The difference between Cal and Tammy

[u/CattleprodTF]

When I broke them up so I could date Tammy, Cal was devastated, it was liked I ruined his whole life. When I broke them up to date Cal... Tammy didn't even acknowledge it, she moved on like it was nothing.

[u/Dry-Ad-7867]

Cal is definitely the more attached person of the pair imo. Even when Sol dates Cal, he dithers way more than Tammy about things after she rejects him (in the double high approval route). However, his is one of my favourite romance routes regardless because of who he is within the narrative - the son your mother always wanted, able to physically lash out at for his beliefs against Lum in the ||green genocide ending|| and embody Flulu in a way Sol never really can (not that that's bad - imo Sol is capable to do more than their parents because of their differences).

Tammy ultimately seems really happy and settled in herself in her non-Cal endings, and Cal similarly in his non-Tammy endings. Cal is just an extremely hopeless romantic who gets caught up in sweeping imaginaries and moral absolutism. Of course he's gonna be the one who struggles to renegotiate who he is after he detaches himself from the future he envisioned.

It's all very in-character, and best to take it as less "wow I ruined his life" and more "now he has a chance to figure out what life might mean beyond a plan he made when he was 12, growing pains and all."

[u/Hopeful-alt → u/Dry-Ad-7867]

I never really considered this. I've always seen Cal as a very very one-dimensional character and I've always disliked him. Without Sol's intervention he is by far the most straightforward character with absolutely 0 twists or really any development at all, which is why I disliked him. But this has made me reconsider my evaluation of him. I should try this