Hiveswap Friendship Simulator: Volume Two

Of Aesthetics, Crimson and Otherwise
“Boy do you hope some of those ideas are about FRIENDSHIP. Now that you've got a taste of it you are hungry for more.”
Release Date	April 27, 2018 (Steam) May 11, 2018 (Android)
Author(s)	Aysha U. Farah (Amisia) Anonymous (Cirava)
Artist(s)	Danny Cragg (Characters, backgrounds, endings) Shelby Cragg (Colorist)
Music	"ARTCHOP (APPARENTLY)" by James Roach "Ｍ Ｏ Ｉ Ｓ Ｔ" by James Roach
Previous	Volume One: Of Bloodthirst and Bratwurst
Next	Volume Three: Of Ladies Grey and Lusii White

Hiveswap Friendship Simulator: Volume Two, entitled "Of Aesthetics, Crimson and Otherwise", is the second 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 Amisia Erdehn and Cirava Hermod. Amisia's story was written by Aysha U. Farah, while the writer for Cirava's story has chosen to remain anonymous. As with all Friendsim installments, Volume Two was developed and programmed by David Turnbull using the Ren'Py game engine.

Volume Two was announced on April 20, 2018 (in a festively dank tumblr post), and released on Steam one week later, on April 27. It is sold as $0.99 DLC for Volume One.

Plot

You continue your way onwards in Alternia, still needing medical attention and food—though friendship still remains as a high priority. You briefly reminisce about the past mishaps you’d been through, alluding to a strange encounter with alien meat products. You decide not to dwell too much on it, though it is evidently clear that you are very desperate for friendship. One of two trolls appoach you, and you attempt to befriend them.

Amisia

She greets you cheerfully, remarking about how cute you look. She deems you a ‘suitable contributor’, and leads you to her hive in the upscale part of town. Before she lets you into her abode, she asks whether you are an artist.

• If you tell her that you dabble in the arts, she will claim that she sees right through your ruse of trying to sneak trade secrets out of her. She bids you a goodbye, flipping you off as she leaves. YOU COMPLETELY BLEW IT!
• If you tell her that you don’t have a knack for art, she will happily lead you into her home. She shows you around, and you express relief for being able to recognize the space as an artist’s studio. Amisia heals you with a Medicalizer, and you are delighted to find out that your arm is completely healed.
  • If you choose to be chill with your gratitude, she goes on to talk about several other things. Then she asks about your blood colour out of curiosity. After you tell her that it’s red, she drops the subject and asks that you help her set up the place for a visitor. You do as told and lay down a purple tarp, while Amisia greets the two officers excitedly. A third troll is dragged in and forced to kneel on the tarp. Once the officers take their leave, you are disturbed by the sight of Amisia returning with an axe almost as large as she is. You protest at the idea of her beheading someone, but Amisia laughs it off and insists that you help her out instead. Despite being extremely nervous with the dark turn of events, you try to take the axe from her. You fail to do so due to your busted ribs, so Amisia tells you to hold down the troll while she does the beheading herself. You grip the troll’s shoulders and mumble an apology, distressed that you would be part of this gruesome act. When Amisia swings the axe, however, you drag the captive aside instinctively. This causes the troll to sustain a mortal wound on their collarbone, spraying olive blood everywhere. Enraged, Amisia berates herself for letting you into her hive, ignoring your attempts to explain yourself and stating that Chahut had been right when she said that beheading trolls was best done by oneself. You then leave via the elevator, kneeling in a pool of blood and failure. TERRIBLE AT MURDER!
  • If you get excited and dance her around the studio, you will go careening into a table due to your injured ribs. You hit a corner of the table and fall right onto your incredibly sore ass. Amisia enquires as to whether you’re alright, then eases you onto her lumpy couch. She then notices the blood leaking out of your newly sustained injury, and dredges a finger through your blood. While she examines your blood critically, you hope that she wouldn’t decide to eat you. Amisia then remarks that she’s never seen anything like your blood before, immediately rushing off to paint your blood onto a sketchbook. Confused, you ask her what was so special about red. She informs you that it wasn’t red but crimson, and tells you what a lucky mutant you are. You try to calm down, but get freaked out when you open your eyes to see Amisia brandishing a gigantic axe. When you try to scramble away from her, Amisia pins you down on the couch and reassures you that she only meant to show you her axe, not use it on you. Relieved to a certain extent, you try to hold the axe in your hands when Amisia passes it to you. However, the great weight of the axe is too much for you, and you wind up dropping it. In the process, your wrists get slashed, blood leaking everywhere. While you start to hallucinate and lose track of your surroundings, Amisia gets a variety of jars to collect your blood. After a few more moments, you pass out. When you finally come to, you are next to the medicalizer. While your wrists are healed, you are still faint from the blood loss and are unable to remain in an upright position for long. You hear Amisia giggling in the corner, painting something with your blood. Noticing that you are awake, she chats with you a bit, expressing concern about your wellbeing as she does not want to run out of crimson paint far too soon for her liking.  After showing you numerous blank canvases, Amisia tearfully tells you that she has yet to paint an actual painting despite being a self-proclaimed artist. You attempt to cheer her up, telling her that she's at least headed in the right direction. Your words lift her out of her dour mood, and she declares you her muse. YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE!

