#twstcater

We are given several hints that there is more depth to Cater than he wants people to know about. His lab wear vignette is particularly interesting: tasked with infusing mandrakes with magic, Vil, Lilia and Cater agree to “make mandrakes that are totally on-brand” for themselves.

Cater’s first attempt is “an ultra-pink mandrake with big, round eyes”. Vil expresses surprise, saying “I never knew your tastes trended so feminine, Cater”, but Cater insists that they don’t: it is the influence of his two older sisters.

“In the Diamond household, everything’s judged by one simple question: ‘But is it cute?’. Day in and day out, no matter what I did, if it wasn’t cute, it didn’t cut the mustard! Drawings, handicrafts, store-bought sweets, you name it! So I guess I’ve got ‘make it cute’ burned into my brain as a first instinct.”

(The word “cute” comes up often in Cater’s original dialogue)

This also possible connects to Firelit Sky where Jamil notices that Cater isn’t buying any souvenirs for himself. Based on Cater’s name brand phone case and bag, he recommends a shop more for locals than tourists, and a salmon pink scarf.

When Cater explains “It’s not really a color I usually go for…” (due to how cuteness has been imposed onto him his entire life), Jamil explains that he “thought a softer color suited (Cater’s) personality”, as he is “so friendly and easy to get along with."

Jamil says, "You give off a gentle vibe….I’ve been grateful for your and Trey’s steadying presence today.” Cater is surprised, saying “That’s really how I come off?…I didn’t know you saw me that way”, but ultimately does buy the scarf.)

Cater’s next mandrake has “a deep crimson coloration with a card pattern” that “almost looks like it’s holding a guitar”, but his third mandrake is described as “hugging its knees and huddling in place”. Lilia comments, “Perhaps Cater’s sunny disposition belies a morose side that the rest of us never see”, but Cater insists that they he is “reading too much into this”. Cater successfully presents three mandrakes, “a skipping one, a flashy, bright-red one…and one rolling on the table laughing”.

When Vil says that he saw Cater make more than the three required for the assignment, Cater insists that they are the only ones he has. When Crewel calls Cater out for socializing in class Vil and Lilia claim he “should take class more seriously”, despite being equally guilty (“The key to being a good performer is knowing when to leave the stage”).

Cater defends himself by presenting three more mandrakes that he had been trying to hide, saying, “It just doesn’t say Cay-Cay if it’s not happy enough to life people’s spirits”.

Cater says he is “a party boy at heart”, but also, “Just between you and me, keeping a smile plastered on my face for hours on end at a party is a exhausting. Ah, just kidding there, really!” and “You wanna know more about me, huh? I can’t go giving away ALL my secrets.”

In a voice line Silver says “Cater’s very cheery and upbeat…which is why the sinister expression he wore in costume sent a chill down my spine”. Trey says, “Cater won’t stop asking me if there’s a trick to growing taller. I keep telling him I have no idea, but he never gives up", insinuating that his height might be a sensitive topic for Cater.

He has a voice line that says, “Sometimes I’ve got no clue what’s going through your head. Whaddya mean, “pot, meet kettle”? I’m plenty easy to understand!”

There are occasional hints throughout the game that, while Cater is from the Shaftlands, his family moved often when he was a child (he is the only main cast member in Heartslabyul who is not from the Queendom of Roses).

We get the full story during Halloween, along with the reason why Cater is so attached to Magicam.

At first we see Cater dealing with NRC’s newfound Magicam fame. While experiencing “a major bump in followers”, Cater explains, “my notifications are blowing up hard with replies and DMs from old IRL acquaintances. And when I say ‘old’ I mean, like, elementary school old."

One particular acquaintance seems especially persistent, even going so far as to call Cater directly, though he refuses to answer.

While discussing the situation Lilia receives a phone call from Sebek and answers immediately, interrupting the conversation, to Cater’s surprise.

(While helping Lilia handle Malleus’ meltdown, triggered by the Magicam Monsters, Cater explains “It’s not as if these people hate Malleus. Which isn’t to say that they like him, either. It’s ultimately about chasing a trend. Just like my old acquaintances.” The trend they’re chasing being Cater himself.)

Cater’s plan to distract the Magicam Monsters works and he witnesses Lilia reminding Malleus “We may not be related by blood, but we ARE family”.

Cater silently reflects, “Lilia’s developed cherished relationships while living in the same place his whole life. There’s no way he could ever understand how helpless I feel.”

Cater is interrupted by a phone call from Trey that he answers immediately.

The vignette ends with Cater saying “Like always, we’ll all probably go our separate ways in four years.”, but it seems that four years is actually a long time to be in the same location, for Cater.

Cater explains that his dad works for a bank and his entire family would relocate whenever he was transferred to a new location, approximately once every two years.

