John Matthews

!Spoilers! John Matthews is the protagonist for almost every story and is present in others. In PuppetGAME it is revealed that the reason for the same characters is that there are multiple universes with the same people, but with different circumstances.

Descriptions: Given that there are multiple John's some aspects of them vary. The most consistent thing about John is that he is 18 and in high school. It is stated by Mari that in a lot of realities/dimensions John dies.

Personality in Design: John seems like a normal person on the surface, but he hides some heavy baggage. He would do anything to help the ones he cares about. When he is scared or flustered he has the habit of using humor or cockiness to cope, or in his own words "bullshit" his way through tough situations.

John in Design Season 1:

Personality in Yellow Halogen: In Yellow Halogen, John is somewhat unstable throughout the story due to events happening before and during it. He is show to care for his mother and sister, going as far as pretending to be a serial killer to scare off a stalker, and he also cares for his friends Max and Sarah. He and his sister, Lilly Matthews, seem to share a bond closer than most siblings. Liam has stated that it is not incestuous, meaning their love is platonic not sexual, but they do seem to have a high amount of dependence and trust in each other. It is hinted that this bond was formed due to a traumatic event that happened in the past. John is shown to be fairly intelligent being able to deduce several things while under stress, but he also makes big mistakes and sometimes caves to pressure. !Spoiler! Towards the end of the story he reveals that he was surprisingly okay with committing a murder, alongside his sister, but he believes it is a side effect of the Siren's toxin.

