#cuspidated grimalkin

[daily-hs-cat-doodles]

CAT TOURNEY ROUND 5

polls are open for 3 days /// propaganda is encouraged /// reblog please!!!

[sickfires]

little deercatdad i made for my website.

[strokesyaoi]

i find it funny how people always forget about the cat part of deercat

its always "haha dammek deer" but what about the cat? if were going with the concept of trolls having behaviors similar to the animal their lusus is based on (ex: nepeta acting like a cat, meowing, hissing etc.) even if dammek looks more deer than cat, he should still have some cat behaviors he adopted from his lusus.

so somebody needs to fucking draw dammek doing cat shit. make him meow, hiss, purr, eat mouse, whatever the fuck. make him cat.

[grox-empire]

Cuspidated Grimalkin from Hiveswap (In Spore!)

[ask-warmer-hues]

so how was everyone's lussi before goin off planet? did any of them live to see em go?

So, I was going to draw up individual character answers for this one, but I thought it would be a good time to actually explain what I think certain characters’ lusii would be alongside answering your question. I’ll go through the trolls whose lusii we’ve actually seen first.

So, obviously we’re introduced both Xefros and Dammek’s lusii in Hiveswap- which according to the wiki are a Glacial Treetrudger (sloth) and a Cuspidated Grimalkin (deercat), respectively. I suspect that Xefros’s lusus may have sustained injuries following the bombing of his hive in Act 1 and thus, it did not live very long afterwards. The same can’t be said for Dammek’s lusus though, as the species is said to commonly outlive their charges, so Dammek’s lusus was there to see him off, maybe even giving him a shedded horn or clump of fur to take with him on his travels. It’s hard for him to admit, but Xefros is rather bitter about how Dammek got to say goodbye to his lusus.

Vikare’s lusus, Canary (emu), was pretty well looked after, even if he was kept outside. As such, he was able to see his charge go off into space, no doubt very worried about him too.

As we learn in Act 2, Skylla’s collie dog lusus, Ladyy, developed some kind of illness, either while or just before travelling. In Warmer Hues, this illness persisted, causing her to become weak and less mobile as the sweeps went on. Luckily for Skylla though, she had the opportunity to care for Ladyy until she went off-planet and made sure they shared a meaningful goodbye before eventually having to put her down. This may be why her position as a lusus wrangler is taking more of a toll on her than she expected.

Now we move into the realm of lusus headcanons for this AU.

Out of the rest of the lowblood cast, Marsti is the only one whose lusus got to see her go. I recently chose an alpaca for Marsti’s lusus, mostly because I like the idea of young Marsti plucking off clumps of wool to use as sponges or to clean injuries. Much like Vikare, Marsti took very good care of her lusus and likely got most of her medical practice from patching her up if anything happened to her. Saying goodbye to Marsti was hard for her lusus; they likely spent a long time hugging before she eventually left for the ship to the Central Colony. Marsti still keeps a childhood photo of her and her lusus next to her recuperacoon- but if you tell anyone you saw it, she’ll kill you.

I’ve always had the headcanon that Chixie’s lusus is basically just a huge bunny rabbit. I think this relates to her anxious behaviour, being prey for the highbloods (and also because her horns remind me of floppy rabbit ears). We learn in Act 2 that Chixie’s lusus has been dead for a long time already, likely due to some kind of sickness if her response to the question about lusus medicine is anything to go by. This follows through in Warmer Hues. No one was there to say goodbye to Chixie except herself.

Fozzer has a similar circumstance. Fozzer’s lusus is, what I like to call, a bearhemoth: a hybrid of a grizzly bear and a moth. When Fozzer was relocated from North Eastern Alternia to Outglut, he unfortunately had to leave his lusus behind. However, even if he had brought her with him, she likely wouldn’t have lived much longer after he left due to her age. He’s already said goodbye to her once, perhaps not having to say it again was a blessing.