Cirava

They react in surprise upon seeing you, asking whether you're an alien. When you nod your assent, they casually warn you to stay inside, lest you be picked off by a drone in no time flat. You tell them about your plight, and Cirava seems moved by your story. Despite the risk of getting culled, they still invite you into their hive, though Cirava claims its because plenty of their followers are into aliens. You check out the decor, and they talk about their streaming hobbies. Cirava then asks whether you're into moisturewave. 

• If you tell them that you have no clue what moisturewave is, they will decide that friendship isn't probably going to work out between the two of you. They then casually tell you to get out of their hive. THROWN OUT!!
• If you tell them that you love moisturewave, they then show your their GrubTube Channel that is currently streaming some chill beats. Cirava goes on to explain that they are a big deal online, working hard to create nice beats for their many followers. When they reveal that being a popular online presence isn't all fun and games, you agree with the statement out of sympathy. They then mention something called 'The Incident', explaining why it's so hard for them to trust new people. You are quite eager for new friendship, and jump at the chance to be a comforting shoulder for Cirava. They find this rather amusing to some degree, though they state that if you wanted a good bond going, you had to really work on your outfit. Cirava then leads you upstairs, and you observe the few pictures hung on the walls. Nonchalantly, Cirava remarks that they should take said photos down sometime, as the other trolls featured were dead to them. You are curious as to what they meant by that statement, but decide to remain silent as to not offend Cirava. They then show you their walk-in closet, and allows you to have your pick at a new outfit. 
  • If you let Cirava help you with your look, they will spend a bit of time selecting the new outfit for you, only to reveal that it looks just like theirs. After taking a few selfies with Cirava, they post the pictures online and you both watch as the comments and subscriptions start rolling in. Cirava starts getting uneasy with the prospect of being outshined by you, even though you try to reassure them that friendship is your main priority, not Internet fans. Getting visibly worked up, Cirava mentions that their former friends all used the same line, though none of them cared for Cirava as a person. They also express their ire at violetbloods, grumbling that the seadwellers were always stealing their work, music and followers. After getting a notification on their phone, Cirava accuses you of stealing their look as all their followers are very interested in you. Panicked, you insist that you only wanted to be friends with Cirava, though they reject your plea and write a callout post about you. You spiral into a wave of despair, and stagger out of Cirava's hive to a conveniently placed stump. Deciding that there was no point to existence anymore, you reach inside the stump and make the ultimate decision. 
  • If you pick out your own look, you decide to select accessories that make you look like the biggest tool possible, as you aren't entirely sure what consititues as cool on Alternia. Cirava compliments you on your new look, and the two of you begin taking selfies for the occasion. Posting them online, Cirava marvels at how quickly other trolls were digging your new aesthetic and asking whether you're single. They advise you against the idea, as they believe that most of their fans are freaks. Cirava invites you downstairs to listen to some chill beats, and asks whether you vape. You go for it, even though you're unsure whether your anatomy is compatible with their brand of vape. You start getting high from the experience, hallucinating things while Cirava officially deems you their best friend for life, on the grounds that you do not betray them. Cirava begins talking about their past, having sassy fights with highbloods on Chittr until they started reporting Cirava as a really powerful psionic. In order to escape enslavement and keep up with their streams, Cirava reveals that they had gouged out their own eye so they could no longer be used as a battery. After the incident, Cirava kept a low profile as to stay under the radar and not irritate people. Cirava expresses delight upon gaining a new friend—all their old ones turned on them to avoid being targeted by highbloods—and the two of you share an embrace. HIGH TIME

Character sprites

Amisia's character sprites

Cirava's character sprites

Gallery

Amisia's first bad ending

Amisia's second bad ending

Amisia's good ending

Cirava's first bad ending

Making the Ultimate Decision

Cirava's good ending

The 420 themed image from the Volume Two announcement post, featuring silhouettes of Cirava and Amisia. The Alternian reads "April 27 Friendsim Volume Two"

Friendsim title screen after Volume two release

Your outfit when you dress yourself

Your outfit when you let Cirava dress you

Trivia

• Cirava's Vaporwave stream is a reference to the YouTube stream "Lofi Hip Hop Radio 24/7 Chill Gaming / Study Beats" and others like it.
• The Alternian text that floats past while vaping with Cirava says "aesthetic".