John in Yellow Halogen !Spoilers!: John starts off Yellow Halogen talking with his concerned friends, Max and Sarah, about his plan to get rid of the stalker Marcus. Prior to the events of the story it is said that Marcus had been bothering John's mother for a long time, enough to the point that she had to get some kind of restraining order. However, due to lack of concern by the police Marcus just continued to harass John and his family. John's growing concern for his family started him on a dark path to try and get Marcus to stay away. Capitalizing on the threat of an active "serial killer" John writes letters to Marcus pretending to be the killer and saying that Marcus was the next target. John notes that he was extra careful to make sure that he covered his tracks. It appeared to work for a while, but night Marcus called and left the same message over and over further increasing John's worry and pushing him a little over the edge. Back at the start: He plans on doing something drastic at night to get Marcus to leave his family alone once and for all, but this worries his friends Max and Sarah who think he is starting to sound like a sociopath. John denies it, but to calm his friends he lies and says he'll wait to do it. He gets home and not soon after heads over to the apartments where Marcus stays. As he is about o enact his plan he notices a hooded figure heading to Marcus's place that startles him. He hides nearby and witnesses the interaction with Marcus. He sees the figure kiss Marcus and begins to talk to him, Marcus appears to believe that he is speaking to John's mom and John notices the figure doe sound like her, but as the conversation continues and Marcus keeps talking things start to get intense. The figure is trying to leave Marcus somewhere, but he resists and starts to talk about John, he reveals that he knew John had been sending the letters and would have confronted him if the figure, who he thinks is John's mom, hadn't told him to stay away. When pressed to go again Marcus asks if they can go get John's sister, Lilly, and "do something as a family". The figure begins to grow irritated, and yells at Marcus questioning why he isn't listening. It is revealed the reason why Marcus isn't listening is because he was pedophile who was really after Lilly and not John's mother. When the figure speaks again it sounds like John's sister. The figure is enraged and sickened by Marcus and kills him. John is thoroughly terrified at this point and still hiding, the figure notices John and flees the scene. John rushes home still trying to process what he witnesses and when he gets home he enters his sister watching a show. He and his sister talk, but remembering her voice coming from the figure he struggles somewhat to stay calm especially after she seems to know nothing about Marcus's death until he tells her about it, but hides the fact he was there. The next day John tells his friends what happened and he is worried that he could be framed for the murder. Max and Sarah say he should tell the police now and that they would vouch for him, but he is hesitant. His sister calls him over and says they need to get home relieving him, but only temporarily as he learns that someone has attacked their mother, When they get home the police question them and they are informed that while their mother was not hurt physically she appeared to be delirious. Their mother said that john's friend Sarah had done it, but there was proof that Sarah hadn't left the school. When the officer starts to imply their mother is crazy, Lilly gets understandably upset and begins to act coldly and rude toward the officer. John and Lilly follow the officer to the hospital in order to see their mother where Lilly reveals that she doesn't trust the cops after having ignored their families issue for so long. John is getting increasingly worried that he is going to be arrested for the murders, when they reach the hospital John has a breakdown rant and tells Lilly everything and that he feels like he has to catch the real killer to prove his innocence. They see their mother, but it is not long before they have to go and John notices that she appeared to be coughing up the same substance the figure had been forcing into Marcus. John goes about his daily life, but it isn't long until the police arrest him under suspicion of murder. John tells the police that he was just pretending to be the killer and the police believe him, but still have him as a suspect tracking his phone and calling in regularly. John returns to school and everyone is afraid of him, when he is confronted by his classmate, Steve, his sister Lilly steps in getting rather aggressive and threatening Steve. Steve flees and Lilly leaves leaving John alone in the classroom. Another student begins to approach John and before he can react the student slits his throat killing himself. It is here where Asa Fear introduces herself to John. She claims to know the killer and that she wants to help John catch the killer, but right now she wants his help in hiding the now-deceased student body. John hides the knife the student used and meets up with Asa. She explains that the killer is actively trying to frame John for the murders and that she is one of the two daughters of the renowned Fear family who built the town they're. Asa says that her sister is the killer and enlists John's help to stop her. John is very hesitant at first because he doesn't believe he can trust Asa he tells her that if she trusts him he will trust her. John notes to confirm the things that she told him. John remembers that he has to get to his sister's volleyball game, which is pretty much over by this point, and parts ways with Asa. John meets up with Lilly and lies saying that he was at the game. The two have a talk, about their relationship promising to trust and protect each other. Asa approaches John again and explains her plans to fake a friendship so they can work together, and in doing so also reveals her lack of knowledge in modern technology, suggesting he fax her information on himself, which surprises John. John voices his disliking of this plan and explains that he doesn't even have a fax machine and brings up if she knows what email is. She explains that she does, but has never really used it which causes John further confusion about he she even got into school. In the end, John explains that he doesn't want to be fake friends he just wants to be able to trust her as a real friend. This causes Asa to fluster, but she eventually caves in and seemingly agrees. Not too long after John meets/is attacked by the killer, Yellow Halogen, or just simply Halogen, who asks him not to hate her and "kisses" him forcing the black liquid into him. After a few more events things pseudo-climax into Sarah, who appears to be very ill, shooting a student by accident with a gun she had brought for protection from John. They try to call for help, but discover that there is no signal, but when John checks his phone he discovered that he is receiving messages from Asa. She sends him some instructions on how to help and he and Lilly go to grab some supplies from the nurse's office. On the way they trip in paralysis wires belonging to Halogen, realizing that it wasn't Asa who sent the message John struggles to move but can't. Halogen once again asks John for forgiveness trying to explain it is to help everyone. John later wakes up in a strange room with Lilly. Lilly explains to John the commotion that has been going on since he was out with there being some kind of disease, hearing gunshots, and that the town is quarantining itself. She also tells him that there have been dead bodies dropped off above them. The two of them are able to deduce that Halogen brought them there, but are still unable to determine the exact reason though John believes it was to keep them safe. The two leave the room and exit to the sight of several of the dead bodies, most of which have their heads destroyed, and puddles of decay. John takes out his phone trying to contact Asa but is stopped by Julie who appears to have gone somewhat psycho saying they should only trust each cutting into John with a cleaver. That was just a delusion in John's head though as he flashes back to reality where he had just dropped the phone. Lilly says that John had zoned out and started shouting the name of someone from the past. They leave outside to see the chaos going on and decide to try and leave the city through the woods, even though Lilly had heard talk of it being fenced off. On the way, John gets a message on his phone telling him not to trust his sister. His sister begins to act weird again and John begins to have doubts and questions her. It is here where she reveals that she knew John had been lying to her. Their argument is broken up by a man with a gun. Lilly hacks at the man's hand off knocking his gun to the ground, and she prepares to kill the man, but John stops her. The man's partner shows up and takes a shot at Lilly, John pulls her closer and tries to calm her by repeating that he trust her she does the same. The man's partner begins to take aim but kills himself when Asa, using a different voice, manipulates him. Asa then finishes the other man. John points the man's gun at Asa and starts demanding answers from Asa. She explains that there is no disease just the toxin her sister and the others use. John and Lilly both deduce that Asa and Halogen are the same people and John begins to approach her with the gun demanding more answers but ends up falling into another paralysis wire trap. Halogen claims that she will tell him everything, but not right there she takes John and Lilly to a place where "Sirens" feed. She secures Lilly in another room and begins to explain everything to John. She explains that she and possibly several other women in this town are Sirens, mutated humans with the ability to mimic voices and make toxins, she explains that women in the Fear family have been a hierarchy of Sirens and that she was born under the Queen. She explains that her sister was human and that non-siren offspring are killed, and goes into detail about why she took up her persona. She tells John that she is supposed to be the current Queen, but is unable to perform her duties properly as she can't even effectively hunt for herself. The reason for all the chaos happening in the city is due to a siren uprising brought about by gamergates, basically Sirens not directly related to the Fear family or not allied with them. Halogen fears that this will lead to the destruction of humans or sirens, and explains that she was trying to avoid it by framing John as the killer so the people would have someone to blame and not live in fear of sirens. She says she failed and people ended up distrusting each other anyway. John agrees that they have to do something to solve the problem. After a cut to Max's perspective, we learn that John, Lilly, and Halogen are teaming up to stop the chaos and they have just taken the first step by showing the people how to check if someone is a Siren.