I may add art onto this eventually, but I think this explains enough for now :>

[gangstalkerbarbie]

ok so I actually don't think anyone else in the world has ever had this headcanon but

if you look carefully at the implications, it's kind of obvious that the homestuck trolls are like, judean, right? like they're not all jewish (although gamzee is a kohen, terezi is presumably a hellenised levi and it's plausible redglare had both like smicha and a troll roman legal license, kanaya is in some sort of essene type cave sect, and karkat is obsessed with the colonised auxiliary troop cosplay version of the sikrikim), but every one of their ancestors either lived on the land they still live on now or invaded it a bazillion years ago, and for better or worse they all seem to be neighbours in the same occupied territory, and, you know, the implications?

so then notice how a majority of their terms are anglish compound words, to convey a feeling of ancientness and like nativeness to english, and the further up you go in dialectal prestige the more romance language roots they use? this is an accident of english related to the norman conquest, i think it's quite intentional, eridan is very space roman

(this is why in my friends and i's beautiful and strong dune coded byzantinesrael au [what hemoswaps want to be] where the rebels won and then formed the same evil byzantine empire but in like a 'we will be a light unto this wretched world' way, it's the other way around and anglish moot-style anglish is the sociolectal equivalent of rabbinic hebrew. the descendants of the now very put upon space romans say things like 'cuspidated grimalkin' because the true names of things are tabooed to them, and kritarchal language is full of delights like 'kithlore' [hive grouping- or caste-restricted knowledge, such as of water stewardship, which is partly how bug kohanim and old synedrial hives maintain power and relevancy, as distinguished from hivelore, which is specific to a particular house] and 'telcraft' [formal mathematics, because the Reckoning is already the apocalypse].)

anyway we all know this, this isn't the headcanon, the headcanon is that the condesce's regime are not the first people who domesticated lusii, they only encountered that sort of thing in the troll Levant, much later

evidence:

• people don't generally name useful things in insults

• however colonisers name things they don't understand that way

• 'lusus naturae' is not a name compatible with what you could be woowoo and call 'indigenous latin folkways', because at the early stage this concept would have formed for these hypothetical bee romans, animals would have been peoplier, and also because 'nature' as a hostile personification is relatively young, etymologically it just means 'the world/condition you were born to' which doesn't start to cruelly play with anything (that's the gods' job) until Nature becomes an exploitable construct that needs propagandising

• if however they had first encountered lusii among other people (like, idk, phoenicians) AND those people had biotechnology sufficient to breed docile or at least psychically susceptible versions of major predators AND it was a status symbol of a sort to keep them THEN ok yeah i can see how troll pontius pilate could roll up and be like 'feh. the barbarians and their freakish custom of animal childcare, typical of this region'

• this would have been ages ago even by the signless' standards, probably more ancient than the empire in its current form

I think originally lusii as caregivers were like one or a group to a hive, though, like some wasps brainwash roaches to protect their brood (or worse), because normally a given bug mediterranean hive would have people (probably male people all things considered) to look after the kids, and the later model of 1 creature : 1 child is a consequence of mass conscription that was widely adopted everywhere because it worked :)

do as you please with this knowledge all i have done is set it free into the wild

[moonticore-art]

Just clean your room already, Dammek.

[wygolvillage]

Here’s my Hiveswap theory

Dammek isn’t a bronzeblood.

He hides his eyes with sunglasses, he has circular discs (a highblood luxury...), he treats Xefros like a servant, and his lusus is of a species that takes in orphaned trolls...

[moved-to-culljoy]

So how long must I wait before someone makes a fursuit of Dammek’s lusus.

[blanketsandanime]

The majestic deercat surveys its natural habitat...

[daily-hs-cat-doodles]

3. sometimes i think about how, from the cuspidated grimalkin's perspective, dammek presumably dissapeared. did he ever wonder where dammek was when he found joey in their hive?

first last next

[krystalguitarthemums]

Cuspidated Grimalkin + Charge

[trolloled]

Big List of Fantroll Facts from Hiveswap

This is all pulled straight from the game with 0 (or attempted 0) bias from me or @peckonthecheek​

We have both played the game so I can verify several things on the list. Most of the information comes from @peckonthecheek​ who exhaustively did everything in the game and recorded useful information.

If you want to add to this post, feel free to screenshot what you want to add and send it to me!

Land - Alternia consists of 4 - 5 continents and is mostly covered by said land.

Language - Alternian is distinct from English, trolls at least write in Alternian. It is read from LEFT to RIGHT and every symbol in its alphabet can be directly translated back to an English letter.

Drones - Weak point is in its torso. Drones can burn down hives and just take away random trolls for whatever reason.

- They can also fly and fire missiles.

Lususes (Yes that’s correct) - One species of lusus is the Cuspidated Grimalkin, (A deercat) which prefers to bond with brownbloods with leadership aptitudes. If a Grimalkin loses its charge (Fairly common) it will try to find a new troll to adopt. This is highly illegal.

- Another species of lusus is the Supplikatydid, which resembles praying mantises

- There exist several books on the various species of lususes.

