Mae and...Bea? I couldn't have been the only one that saw it.

[Mars Lunari]

First and foremost, let me just say that when I went into this I had 0 knowledge of what this was other than "it's basically just a visual novel with a few minigames" which was the description my sister gave me (she's the one that actually has it on her PC) and to me VNs are a large percent of the time romance stories with different character paths/routes and sometimes bad endings, etc. Anyone that's played VNs knows exactly what I mean.

Going into the game with just that assumption, I played through the first few days and was enjoying all the new characters and meeting Mae's friends. Eventually when the game started to do the very obvious visual novel thing of "Okay now you pick the character you want to spend your days with and this will be the route you will go down for this playthrough" I went with Bea just because she seemed interesting.

Not going into any detailed spoilers and will skip right to the point, but put simply..flash forward through all the days of Bea and Mae hanging out and shennanigans happening leading up to the night of the party (you know the one) I was by this point 100% convinced that this was going to lead to them getting together. I guess I'm just wondering..did anyone else think this as well? I mean it's open to interpretation (well, that is if you didn't know beforehand that there was not going to be romance plots in the game anyway) the thing is if I had known before that this was not in any way keeping romance open as an option I would have just seen it as two friends becoming stronger friends, which is absolutely amazing as well, but I was 100% completely convinced by the end of that night that they were totally going to be a thing. In truth I haven't even finished it as I left it at that perfect ending of that night for now and will pick it up tomorrow, however my curiosity got the better of me and I asked my sis if Mae/Bea was heading where I think it's heading, that's when she informed that there's actually no romance at all (amusingly she also thought the same thing). Even as just friends that was a really lovely set of events, loved the relationship building.

[Eel]

I honestly don't think Bea and Mae are a thing. They're both girls, Mae is straight, and Bea is also heavily implied to be straight.

[TemmieNeko]

Originally posted by The Phone Boy:

I honestly don't think Bea and Mae are a thing. They're both girls, Mae is straight, and Bea is also heavily implied to be straight.

mae is bisexual lol. you gotta dig for it, though.

[mel celeste]

Originally posted by TemmieNeko:

Originally posted by The Phone Boy:

I honestly don't think Bea and Mae are a thing. They're both girls, Mae is straight, and Bea is also heavily implied to be straight.

mae is bisexual lol. you gotta dig for it, though.

Yep, in the party she mets a girl and tell she told bea she met a hot girl

[Just a robin]

I focused on Bea's events for my first playthrough, and I never got the impression they were leading to anything romantic, because I never saw any romantic tension in their relationship. Just general trust and affection. I don't think they saw anything particularly special in each other outside of that, and their ideals are a bit too incompatible with each other for them to be very close.

Dating games are usually clearly about romance from start to finish, and this was never that kind of game. This is a game about life in general, and although it explores life through relationships, it does it by examining all the kinds of relationships that exist in life--not just romantic ones, but family, friends, and even the random semi-strangers you interact with while going about your daily business. Romance is actually a relatively small part of life when you're looking at things from a broader scale like that.

Even then, there can still be room for one romance in a story like this, depending on who the main character is. But the main character in this game is Mae, and I think it's pretty clear from early on that romance is barely even on her personal radar. I think her relationships are important to her, but the kinds of things she needs from relationships wouldn't come from a boyfriend or a girlfriend. They come from her parents and from old school friends who are going through the same kinds of problems she's going through (and who are willing to commit petty crimes with her), so that's who she focuses on. And honestly, I think she feels too trapped as it is to want to maintain a long-term relationship even if she did end up in one. It wouldn't feel right to me.

I know games have kind of trained us to expect "relationship mechanics = romance game", or maybe just stories in general have trained us to expect that the protagonist has to end up with someone by the end of the story if there's any room for that happening at all. But a part of me always wonders if, when people expect shipping between characters that seems out of place to me, it might be coming from the fact that baseline trust and affection are so rare in real life that whenever people see any of it in a story at all, they see it as so powerful that it just HAS to lead to a romance at some point, and that thought always depresses me.

Not criticizing anyone who wants to make shipping art or fics, mind. You do your thing. And I do acknowledge you may be seeing something that I missed.

[mel celeste]

Originally posted by MC Buffalo:

I focused on Bea's events for my first playthrough, and I never got the impression they were leading to anything romantic, because I never saw any romantic tension in their relationship. Just general trust and affection. I don't think they saw anything particularly special in each other outside of that, and their ideals are a bit too incompatible with each other for them to be very close.

Dating games are usually clearly about romance from start to finish, and this was never that kind of game. This is a game about life in general, and although it explores life through relationships, it does it by examining all the kinds of relationships that exist in life--not just romantic ones, but family, friends, and even the random semi-strangers you interact with while going about your daily business. Romance is actually a relatively small part of life when you're looking at things from a broader scale like that.