Cater explains, “But for all the people I met, one thing never changed. I would always leave, and they would always stay. That’s why I always tried to be on good terms with everyone, rather than forge strong bonds with a chosen few. Like a circus performer who has a grand old time with people from around the world, and then packs up and moves on. In that sense, Magicam’s been seriously great because I can get messages from people I knew at school three years ago. I can have all the casual connections I can handle. And that’s just my speed, right?”

Kalim insists that distance is no reason to keep people at arm’s length and offers Cater the use of his flying carpet to visit his Magicam friends, while Lilia observes, “In deciding not to get too close to any one person, you may be the wisest one here, Cater.”

(During Wish Upon a Star we learn that Trey and Cater were roommates for the two years and we get a cryptic line from Trey: “You’d think he’d be open to sharing one of his actual wishes by now. Then again he is…just not with me.”)

(There is a fan theory that this ties back into Cater’s decision to not get too close to anyone as he is closer to Trey than he has ever been to anyone else and wants a buffer zone of untold secrets so as not to get any closer before they graduate and go their separate ways.)

Cater is the lead singer of the pop music club. While intending to compete for the position via a karaoke app singing contest, it ends in a game of rock paper scissors, won by Lilia.

Lilia immediately decides he would rather be the bassist (and thus the leader) and passes the lead singer position to Cater.

All three band members admit that the club does very little by way of practicing. Instead they “hang out, snack, chillax”.

Cater says “the whole music-playing bit is kind of an afterthought”, which is why “the headmage’s got his sights on us”. It seems the club is in constant danger of being disbanded.

While Kalim and Cater originally intend to get Lilia an instrument as a souvenir during the Firelit Sky event, they ultimately settle on snacks instead, as “the Pop Music Club brand”.

It seems the club has difficulty attracting new members, with Lilia “shrieking and smashing guitars” during a club event to attract first-years, where Lilia also attempted to crowdsurf, but fell to the floor when he was not caught.

Cater says “the only one we got to join was Kalim” and “I don’t wanna lose my place to hang after class. And I definitely don’t wanna be forced into a sports club.”

Cater does not seem fond of exercise, though in a voice line he says “It’s not that I’m bad at exercising, I just don’t like getting too fired up.”

Despite this, it seems Cater is in charge of (or at least is in a position where his opinion is taken into consideration for) Spelldrive team members, with Ace telling him to “Remember this when you pick the official team!” in Book 2 before they go against Savanaclaw in a mock-Spelldrive game.

Cater often comments on Lilia’s singing style, saying that “When Lilia starts getting scream in Pop Music Club practice, it can get a little scary” and “Lilia basically screams out all the lyrics in this mock raspy voice”.

He bemoans being “left out” in Book 5, and when Lilia asks, “Am I not sufficient company for you?” He responds “Oh, far from it!…Just keep the improv dialed down for this, okay?”

Cater seems to prefer “poppy love songs”, but says when he tried to introduce one to the Pop Music Club Kalim and Lilia put their own spins on it, leaving it unrecognizable “but it’s not like I’m super gung-ho about anything”.

Cater also says he is a fan of electropop.

From the guidebook we know that there was originally a white rabbit character in Heartslabyul, and that Cater was originally supposed to be a beastman.

We don’t know if Cater himself was going to be the white rabbit, but Riddle does have a chat line that may or may not be hinting at his original incarnation: “You’re acting like the White Rabbit”.

Cater's family situation has been corrected on EN!!

While Cater is aware that Malleus is seen as terrifying by most people, he never seems intimidated.

He approaches Malleus during a PE class to ask for permission to post a picture to Magicam, but in doing so tells him that he has a “vibe” that is “kinda otherworldly, which makes it hard to know what you’re thinking. I guess ‘terrifying’ is the word?”

Malleus appears unamused and Cater tries to lighten the mood with “Do you even show up in pictures? …JK”.

He does apologize for the joke, but Malleus assures him with “As if such a jest could anger me”.

Cater makes a third comment of “You’re just such the mystery boi all the time” and Malleus gives him permission for a photo only to intentionally move too quickly for a proper shot.

Malleus taunts Cater with, “Perhaps because I am an otherworldly ‘mystery boi’, whose thoughts are inscrutable and hence terrifying, I do not show up in pictures at all?" and “go on and take as many photographs as you like. If you can, that is.”

After scaring off a group of students from the monster team who were ganging up on Malleus during Beanfest Cater tries again to take a picture of him, but Malleus disappears.

Disappearing mid-conversation with Cater is not unusual for Malleus: after hearing that Deuce may be able to repair a beloved treasure he received from Lilia, Malleus teleports before Cater has a chance to caution him against scaring the first-year students.

The two share very friendly interactions during the Firelit Sky event. Cater compliments Malleus with “It’s neat seeing you in something other than black…you look FANTASTIC. It’s not your usual vibe, but you can totally rock bright colors!”

Malleus responds, “Bright colors suit you quite well. You look so colorful and eye-catching, much like fireworks.” (With Trey “standing awkwardly” in the background).

Malleus compliments Cater's appearance again in a voice line for Cater’s second birthday.