- Lususes have blood colors and tend to bond with trolls of certain bloods

- Sloth lususes (GLACIAL TREETRUDGER) are pretty uncommon

- Lusus can be referred to as a pet/dad

- Multiple of the same types of lususes exist

Powers - Redbloods share telekinesis and speak-with-dead powers as a caste, brownbloods share animal communion powers

- Telekinesis - no matter how weak - can erase data off of discs easily

- Overexerting powers can cause exhaustion, nosebleeds, headaches

Stickball - This is gonna be huge so just. Bear with it.

- There are several leagues depending on area - There’s some sort of piece known as a CLOVER - Positions include PUSHER, BRAWLER, PROWLER, ZAPPER - Played on Velvet - Two pieces called a DOZER (Ball) and a SNOWGLOBE (Ball) - Burgundies often play PUSHER due to their telekinesis and ability to talk to the dead players - PUSHER is the most dangerous position - No one cares if a rustblood dies due to the danger of the position - Some HAZARDS - MATCHTIP - burns you - ZAPPER - blasts you - LUSUS - controlled by opposing (brownblood) Wranglers - Only unbonded lususes are allowed (Can be friendly, neutral, or opposing) - Each ball (DOZER, STITCHER, TRACER, FINISHER, SNOWGLOBE) has its own effect (There are 15 total) - Cuebats (the tool that the PUSHERS use) are made to be hard to bend with their telekinesis - It's okay to use someones torn off leg or other weapons found on the playing field as improvised weapons - but illegal to bring in your own!  - DOZER puts you to sleep if you touch it with your bare hands - STITCHER is a ball of yarn that has to be rolled up before it can be used to score - TRACER will try to follow the path it was taken the match before - FINISHER will only move in a predetermined path to the goal. - If your tryout is bad enough, you CAN get culled  - Rustbloods caught cheating in Arena Stickball will "get culled before they can blink"  - SNOWGLOBE - 8-BALL, rigged with a nuclear bomb that explodes after a set amount of time. - Controllers are often bluebloods (Cerulean?)  - Lususes are used in this sport - they can be friendly, neutral, or opposing - Aren't allowed to be fed, though - Sloths are not commonly used in AS due to their slowness - PUSHERs are the only players allowed to score (And are thus prime targets) - PUSHER helmets are designed to leave the forehead exposed for their    Psychic Powers, however this is a weak point and why they die a lot. - There is a team called the SNOWGLOBES - Xultan Matzos was a PUSHER - very famous - If the heiress attends a match, you are “encouraged” to kneel the entire time - Not following the rules proper will get you culled - Couches are MADE of FABRIC  - PUSHERS are advised to rely heavily on telekinesis - THE MAN ON THE MOON (White, non-scoring ball) cannot be interacted with by PUSHERS. It radiates a feeling of pernicious intent (to Xefros, at least)

Lowblood life:

- Having leadership aspirations is illegal and grounds for execution.

- Suburbs (Subgrubs) are segregated by caste.

- It is mandatory to buy what the heiress is selling.

- The bus system is infrequent and unreliable ("engineered to prevent caste mobility")

- Sometimes (Most times for lowbloods?) jobs are involuntary and assigned

- There is a LOT of class struggle and oppression

- There is, quote “Forced participation in keeping that oppression running smoothly.”

- Have to practice your profession before the TRIALS or you'll get culled

- Demanding a refund as a lowblood can get you culled

- Even uttering rebellious sentiment and promoting it could lead to your execution

- It's Imperial mandate that rustbloods are kept poor - they're not allowed to have more than the bare minimum to scrape by

- "Almost all" rustbloods end up as butlers 

- If a lowblood (read: redblood) makes a name for themselves and succeeds too well, they are liable to be humiliated and culled.

- Heiress will and can make a spectacle of your death in public

- Dreaming of destroying things associated with the heiress can get you killed

- Circular discs are a luxury, if you can't afford them, you get hexagonal ones

- There are sections of magazines that are illegal for lowbloods to read (???)

- Good pizza toppings are reserved for highbloods

- Lowbloods either get instaculled in raids or snatched up for later

- Mostly to be killed as a highblood spectacle

- Lowbloods can get culled for anything and everything or no reason at all - Anyone who disobeys the heiress gets rounded up and enslaved or slaughtered - Slavery is a thing (especially for rustbloods)

- The heiress hates aliens and lowbloods

- Your money is monitored by the government to keep you poor. (Probably).

