So @rinari I was actually wondering this while I was writing that ask (don’t tell anyone but it took me a half-hour while waiting at the In-N-Out drive-thru to write the ask while heavily sleep deprived) but what are Red’s opinions on the rest of the Shepherds?
I recognize that we’ll be able to see this for ourselves in game, so it’s alright if you’d rather not answer, but I am still interested in Red and Riel’s opinions of each other.
The way I imagine it is that they appreciate each other’s sense of curiosity and desire to learn, but can’t agree on what 1. what kinds of things to learn about, and 2. what to do with that information.
Also, please tell me I’m right in thinking that Red acts like an exasperated big brother to Trouble while Chase is their ‘bad influence cool cousin who only visits during the summer because his parents are divorcing and he needs somewhere to sleep while they divvy up the house and “Let’s go out after curfew and loiter at a gas station slurpee machine”’.
impeccably-stressed asked: Trouble: Quick! Throw me the baby! Chase: Idiot! You don’t throw a baby! Chase: You drop-kick them into the air, duh. Red: NEITHER OF YOU GET THE BABY. Riel: What’s wrong with you two? You can’t just throw a baby. Red: Exactly! Riel: You have to launch them in the air with a baby catapult. Red: NO.
Riel: No, but obviously you give them a baby parachute first. That’s only logical…
Red essentially resumes the role of the exasperated, mature older brother who tries to look after everyone else. Halek is technically the oldest and also assumes something of a big brother role, but he doesn’t bother advising anyone or preventing them from making their mistake: he’s just the calm, steadying presence who doesn’t lose his head when everyone else gets into a big fight (“let’s all calm down, children”)… Put it this way, Red is like the big bro who everyone goes to for advice–(MC is mad at me, what should I do?)–and Halek is the actual eldest bro who’s been away at college for so long that when he comes back, everyone’s slightly shy with him! But they listen to him when he does bother to step in.
Red’s feelings towards the other Shepherds mix between well-meaning tolerance and amusement with some exasperation thrown in: he sees what’s going on and is often just like, “…why?” (Read: Blade’s stubborn emotional repression; Chase’s mania…) Your read on him being the brother who’s like don’t steal those fireworks while Chase is like come on man, what are you, not cool? is pretty accurate, but Red can just as often go, “Fuck it, I have better things to do, you can make your mistakes…” and peace out when things get really out of control. He’s not really big on confrontation and is known to try to break his involvement in messy things when they get, uh, too messy…
Whereas Riel is the type to try to step in, and then go HAM I told you so all lecturey on the participants when no one listens to him and things inevitably go wrong. The two of them actually don’t interact too much, but there’s a mutual respect there; you’re right in that neither of them have much in common in the things they’re interested in and what they want to do, but they will occasionally give each other meaningful eye-rolls, eyebrow-raises, and head-shakes as the voices of reasons amidst the madhouse.
There is also the tricky situation that Riel puts on the persona of being a Diminished-hating businessman, and Red is the leader of an illegal Mages’ Circle, so yeah, they don’t hang out too much… Their intellectual spheres are so different that they don’t even debate at all: the languages they speak are just too different!
It’d be a respectful, comfortable companionship, not very passionate but also devoid of fighting and conflict. The kind of relationship where you both go off and do your own thing, come back home in the evening, and ask each other how work was with genuine interest. The only thing I could see going wrong is that Red is the gregarious type who loves going out, meeting people, exploring new places, and Riel is very much a homebody when he’s not in “work mode!”
That’s the only option for now, I haven’t written out the other paths for that yet! Don’t worry, in a finished version of the chapter you can avoid ripping out his memories with the right stat checks!
That’s only logical…
The only thing I could see going wrong is that Red is the gregarious type who loves going out, meeting people, exploring new places, and Riel is very much a homebody when he’s not in “work mode!”