Cater finally gets his photo with Malleus by suggesting they send one to Lilia to make him feel better when Malleus expresses regret that Lilia wasn’t able to join them during Firelit Sky (Lilia called out sick, sending Malleus out sans escort for the first time in his life).

When Cater suggests a second photo with the silky melon that is “supposed to make friendships last forever”, however, Malleus characteristically responds with “I’d rather not”.

Later on Cater reins in Malleus’ attempts to block the escape of a pickpocketing monkey by “building up a ton of power”, saying “if your magic hurts anyone, we’ll have an international crisis on our hands!”

Apparently well aware that his magic was going to cause physical injury, Malleus complies.

At the end of Firelit Sky Cater teaches Malleus about toasting for small celebrations (like watching a fireworks show), leading to Malleus suggesting a toast to celebrate Jamil’s upcoming performance.

During Halloween Cater was the only one who heard Malleus’ voice when the students were kidnapped, reporting that Malleus said, “How could I of all people struggle so?”

At the conclusion of the event it is revealed that Malleus was struggling with pipe organ music.

Cater has an interesting amount of overlap with Jade despite their being in two different grade levels. The two team up during Beanfest, with Jade repeatedly saving Cater from the Monster Team.

Jade seems to be one of very few people who actually encourages Cater’s love of Magicam: At the conclusion of the event Jade reminds Cater of his intention to take a victory picture, and when Cater asks him for one anyway despite how they have lost, Jade says, “I’d be delighted”.

Cater also shares banter with both Jade and Floyd during Phantom Bride, they collaborated together on the Terror is Trending Halloween parade float and Cater speaks for both himself and Jade when agreeing to the Spectral Soiree party.

During Vargas Camp 2 Jade teaches Cater how to set up his tent and start a fire, then takes him on a long mountain hike for cooking ingredients.

Cater describes Jade as “perpetually chill”, saying, “He talks like a grown adult, too. Hard to think of him as an underclassman.”

Jade says that he would like Cater to be his older brother as he thinks he would "enjoy everyday". Jade says that Cater "brightens up the atmosphere" of wherever he is. Jade also says that he would like Cater to teach him how to use Magicam so that he might use it to attract new members to the Mountain Lovers Club.

Jade says that as Cater has very good social skills, he would one day like them to have a long, in-depth conversation together, so that he might learn things that he would normally never hear about.

While Idia is not fond of people in general, he seems to have issues with Cater specifically, saying “His sunny disposition is relentlessly smothering…”

When Cater takes it upon himself to look in on Idia’s drone feed during Fairy Gala, Idia calls him an “oblivious extrovert” whose “sense of personal space is all buggy”.

Cater describes Idia as “a totally different person” during the Wish Upon a Star performance and tries to “grab a video and post it for posterity”, but is foiled by a jammer of Idia’s design. Idia reacts with “Silly NPCs. You gotta play the WHOLE game!”

Idia runs into Cater in a vignette and refers to him as “that party animal from class” as well as one of the “three of the biggest social butterflies in the school” with Kalim and Rook.

Kalim invites them to a meal, which Cater accepts because “Idia’s coming?…You bet I’m coming! Can’t pass on this once-in-a-lifetime situation!”.

They overlap during Terror is Trending, with Cater trying to convince Idia to remove his helmet.

Cater is big on staying “on the cutting edge of what’s trendy”, photographing everything from food to clothes to the majority of everything he came into contact with during the Firelit Sky event.

Magicam is his motivation behind auditioning for the VDC competition in Book 5, in response to which Ace says he is “being way too shallow”, calling him “a shameless fanboy” when Cater says he hopes to get a selfie with Neige.

Cater is dedicated to his Magicam account, uploading even after an exhausting welcome party with the first-year students and all throughout Beanfest.

Rook’s nickname for Cater is simply “Monsieur Magicam”, and he and Trey are able to track Cater’s progress during Beanfest thanks to his constant updates.

This nearly gets Cater’s group caught by the Monster Team, but they are saved by Jade, who had also been trailing them via Cater’s constant updates on his position.

Cater learns his lesson and refrains from posting a picture during Beanfest’s climax and at all during the Firelit Sky event, as “We’re outside of school, and Kalim and Malleus are with us…I’d hate to wind up on Jamil’s bad side if Kalim got kidnapped because of info I posted.”

Even without uploading to Magicam, however, the Firelit Sky group had little patience for Cater’s constant photography, with Jamil, Malleus, Trey and Grim all refusing to take a photo posting with him and a silky melon, which is “supposed to make friendships last forever.”

Despite how his Magicam addiction can get him into trouble, it also proves to be an invaluable a tool more than once: at Riddle’s request Cater looks into the circumstances behind Trey’s injury in Book 2, forming a group on Magicam to share what he’s found to reveal what Deuce’s describes as “a ton of information”.

He also uses it to send Magicam Monsters away from Malleus during Halloween. It is from Cater that we learn that Trein has Lucius wear a “little pumpkin hat” on Halloween.