- Scythian (Troll version of Amazon) always takes forever to deliver to lowbloods

Highblood Life:

- SLAM OR GET CULLED prevents voting from lususes, unless you're a highblood, and then you can have your lusus go on stage and eat everyone, if you want

- Highbloods generally can get away with a lot.

- Indigos (Blue?) care where the silverware goes (tend to "crush anything they pick up anyways")

- High society dinners often involve bluebloods (Pranking during this time often gets you culled)

- Chucklevoodoos are a subjug thing - not a purpleblood/Gamzee thing (Typically these involve dreams and the subconscious) - Heiress has a lot of servants, literally eats off of gold plates

- Violetbloods are considered royals: They can get published anywhere and tend to write lots of reviews about everything (Their hatred for lowbloods, what they just ate), most reviews are by them and they are especially disgusted by rustbloods.

- Heiress has a court of highbloods and a drone army

FLARP:

- They have FLARP editions based on spies, espionage, and rebellion - FLARP editions have fatigue rules in them involving SOPOR SLIME - There is a FLARP class called ESPIACROONER - It is permitted to use your telekinesis and other psychic powers in FLARP  - Need a game grub in order to play FLARP! 

Miscellaneous (Everything else):

- There is a city named THRASHTHRUST which contains the subgrub called OUTGLUT

- Swinging a weapon at an image of the heiress will bring a drone down upon you near instantly.

- Trolls sleep in recuperacoons due to the "violent and troubling impusles" they have - Sopor is very physically and mentally draining - Can injure trolls further if they sleep in the sopor while injured. - Gotta shake off some of the slime to completely wake up (?) - There are chairs with sopor slime in them, made to relax in (See below) - Sopor slime in close proximity to a troll helps them to relax - Eating sopor slime makes you dumb though 

- Sopor Slime keeps powers in check while they are asleep.

- SLAM OR GET CULLED can end in “relatively certain death” for the losers

- There is an interplanetary warsong titled  "If You Aliens Were Not Meant To Die At Our Hands, Why Are You All So Pitifully Incapable Of Defending Yourselves?!"

- There are Illegal parts of History! Censorship is REAL!

- Protest art exists (Videogames are considered art?)

- Video game controllers dies from starvation. Once they die, the mother console lays a new one.

- Crack open a controller for game grub - pus gets everywhere

- There have been multiple heiresses, but only one is alive at a time

- Interfaces can be designed with psionics/telekinesis in mind

- Jostling sopor is good housekeeping (?)

- Magazine titles: Arena Stickball Illustrated, Grubs Diurnally, Talentless Nobodies

- RITES OF MATURATION: Occur around 7 sweeps, involve Trials, decides your future. Nothing is known about them beyond this, not even whether it means you instantly leave the planet. Trolls are expected to TRAIN FOR THESE.

- Putting inorganic material in a grubslurry activator is begging for death

- Eating raw eggs is bad for trolls and gives them parasites - Trolls have benevolent and benign parasites

- Troll pupils are kind of reflective like a dog - they reflect white, though!

- They create their hives when they are freshly pupated, CARPENTER DRONES ENFORCE THIS.

- Typing Quirks are very personal for trolls! - Close friends and quadrants can imitate them sometimes - Only two fuschiabloods - Heiress and the Queen. Both are seadwellers - Queen is far away  leading conquests in other galaxies, she is known to be incredibly powerful

- THERE ARE NO (0) (ZERO) ADULTS ALLOWED ON ALTERNIA. NO EXCEPTIONS EVER.

- Adults are sent off-planet for their ORDEALS when they come of age

- Quadrants are Fated? (???)

- All text communications and conversations are subject to monitoring by the government.

- Trolls do not meet aliens until they’re off-planet, where they conquer them.

- The caste system is highly important.

- Trolls clean their floors with mucus (?)

- Calendars exist with celebrities on them!

