, someone throw a random idea in the forum, Andrew like it and goes with it. no need for evidence, narrative rules or anything. And so Tavros is in a wheelchair, Parcel Mistress is female and gog know what else.

Why can't that be evidence as well? Fandom memes are important evidence where they fill in possibilities that are gaps in our understanding/canon-evidence. For example, Gamzee doesn't seem to dislike anyone or anything enough for Kismesis. He could end up kismets with Equius, due to him explaining miracles away... OR he could kismet with someone he sees as "disgusting" or having lewd interests! The fandom meme provides sorely-needed evidence in a visible gap, here.

So yeah, following evidences and narrative rules to predict what could happen is fine and dandy but with the way Andrew write it would be extremely easy for him to introduce any evidence he want to support any possible output (all he need is another pesterlog in a certain point of time that we didn't have yet seen, or take a previously random sentence/item and turn it into a foreshadowing/reverse foreshadowing/callback, (for an -hopefully- absurd example tomorrow we could find a Dave/terezi chat where we find out that the idea to send John to the denizen was Dave's rather than Terezi's, would not that be a surprise?), or simply ignore evidences and go "This is what happen, most shocking twist until now x2 combo".

Andrew is better than this. Like I said, even for the most shocking twists yet, such as VriskCage, there were just enough pieces already in place in canon to keep that from being impossible. Again, we most likely won't be able to predict the outcome of such fandom-fooling events, true; however, we can still itemize the possibilities, see their likelihood and where they could be used for most possible impact by Andrew.

And personally I'm for a Tavros/Jade pairing, just because they would be so cute together.

STOOOOP! This is NOT the place for this!

Anyone's preferred pairings go completely outside this thread. We're judging evidence for evidence's sake, here. Romantic speculation is NOT shipping, and should not be conflated with it or we risk disregarding evidence to justify personal preferences. I don't intend to be mean, but I'm trying to introduce some scientific rigor here.

On the subject of using character analysis and patterns as circumstantial evidence, are we allowed to use repeating themes like the uprooting of ablutionary devices and PCHOOOOO-series objects crashing through windows?

If you can connect them with romantic events, sure! The problem is, I don't think you can in this case:

Regarding ablutionary devices, so far five server - client pairs have been shown doing this:

- Rose to John (toilet and bath)
- Jade to Dave (toilet)
- Terezi to Karkat (toilet; romantic tension, possible matespritship currently on the rocks thanks to Dave and Terezi's flirting)
- Kanaya to Vriska (toilet; romantic tension, unrequited love from Kanaya to Vriska)
- Aradia to Equius (bath; romantic tension resulting in a weird fluctuating matespritship/kismesis thing)

If you followed that through, you could use it as a basis for John/Rose and Dave/Jade. Similarly for John crashing through Rose's bedroom wall paralleling Tavros with Vriska (after all, Andrew joked about John/Rose at the time of the Tavros/Vriska updates). Might also be worth noting that Rose is a Light player and John a Breath player, as with Vriska and Tavros.

Is it possible that the ablutionary device meme is connected with - oh, I dunno - people being server-client pairs?

Seriously, it literally cannot occur without them being server-client pairs. I wouldn't hold too much to this in terms of romantic evidence. It was used to piss off Karkat flirtily perhaps by Terezi and there was the thing with Aradia/Equius, but those were very specific cases where other factors played into their romantic significance.

As for PCHOOOOO variants, that seems to be more of an individual meme, and can't really be connected with romance in any way. :/


Your character analysis is fairly decent at first read, and people will probably debate it with you (I recommend that you do). I don't have time now, might comment on it later. Personally, I'm not going to use too much effort on the huge character analysis rundown until I've analyzed the evidence we already have and compiled the branch possibilities for characters in the main posts. Once we have our immutable facts and solid possibilities straight, character analysis can really give them some depth and direction. Don't feel limited similarly, though.

[Altum]

Here is a piece of speculation I've had floating around for a while, so it might as well go here: Gamzee hates Karkat, knows he irritates him, and deliberately messages him every day to drive him crazy. Karkat of course already hates Gamzee; he just needs to learn that when Gamzee was saying "mIrAcLeS," what he was really saying was 'I hate you.'

[BlastYoBoots]

We've seen from Gamzee's perspective - inside his head, in fact - that Karkat is his "BEST FRIEND". Such blatant redefinition of established precepts would largely be cheating, as far as plot is concerned. More likely, some event / wrongdoing / (lewd act?) would have to occur before Kismesis between them is a possibility.

Fiction follows certain rules, and Andrew subscribes to a subset. Learning those will help you in your predictions immensely.

[Greyscale]

I'd like to submit a question:

How would the, more or less canon, pairing of DadXMom affect the possibilities of JohnXRose, assuming that the "HUMAN ANATHEMA OF INCEST" may or may not fall into their perception of themselves as 'step-siblings' (even if, biologically speaking, it is more like John would be Rose's stepuncle; John still sees and loves Dad as his father regardless of their ectobiology, so I don't think such technicalities and semantics are strictly speaking relevant).

[PaulPower]

Is it possible that the ablutionary device meme is connected with - oh, I dunno - people being server-client pairs?

Seriously, it literally cannot occur without them being server-client pairs. I wouldn't hold too much to this in terms of romantic evidence. It was used to piss off Karkat flirtily perhaps by Terezi and there was the thing with Aradia/Equius, but those were very specific cases where other factors played into their romantic significance.

It's true that they can only come from server-client pairs. However, the server-client dynamic in general seems to have a connection to romance (see also: Sollux and Feferi). Saving people's lives, watching them do stuff, the layout of the gates meaning they'll meet up earlier than other characters. I dunno.

