Hiveswap Friendship Simulator: Volume Three

Of Ladies Grey and Lusii White
“I thought you were one of my girls, but you don't look like a jadeblood. Or anything else, actually. How strange.”
Release Date	May 11, 2018
Author(s)	Aysha U. Farah (Skylla) Cee L. Kyle (Bronya)
Artist(s)	Adrienne Garcia (Characters, backgrounds, endings)
Music	"Dapper Dueling" by Max "Imbrog" Wright "Phantasmagoric Waltz" by Alex Rosetti
Previous	Volume Two: Of Aesthetics, Crimson and Otherwise
Next	Volume Four: Of Wright and Wronged

Hiveswap Friendship Simulator: Volume Three, entitled "Of Ladies Grey and Lusii White", is the third installment of Hiveswap Friendship Simulator, a series of "loosely-canonical" Hiveswap spinoff visual novels in the style of dating sim games, but termed "friendship simulators" instead due to their focus on platonic friendships instead of romance. The befriendable characters in this installment (first introduced in the Troll Call) are Skylla Koriga and Bronya Ursama. Skylla's route was written by Aysha U. Farah, Bronya's was written by Cee L. Kyle. As with all Friendsim installments, Volume Three was developed and programmed by David Turnbull using the Ren'Py game engine.

Volume Three was announced and released on the same day, on May 11, 2018, two weeks after the release of Volume Two. As with Volume Two, it is sold as $0.99 DLC for Volume One. It was also made available on the Google Play Store for the same amount.

Plot

You continue your journey across Alternia, on the lookout for friendship as usual. Even though you could've stayed till your injuries have healed completely, you have opted to be on the move regardless. Leaving the city behind you, you enter the rustic outskirts.

Skylla

The sun rises over the horizon, its beams harsher than what you were expecting. Even though the sun is beating down on you, you don't see how you can turn back to the city when it's too far away right now. As such, you forge ahead and then see something shimmering in the harsh light.

• If you ignore the shimmer, you first go blind from the extreme light and sweltering heat before dying on the countryside. GAMEOVER
• If you go towards the shimmer, you stumble across a hive and pound on the door, prompting Skylla to come and tend to you. After telling her your story, she introduces herself and offers you some food. Skylla chats with you for a bit, but then bandits show up to steal her lusus, Ladyy, away from her. Skylla then launches herself out of the door, ready to protect her lusus from said theives. Concerned, you decide to either help her or stop her.
  • If you help her, you join her in the fray and work together in taking down the bandits. Since Skylla is able to handle the bandits on her own just fine, she tells you to help get Ladyy out of her restraints. You as you're told, and Ladyy soon helps Skylla defeat the last of the bandits. The five remaining bandits flee the scene, Skylla chasing after them for a few hundred yards before throwing the gun after them and shouting obsceneties. When the adrenaline drains out of you, your numerous injuries—both old and new—send bolts of agony through you, and the blazing sun overhead is not helping in the slightest. Concerned, Skylla insists that she would never let her new best friend die. You are then brought back to Skylla's hive with assistance from Skylla and Ladyy, and she lets you into her recuperacoon to cure the savage sunburns you'd sustained. The two of you then rest up in her recuperacoon. VICTORY!
  • If you stop her, she will fight against you for a few moments before finally slumping to the floor in defeat. Ladyy is taken away, along with a collection of other lusii from a paddock. Heartbroken, Skylla disappears into another room before you can think of a way to console her. You give her some space, and spend the next few moments tidying up the mess in her hive. As you are about to clean the dishes, Skylla reemerges from her room and thanks your for talking sense into her earlier. Skylla reveals that this wasn't her first encounter with lusus thieves, but she'd never had to face them in broad daylight and in such numbers before. In the past, she and Ladyy would take them out easily, as it was night and there weren't that many bandits to deal with. You and Skylla then wait for the sun to set, depressed and hopeless. When it's finally late enough, you follow Skylla outside to inspect the damage. Receiving a message on her phone, Skylla inspects the notification and is once again inconsolable. Skylla explains that it was a ranson demand, though it was clear that she couldn't afford it as a bronzeblood. You try to comfort her, but she insists that she doesn't want your sympathy. On the verge of tears, Skylla tells you that looking at your face reminds her of losing Ladyy. She expresses that she did want to be friends as it had been a while since she saw anyone in the countryside, but doesn't see it working out now. She then suggests that you either go back to the city, or head on over to a nearby jadeblood colony to help out. Skylla bids you farewell, and you leave her standing by the empty paddock. GAMEOVER

Bronya

You have been travelling through a cave network for a while now, though you're not entirely certain whether this would help with making friends as the place seems deserted. Then you notice buildings in the distance, and soon meet Bronya. She greets you, noting that you are neither one of her jades or anything else she'd ever seen. You give her the lowdown about your current predicament, and she agrees to take care of you for the moment, though making it quite clear that she can't make any promises of friendship just yet. After establishing some rules for you to follow, she brings you into her hive. Bronya takes you to the nursery, and explains that the facility was set up to care for sick or injured wigglers. She gets a little nervous when revealing the information to you, as it was a break from tradition to save wigglers that are too weak to fend for themselves. Rumaging around in a side cabinet, Bronya retrieves an ethos for your ribs, although both of you are not quite certain whether it would have any profound effect on your different anatomy.