- There is a month named CULLUBRE

TROLLIAN TERMS HIVE - House POWER HEXAGRID - Power grid? LUSUS - Caretaker beast SUBGRUB - suburb STEMCLUSTER - City OMNISCUTTLECOACH - Bus SCYTHIAN - Amazon but not FLARP - LARP but deadly RESPITEBLOCK - bedroom GANDER PRECIPICE - balcony ARENA STICKBALL - a sport! WAREGRID STUDYSCROLL - Looks like a placemat that you study for tablesetting MEGAFORK , MICROFORK , KNIFE FORK, "FOOLS FORK" - Several types of forks SMASHSUIT - stunt gear "SLAM OR GET CULLED" - American Idol but deadly RECUPERACOON - bed SOPOR SLIME - sedative slime that trolls sleep in RAKE PRONG, BILESCOOPER - Utensils 12TH PERIGREES EVE - assumedly christmas SCOURDRAY - Maid. Cleany. Thingy. RESIFLUID - Floor Cleaner SMEARSPINNER - Floor waxer CUEBAT - PUSHERS tool in ARENA STICKBALL FLAVOR DISC - pizza WET CHITIN SACK - ??? XULTAN MATZOS - Famous STICKBALL player BOBBLENUG FIGURINE - Bobblehead RECESSED TABLETOP ARENA STICKBALL - foozeball but not THRASHTHRUST SNOWGLOBES - ARENA STICKBALL League team SPORT OF LORDS  - ??? SPLAYSAC - beanbag filled with SOPOR SLIME CHAIRBAG - beanbag GAME GRUB - videogame CASTE SYSTEM - a system of oppression by blood - rust is lowest, fuschia is highest. ROYGBIV NUGBONES - Skull GRUBFLECKS - a type of cereal SCOURBRISTLE / SCOURBRISTLING - Mop/Mopping? Alternatively Broom/Sweeping CHITIN-RIDGER - goes to the right of the cuebat STICK-JAMMER - thumbtack DROMED BAKTAR - famous stickball player LOUNGEPLANKS - sofa CRISPRANGE - stovetop GRUBSLURRY AGITATOR - used to aggrivate some grubslurry GRUBSLURRY - made to be aggrivated HUSKLOAF - meatloaf BILESLAW - probably coleslaw : / GRUB-SAUCE - its a sauce UNRANGED CLUCKBEAST OVA - uncooked eggs? ACID TUBES - probably intestines given the context GRUB JUICE HYDRATION CYLINDERS - cans of grub juice GRUB JUICE - drink to restore psychic powers WRIGGLING DAY - birthday WIPES - a measurement of time. RITES OF MATURATION - a series of TRIALS and potentially ORDEALS that happen around 7 sweeps SMEARGUNK - cleans floors - is used with smearspinner GLACIAL TREETRUDGER - Xefros' Sloth lusus! ZIGZAG INCLINE - stairs GASTRIC EVACUATION GLAND - The uvula TUBEFLORA SHAVINGS - Banana Slices (Maybe, unconfirmed) LAWNRING - Yard SUPPLIKATYDIDS - Praying Mantis Lususes ORDEALS - gone through by adults. May be a part of the RITES OF MATURATION? CRUEL-AID - Kool-aid CUSPIDATED GRIMALKIN - deercat lusus of Dammeks GUTTERBLOOD - a term for lowbloods THROTTLEMOTH - Just a moth BELLOWSACS - Lungs SCENTBULB - Nose

[blaperile]

Hiveswap Act 1 Reaction Part 30: Bonding with Deercatdad

Alright, time to finally make some progress on Hiveswap again.

Last time were about to exit Dammek's room to go and feed his Lusus!

Let's do that...

Ha, epic staredown with Deercat, and then NOPE, just retreating. I guess we need to use the bowl with lusus milk on the door then?

...No, that wasn't it.

Ah, use the other door at the kitchen side then?

LUSUS MILK && KITCHEN DOOR ==> ...That's it! N'aww, look at the Lusus adorably lapping up the milk.

Alright, and then we can now go through the other door...

There we are!

D'aww, it's hurt. Let's use the medical kit on it. After first using the other items of course!

BOOK OF MONSTERS && DEERCAT ==> Cuspidated Grimalkin, huh. That sure is a mouthful, haha. :D

Sounds like it's the ideal transport for Xefros and Joey then, with how the book describes it can run for a long time. And seems like it could even put up a fight if necessary.

Huh, so it's drawn to bronzebloods with leadership qualities. That reminds me of the Summoner. Is it just coincidence, or are bronzebloods naturally drawn to leadership roles (despite the hemospectrum suppressing them)?

MEDICAL KIT && DEERCAT ==> D'aww, that's an absolutely adorable bonding scene.

And hey, we get to name him just like with Slothdad!

Pfff, "Cornibuster". Let's not.

Let's stick with the general Lusus naming convention, which we also used with Slothdad, and go with Deercatdad here.

OH HELL YES, WE CAN RIDE DEERCATDAD ALREADY. THAT'S AMAZING.

