SPOILERS FOR UNLOCKED hehe hello! I know a lot of people were sort of disappointed that sokeefe didn’t specifically succeed in Unlocked, but I’m here to point out all the ~hinted~ Sokeefe in the book! (There was a lot XD) let’s get into it 1. No specific page number, but let’s take a look at Keefe’s writing in the art commentary (page 481-503) and novella (541-end) Two reoccurring themes come up within these passages, both things that Keefe thinks about a lot: Sophie and his mother/legacy. Whenever he talks about the consequences of his new ability, he usually applies them to theoretical situations using Sophie. For example, Keefe thinks, “But what if she [Gisela] did that to one of his friends? Or to Sophie?” (Messenger 716). In this passage, Keefe applies the situation to his friends... and then Sophie separately, which specifically implies that he thinks of her in a different light. This message is echoed all throughout the novella and /especially/ the art commentary, but it was already pretty obvious that Keefe has loved Sophie for a while. Let’s now turn to how /Sophie/ feels. 2. I’m mostly going to be citing from page 628 in this section, but I’d first like to address the fact that Sophie obviously cares for Keefe through the rest of the book. Of course, this could be friendly. But she brings him up more than anyone else does, and according to Elwin, she was at the Healing Center almost 24/7 while Keefe was unconscious. But now, to the page that I think proves Sokeefe above all: 628. In this passage, Sophie is berating Cassius for being an awful father to Keefe, to which he replies “Interesting”. He also threatens to tell Fitz what she’s feeling, and then states that Sophie is “even hiding these feelings from [her]self” (Messenger 628). So, using logical reasoning, this feeling is 1. Something that Fitz would probably not love and 2. Something that Sophie doesn’t /know/ she feels. This harkens back to the Head and Heart Theory, in which it’s been theorized that Sophie’s love for Keefe is a “heart” emotion, something more pure and less easy to detect than simple “head” emotions. Given that Cassius is the one who wrote a book on this theory, it’s very likely that that is what he’s referencing (and obviously, Fitz wouldn’t be a big fan if he was told about these feelings) More about the Head and Heart Theory here: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/424345514/ 3. Although this one is less monumental, it still shows a /huge/ amount of character development, in my opinion. On page 638, Fitz encourages Sophie to talk to Keefe telepathically. Although this is (obviously) not Fitz trying to push Sophie and Keefe together, it does show that Fitz has grown and realizes that Sophie should /not/ be constrained to only talking to/confiding in him. He also has started to realize that Sophie and Keefe have some sort of a connection. According to the book, he states, “you guys are... close” (Messenger 638). No matter whether he means this in a romantic sense, Fitz has come to terms with Sophie not relying /exclusively/ on him, which I find refreshing :) Thank you for listening to me ramble and have a lovely day! (I know there are /many/ more specific examples, but I am lazy and have time constraints :P)
