Kismesic

Kismesic or pitch attraction is a type of attraction in the Quadrant System originating from famous webcomic Homestuck. Kismesic's closest analogue is contempt/hatred/rivalry combined with respect and romantic and/or sexual attraction. The pitch quadrant is represented by the ♠ symbol, or in plain text, <3<.

A kismesic relationship is referred to as a kismesissitude, and the person that one is in a kismesissitude with is one's kismesis.

Etymology
A portmanteau of "kismet" (fated) and "nemesis." "Kis-" is also sometimes interpreted as coming from "kiss."

Pronunciation
/kiss-meh-sick/

Definitions

 * When a pair of adversaries delve into this quadrant, they become each other's KISMESIS. As one of the concupiscent quadrants, it plays a role in procreation as well. There is no particularly good human translation for this concept. The closest would be an especially potent arch-rivalry. - Andrew Hussie, 2010
 * But that's exactly what the feeling [of kismesic attraction] is! It doesn't start out as full blown antipathy, and it rarely even reaches such an extreme level of hostility even over long term black relationships. ... The subtle positives add fuel to the negative feelings, often giving them a reason to exist at all. They inflame the aggravating factors ... And the incredible sense of frustration that causes along with all the associated hot-headed feelings, that's the essence of black romance. - Andrew Hussie
 * kismesissitude hate is not platonic!! that’s just called hate. kismesissitude has to have sexual tension: the basic idea is that you hate each other and [reproduce]… but aside from that, all relationships need to provide a function and it seems to be pushing the other person to grow is the function here. if you have an nemesis you strive to be better than them. - Homestuckresources, 2012
 * An attraction founded on a simultaneous hatred and respect for another person. You could think of a Pitch relationship like a committed rivalry that takes on characteristics of a romantic relationship. Like Matespritic attraction, there can (but doesn’t necessarily have to) be a sexual component to Kismesic attraction. - mx-princey, 2020

In the original comic, a person may only have one kismesis, though real-life users of the term may have multiple kismeses.

A kismesic relationship cannot be abusive or simply hatred without respect, as at that point it is no longer kismesissitude. A kismesic relationship can only function if both involved are consenting, respect one another, are not emotionally harmed (nor physically harmed beyond what is consented to), and are reasonably comfortable with the dynamic. It is also rarely associated with hatred as much as intense rivalry.

History
The quadrant system was first introduced in famous webcomic Homestuck by Andrew Hussie on August 10 2010. In the comic, the quadrant system refers to the types of romance experienced by trolls. While humans only have one form of romance, trolls experience four; matespiritship (the flushed quadrant), moirallegience (the pale quadrant), kismesissitude (the pitch quadrant), and auspisticism (the ashen quadrant).

Although people have used quadrant romance to describe relationships since Homestuck introduced it, mx-princey on Tumblr formalized the terminology on 25 May 2020 for ease of use. In this post, they also coined flags for the four quadrants, and in a post shared details on kismesic attraction and bonus flags.

Subsets

 * Homokismesic
 * Akismesic
 * Demikismesic
 * Pitch Polyamory

For a comprehensive list, see Category:Kismesic