And probably also a good idea, so we don't spend TOO much time outside, can help Xefros, and get out of there as quick as possible.

DEERCATDAD > RIDE ==> Huh, so Xefros and Dammek were supposed to meet up with someone. Who? A fellow member of the rebellion? I guess this is a mystery which will only be resolved during Hauntswitch (if it ever comes)?

There we go, cutscene to get to Xefros!

Aww, poor Xefros. Dammek really is crucial to the entire rebellion. Maybe he left some plans behind that can help them and the rebellion anyway? Maybe we're going to some rebel camp after this and see what they know?

Or who knows, maybe just because Joey is so new to all this, she can provide a fresh look on things and come up with some incredible new ideas that can help the rebellion.

And so it's confirmed that Dammek is the leader. And it just makes so much sense, not just with what the Summoner did, but also with Tavros leading the ghost army.

Wow.

Oh yes, you go Joey. I look forward to see how the friendship between Joey and Xefros progresses. I think Joey could bring out a lot of potential within Xefros, and that he might be very different by the time Dammek sees him again.

I wonder who the ally is that they will be meeting up with? Maybe abundantChewtoys is correct that it's a jadeblood? A couple of years ago I think we indeed saw some kind of concept art for that.

[moonticore-art]

Crossover with my SECOND favorite game, Okami. (Okami is an masterpiece, really, everyone should play it)

[abundantchewtoys]

Hiveswap re: The Deercatdad & the Junior Vet

Picking back up where we left off, we pour the milk into the bowl and, after a quick sweep of the accessible rooms to get all responses, try to exit the door.

Nope! Deercatdad lies in waiting. So we'll have to use the bowl on the door and then near the lusus from the other side!

BOWL + RESPITEBLOCK DOOR > ...

Nope! We have to give it to him through the kitchen door, heheh.

BOWL + KITCHEN DOOR > Aww, kitty likes his milk.

As we get back to the living room, it becomes clear to Joey that Deercatdad is definitely hurt. I can see it keeping its paw up, yeah. So, the drones must've done this.

BIG BOOK OF MONSTERS + DEERCATDAD > "Cuspidated Grimalkin" is indeed a mouthful, but typical naming pattern for trolls. ... Huh, so it senses leadership in trolls, but as a result, it's responsible for the prosecution of its wards. Welp! At least the book seems to imply that deercat might try bonding with Joey now that Dammek is missing. The same will probably happen on Earth between Dammek and Tess.

BYERS + DEERCATDAD > Oh, so it's a thorn. Oh, lion, thorn, the age-old story. ... Wow, Joey's been burned before after introducing a friend of hers to someone else and the both of them shutting her out. There's a story there.

VETERINARIAN KIT + DEERCATDAD > Aww, they bonded! Oh, yeah, and now we get the opportunity to (re)name the lusus, like with Xefros' lusus! (Zoosmell... Glad we picked SLOTHDAD) Pfff, the proposed name is "Cornibuster", heheh. That sounds better than Zoosmell. I don't want to imagine these are the canon names for them though, by which I mean the names Xefros & Dammek are implied to have given them before we the player came along. DEERCATDAD it is!

LOOK > Ooooh, are we actually going to sprint into the garden, hoist Xefros on the levitator, and egress before the drones catch up? Combining the other items ... Aw, Joey's already so fond of her new friend, heheh.

RIDE > ... Oooh, so the drones were actually summoned because of a meeting that Xefros and Dammek were expecting, but it fell through? ... Was Doc Scratch behind this? Did he pretend to be someone else?

Xefros is trying to persuade Joey now to leave him, but Joey will have none of that!

"you were going to do the same thing for me" > We make it to Dammek safely, and right! Slothdad was here, trying to get him out of the pile.

... Oh jeez, some of his neighbours were culled on sight D: All his smilies in between what he's telling are so disonant...

Apparently Dammek was the leader of the rebellion! Jeez, I didn't think it was JUST him in charge, I thought Xefros & Dammek were low-rung members. So the book was right about his inherent leadership qualities.

Brownbloods really are meant to lead rebellions, aren't they?

Again Xefros starts doubting himself and tells Joey to leave him behind.

"NO!" > Joey has heard about enough about Dammek. Sure, we know that moirails might get something more out of the relationship we've seen described, but Joey's right. Dammek's not a good friend, Joey would be a better one. She does have to remind him they're in this together, but I love how happy both of them have made each other over the course of just a few hours, and without even having met in person yet!