• If you let her apply the salve on your ribs, pain shoots up your entire side like you've been doused with poison. You flinch back instinctively, tripping over something behind your feet. Despite your attempts to regain your balance, you fall to the ground, crushing something beneath you. Bronya looks on with horror as you realize that you've fallen right on a wiggler, effectively killing it. Covered in olive blood, you accept the fact that you can never be friends with Bronya after such an act. Murderous, Bronya warns you to leave before causing you grievous bodily harm. GAME OVER Alternia's deadliest ass
• If you decline her offer, she accepts your decision calmly, though she wishes that she could do more to help you. In an attempt to lighten the mood, you offer to help her out instead, as friendship is a two-way street. Agreeing that she could use some help—she notes that being in charge is not an easy task—Bronya takes you to visit the Mother Grub. After a bit of a hike in the caverns, the two of you finally reach the main cavern. Unfortunately, pandemonium ensues when Bronya was in the process of explaining details to you. An Imperial Drone had injured some lusii and young trolls while carrying out its duties, and one lusus in particular is lashing out at everything in grief.
  • If you offer to deal with the rogue bison-like lusus, Bronya will first reject your idea, as she doesn't trust anyone but herself to handle such a dangerous task. But since you're much too eager to prove yourself worthy of her friendship, you reassure her that you've got things under control. She reluctantly lets you deal with the precarious situation, and you step to the raging lusus. Your attempt at talking to the lusus only aggravated the beast further, the lusus turning its angry gaze on the Mother Grub. Just as the lusus was about to charge, you tackle it from the side in an effort to stop it in its tracks. The plan succeded in a sense, but the lusus falls onto a nest of wigglers in the process. Angry lusii descend on you as young trolls and wigglers go bouncing everywhere, and you find yourself pinned under the bison lusus for several long moments. Broyna then comes to your aid with the assistance of her other jadebloods, slightly irritated with your incompetence. Once you are no longer in any danger of being crushed to death, Bronya orders her fellows to tend to the agitated lusii, reminding them to keep the Mother Grub safe from harm. Disaster strikes when the Imperial Drones return, indiscriminately firing at everyone and everything. Paralyzed with shock, you and Bronya watch as blood of every colour is splattered on the cavern walls. After spending a few moments to contemplate who to blame for this mess, Bronya directs her ire at you and spits on your offer of being friends. GAME OVER YOU KLLED THEM ALL!!
  • If you be a weeny, you fake a fainting bout to drive your point home that you are in no condition to be of any real use. Bronya is instantly concerned about your wellbeing, though she doesn't relish the idea of leaving you alone while she deals with the rampaging lusus. She suggests a risky solution to the problem at hand, and you try to find a way to dissuade her from executing said plan as you have no desire to sustain any more injuries. Before you can speak, the other jadebloods return and assist Bronya in cleaning the mess up. Bronya is visibly relieved, and is glad that her jades are capable of handling crises with little hassle. As order is gradually restored in the caverns, you come across a little wiggler in need of assistance. You help the young grub, astounding Bronya with your strong nuturing instinct. Upon noticing that the wiggler in your arms has difficulty breathing, you and Bronya head back to the nursery to soothe and heal the wiggler. Bronya is worried that the wiggler wouldn't be able to make it in Alternia, given his small physique. Your attempt to sympathize with her only makes Bronya quite flustered, since agreeing with your statement meant that she harboured borderline-revolutionary ideas. Deciding not to stress her out, you quickly state that you have a neutral view on the basic tenets of Alternian society. She calms down quickly enough, and decides to take care of you until your injuries are fully healed. You are overjoyed when she calls you her friend, Bronya smiling and squeezing your hand. VICTORY! Self care comes first!

Character sprites

Skylla's character sprites

Bronya's character sprites

Gallery

Skylla's first bad ending

Skylla's second bad ending

Skylla's good ending

Bronya's first bad ending

Bronya's second bad ending

Bronya's good ending

Trivia

• Before the character select screen, your inner monologue says, "But as Martha Stewart said, 'Visitors, like fish, begin to smell after three days.' You are almost positive Martha Stewart said that." which is a reference to the "You are almost certain Mark Twain said that", and "I AM ALMOST CERTAIN CHERUB SHAKESPEARE SAID THAT." lines in Homestuck.
• While considering the possibility of permanently going blind due to the harsh sunlight, the player character mentions getting a cane, a whimsical aesthetic and learning how to navigate the world by smell alone—a clear reference to Terezi Pyrope.
• Skylla's lusus is revealed to be a Rough Collie, though noted to be larger than your average dog.
• Skylla mentions that she would be sent away from Alternia to colonize other galaxies next sweep, hinting that she's older than initially thought.
• Trolls that are sent away on intergalactic conquests never see their lusus again.
• There is a black market for lusii due to their immense strength, but the Heiress does nothing about the problem and instead takes a cut from the profits made.
• Interestingly, one of the blood colors smeared on the player in Bronya's second bad ending appears to be lime, indicating that limebloods may not yet be extinct at this point in Alternian history.
  • Supporting this, Andrew Hussie did confirm that limebloods "will be addressed more in the game than in hs".