Notes: There was intended to be more than one season of Yellow Halogen, but with the closing of SSTWL we will most likely never see it.

Liam stated that season 2 would have likely focused on the internal struggle and rising coup with the Siren community. Setting up Halogen as the Queen or someone trying to usurp.

Personality in A Cold Love Story: In this story John is just a normal teenage boy. He is shown to have a sarcastic sense of humor and gets flustered when embarrassed or nervous. He cares for his friends and will go out of his way to help them.

John in A Cold Love Story!Spoilers!: John starts off with a monologue about the current "cold" environment. He is waiting for his school bus when his new friend Sarah Duffy appears he notes that while she is beautiful it odd that didn't seem to have any friends other than him. John realizes Sarah has no coat in the frigid weather, so he gives her his coat after she requests it. She swoons about getting to wear his coat and John question her why she didn't bring her coat to which she says she wanted to wear his. He realizes Sarah is acting strangely but just brushes it off as him misreading things. When Sarah tells him that there is no school do to a coming storm and her odd behavior continues he begins to feel uneasy. He and Sarah travel to his house, on her suggestion, and on the way he gets a text from his friend Max causing Sarah to hold him in place with a vice grip. Sarah asks John who is messaging him, obviously jealous and unhinged, and John just says it's Max and viewing the message and plays it off like he was just messaging him about the weather. The message really was informing him that Max was at school wondering where John was, this causes some panic in John who just brushes it off again. As they near his house he grows more suspicious and afraid as Sarah already seems familiar with the layout. Going inside, John decides to test Sarah to ease his nerves, so he asks her to go to his room and get him a hoodie. She begins to go and do it, but not soon after she turns to say she doesn't know where his room is. Feeling relieved at first he still has a gut feeling he can't trust her. He puts on some boiling water for hot chocolate and asks Sarah to watch it. He goes to his room and notices how unnaturally cold his room is, and notes how his room has been cold for these past few days. When he goes back downstairs Sarah is gone, and the bot is boiling over. He cleans it up and Sarah reappears and startles him. He grows suspicious and questions what she is doing, but immediately regrets doing so as it causes her personality to shift. He quickly offers her hot chocolate causing her to flip back to the "Sarah he thinks he knows". At about twelve o'clock John starts to calm down as he figures the school would have called him absent. Sarah leaves and John went about the rest of his day. He messaged Max a few times but doesn't get a response. He tries to call Max's house phone, but discovers he has no service. He decides to check the news, and when he switches to the news channel he hears the very end of a report about a bus accident. John begins to worry if it was his bus and decides to go check so he can know for sure. He travels out into the night and follows the route his bus takes. John eventually comes upon what he feared, his bus crashed and surrounded by police cars and ambulances, and is devastated. John catches a bit of the conversation going on and grows more concerned when he hears them explain that it appears some of the bodies have had pieces removed with a hacksaw and that there were parts missing. John decides to run home realizing how suspicious he looks. He fumbles with his key and as he gets the door unlocked he hears a knock on glass and realizes it is coming from his window. He looks up to see a figure retreat and realizes that it was Sarah. He goes inside and calls out to Sarah, but doesn't get a response. He hears something rolling down the stairs and looks to see a headless corpse hit the bottom. Sarah begins to talk to him, but he is paralyzed by fear. She is holding Max's head, this causes John to fall to the floor and dry heave. Sarah approaches John, but he is still too scared to speak or move, and leads him up the stairs. He simply follows stunned by what he is seeing. In John's room, they sit on the bed. John is mortified as he sees all of his friends dead, Sarah having killed them. John tries to scream, but can only whimper. Sarah advances on John saying that they love each other, John refuses this and Sarah laughs it off as a joke. She then reveals that she also killed his parents who were supposed to be on vacation in Hawaii. She kisses him and the story ends.

Notes: In PuppetGAME it is revealed that Sarah, called Cold to avoid confusion with another Sarah, killed John.