Even then, there can still be room for one romance in a story like this, depending on who the main character is. But the main character in this game is Mae, and I think it's pretty clear from early on that romance is barely even on her personal radar. I think her relationships are important to her, but the kinds of things she needs from relationships wouldn't come from a boyfriend or a girlfriend. They come from her parents and from old school friends who are going through the same kinds of problems she's going through (and who are willing to commit petty crimes with her), so that's who she focuses on. And honestly, I think she feels too trapped as it is to want to maintain a long-term relationship even if she did end up in one. It wouldn't feel right to me.

I know games have kind of trained us to expect "relationship mechanics = romance game", or maybe just stories in general have trained us to expect that the protagonist has to end up with someone by the end of the story if there's any room for that happening at all. But a part of me always wonders if, when people expect shipping between characters that seems out of place to me, it might be coming from the fact that baseline trust and affection are so rare in real life that whenever people see any of it in a story at all, they see it as so powerful that it just HAS to lead to a romance at some point, and that thought always depresses me.

Not criticizing anyone who wants to make shipping art or fics, mind. You do your thing. And I do acknowledge you may be seeing something that I missed.

PLS we dont need Bea x Mae fanart

[SCarterE]

There's been MaeXBae art since years before the game got released.

[Zaltys]

Originally posted by The Phone Boy:

Mae is straight

Uh, no?
Not sure what answers you picked when you were questioned by the teens at the graveyard, but crushing on an another girl in college is generally not considered straight.

[✨Ellie✨]

They're absolutely girlfriends and there's nothing the straights can do about it! >:3c

[Wolfy Hopeless]

They're just friends. I felt like the story was conveying the depth of their friendship. From the onset you pretty much know Gregg & Mae are legendary best friends but you kinda gotta work for it with Bea to see just how good of friends they are. I'm kind of glad they did it that way and didn't go over into love interest territory because (as a bisexual man) I felt Gregg and Angus relationship was so perfectly done and I feel Mae & Bea woulda been hella cliche' when the rest of the dynamic of the entire game was done so organically.

[Mars Lunari]

I just feel with the events leading up how they did it could've been interpreted as their relationship going in either direction. Unless you knew before that there was no romance in the game, of course. Then you would know it's just friendship building, which I love as well. Opposites attract plays a role in this one I would think. It could've happened had the game chosen to take that path.

[Wolfy Hopeless]

Well yeah, romance options COULD always happen. What Mae and Bea went through could certanly spark something. However, again, I'm glad everything between characters happens so organically. Besides, that's what we have rabid fandoms for. they can imagine all the scenarios they want lol

[Eel]

Originally posted by TemmieNeko:

Originally posted by The Phone Boy:

I honestly don't think Bea and Mae are a thing. They're both girls, Mae is straight, and Bea is also heavily implied to be straight.

mae is bisexual lol. you gotta dig for it, though.

Oh god I remember that event in the Bea route ;~; sorry for getting Mae wrong, but Bea is, for all we know, definitely straight. And even if they weren't, there is no sexual or romantic tension between them. Also I just really don't want to see religion aligator ♥♥♥♥ awkward cat (I know Bea isn't religious but some of her backstory involves religion)

[ShyCryptid]

Mae is pansexual; there's a dialogue path with the kids in the graveyard where she will say that gender doesn't matter to her when it comes to who her ideal significant other would be. She was with a boyfriend in the past and considers him attractive still, but she also meets a girl at the nightclub with Bea, whom she also finds attractive.

Bea is heterosexual, as far as I can tell. Her sexuality isn't a defining aspect of her character and I can appreciate that.

I don't think every friendship/relationship has to end in romance in order for it to be fulfilling. It's done so much in games that it has begun to feel artificial to me.

[Mars Lunari]

Originally posted by Wayward Kobold:

Mae is pansexual; there's a dialogue path with the kids in the graveyard where she will say that gender doesn't matter to her when it comes to who her ideal significant other would be. She was with a boyfriend in the past and considers him attractive still, but she also meets a girl at the nightclub with Bea, whom she also finds attractive.

Bea is heterosexual, as far as I can tell. Her sexuality isn't a defining aspect of her character and I can appreciate that.

I don't think every friendship/relationship has to end in romance in order for it to be fulfilling. It's done so much in games that it has begun to feel artificial to me.

Yeah I also don't like forced romance in general, only if it feels natural and seems to click over time does it come out nice. It's fulfilling as is, but I was really convinced it was heading towards them getting together just from their interactions, though it could also be taken as just friendship getting stronger (which it was) it was a cute result either way

[A Pocketful of Stars]

Bea's implied to be straight and says she sees Mae as a sister, so I doubt the writers intended it to be romantic. I still ship it, though.