HIVESWAP

yes, wild guessing is fun! but it's very odd when your wild guesses are worded like they're based on canon information, when in fact they are not at all. you often seem to set up your posts so that you have an established character fact, and then making guesses based on that fact. except the fact is not a fact and was not stated in any canon material so it's awfully strange when you just kinda breeze past saying a completely theoretical thing and set it up as being a definite character Known Thing, which can be very confusing.

 

That could work too!

Am I coming across that way? Sorry if I am.

Tumblr's dahniwitchoflight has some pretty convincing arguments about Joey being a Mage of Life, which is disappointing to me because I was really attached to the Sylph of Doom idea. What's going on in my eyes is her descriptions and interests say Life but her actions and circumstances say Doom. Inversion theory going on here, and if so, in which direction?

 

Would it work better if I talked about it in terms of how the character could go if they turn out to be X, rather than "the character looks like an X"?

 

Am I the only one who thinks Nikhee's horns look like hands giving the middle finger?

 

Does "orthodox decompositionist" imply a grave-digger, or a grave-robber? Once again I think "it's Alternia, go for the most horrible possibility". Then again, trolls don't usually bury the dead so a graverobber wouldn't have much to do.

 

they dig the graves
and then they rob them
it's hard doing all the work yourself
but someone's gotta do it

 

Bit of tasteless Zebruhcourse that just hit me:

Spoiler: tastelessness

Joey's shirt symbol is sorta olive-coloured, which doesn't necessarily mean anything, but there are numerous references in the text about her breaking both legs, and, um, considering Zebruh's inspiration... God I hope they don't take that angle.

 

Joey's text uses both the phrases "not made of time" and "not Dammek's maid"; is this a sign that her class isn't Maid, or that it is and she's unrealised as yet?

 

Okay, in the swap scene, Dammek doesn't look very surprised or frightened to me. Did he intentionally activate his side of the portal at the same time Joey did her side?

 

i mean, considering that they’re in different universes, “same time” is an iffy concept to begin with. could be circumstantial simultaneity, though.

or the machine could be set up to swap each person from the moment they activate the machine - as in, when Dammek activated his side, it took him immediately and swapped him with Joey-at-the-moment-of-her-activation, so he wasn’t waiting around or anything

 

My main point was more "did he know what it was going to do".

 

ah, gotcha. in that case, i would put money on “yes.”

 

The info we have does seem to suggest that Dammek knew...something about what the machine would do. That it would do anything, for one. And it does seem to suggest that he activated it on purpose, rather than having been mind-controlled into doing it by a mystical artifact.

 

Is Lanque not having his arms in his sleeves a reference to the "retrieve arms" gags?

 

I think it's just a cool look.

 

A thought. What's the 11:11:11 countdown for? Is it counting down to them getting yanked back, or losing their opportunity to ever switch back, or something else entirely?

 

Okay, an obvious flaw I can't be the first person to point out; how does Xefros' typing quirk work when the Hiveswap version of the Alternian alphabet doesn't have an X?

 

So who wants to gush about the Friendsim?

 

Spoiler: large image

....it definitely has an X.
ETA: and a Y and Z, too, that part just got cut off.

 

The version on the Wiki page didn't earlier.