As for PCHOOOOO variants, that seems to be more of an individual meme, and can't really be connected with romance in any way. :/

Yeah, bad phrasing on my part. I specifically meant the parallels between John crashing into Rose's room and Tavros crashing into Vriska's, not counting any of the other rocket items like Terezi's wings or Gamzee's unicycle. Hang on, I'll go dig up Andrew's specific quote on the subject:

At this point it's impossible for me to say what definitely won't happen with the story.

But because of the parallels between the troll story and the kid story, I think we get little clues about stuff. About the meanings and symbolic significance of events that had no reason to alert us at the time, which through their troll parallels become clearer, or at least make you say "Hmmm..."

For instance, John had no idea that crashing a rocket device through a sleeping girl's bedroom symbolically punches his one way ticket to smooch city. Such was the clear value of that particular unit of symbolic currency. If only he hadn't been in such a hurry...

From here. Probably a joke, but with Andrew, who knows?

Your character analysis is fairly decent at first read, and people will probably debate it with you (I recommend that you do). I don't have time now, might comment on it later. Personally, I'm not going to use too much effort on the huge character analysis rundown until I've analyzed the evidence we already have and compiled the branch possibilities for characters in the main posts. Once we have our immutable facts and solid possibilities straight, character analysis can really give them some depth and direction. Don't feel limited similarly, though.

Fair enough.

[8oy Skylark]

Finally, addressing the question of "something is going to backfire regarding Karkat's desire to prevent troll/human relationships", one possibility got missed: polyamory. It would be pretty funny if Karkat thought he'd succeeded in getting the humans paired off and settled down, only for sloppy human/troll makeouts to happen anyway because one or more kids decided that the multiverse could always use more love. It might also be one of the few things that would actually shock him: even with four quadrants, trolls seem to be very set on the idea of one-partner-per-quadrant. It'd make for a nice jab back at the "wait, incest/homosexuality are a problem for you guys?" stuff. Granted it'd be pretty shocking for the readers too, but since when has that stopped Andrew?

The major issue I can see with this particular point is that in general humans go for monogamous relationships as well. It's socially unacceptable for a person to have more than one person they're romantically involved in, so it wouldn't make sense that the kids would arbitrarily decide that didn't matter.

[SquidmastaT]

I have kind of an idea of what could become a pairing, or at least a source of romantic drama.

At the end of this pesterlog Karkat tells Sollux that "THESE CONVERSATIONS [THEY] HAVE DO GET KIND OF EMBARRASSING". I think that it is possible that Karkat harbors caliginous feelings for his bifurcated chum, and perhaps Sollux reciprocates, and one of three possibilities prevents them from forming a true Kismesis:
1. Both trolls keep their black feelings for each other a secret, thus dancing around the issue, and also producing dramatic irony (maybe?) for the readers.
2. They acknowledge their potential for blackrom, but feel that they would not make a good Kismesis for some reason. Maybe they don't want to ruin their friendship.
3. They are just friends, but they're just really close friends with some sort of brohatemance going on, and so their confessing of hatred for each other would be like two guys who are telling each other how much they enjoy their friendship, and in the process wind up looking vaguely homoerotic. So in effect Karkat is saying that an outside observer would think that Karkat and Sollux are Kismeses when in fact they're just friends.

[Tenebrais]

Finally, addressing the question of "something is going to backfire regarding Karkat's desire to prevent troll/human relationships", one possibility got missed: polyamory. It would be pretty funny if Karkat thought he'd succeeded in getting the humans paired off and settled down, only for sloppy human/troll makeouts to happen anyway because one or more kids decided that the multiverse could always use more love. It might also be one of the few things that would actually shock him: even with four quadrants, trolls seem to be very set on the idea of one-partner-per-quadrant. It'd make for a nice jab back at the "wait, incest/homosexuality are a problem for you guys?" stuff. Granted it'd be pretty shocking for the readers too, but since when has that stopped Andrew?

The major issue I can see with this particular point is that in general humans go for monogamous relationships as well. It's socially unacceptable for a person to have more than one person they're romantically involved in, so it wouldn't make sense that the kids would arbitrarily decide that didn't matter.

Not so sure about that. Given that they are 13, no one else is around to tell them it's wrong, and they're all pretty friendly with each other, I can imagine it happening.

[8oy Skylark]

Finally, addressing the question of "something is going to backfire regarding Karkat's desire to prevent troll/human relationships", one possibility got missed: polyamory. It would be pretty funny if Karkat thought he'd succeeded in getting the humans paired off and settled down, only for sloppy human/troll makeouts to happen anyway because one or more kids decided that the multiverse could always use more love. It might also be one of the few things that would actually shock him: even with four quadrants, trolls seem to be very set on the idea of one-partner-per-quadrant. It'd make for a nice jab back at the "wait, incest/homosexuality are a problem for you guys?" stuff. Granted it'd be pretty shocking for the readers too, but since when has that stopped Andrew?

The major issue I can see with this particular point is that in general humans go for monogamous relationships as well. It's socially unacceptable for a person to have more than one person they're romantically involved in, so it wouldn't make sense that the kids would arbitrarily decide that didn't matter.

Not so sure about that. Given that they are 13, no one else is around to tell them it's wrong, and they're all pretty friendly with each other, I can imagine it happening.

If they already consider seriously the anathema of incest & homosexuality, why would you assume they wouldn't apply the much older and familiar idea of one pairing at a time? If any given relationship falls through they probably would move to another, but there's no indication with any of them that they would consider more than one romantic involvement at a time.

Between now and the trolls meeting relationships may fluctuate, and they may flirt with more than one person, but I highly suspect any romantic involvement would be strictly monogamous.

Besides, it's quite clear that the Trolls focus on purely monogamous relationships for each quadrant, as previously mentioned. They do have people telling them that infidelity is wrong; their Alternian peers.