Reyes Vidal - No longer A Mystery (Official Thread)

It would largely depend on the situation. And, in a way, not at all, perhaps it would just take some time they'd spend together again. I've hinted several times that Ryder ends up not that furious with Reyes, even very privately acknowledging he's exactly what she needs or even wants.
Because, callous as that may sound when it practically destroys anything Reyes built, the duel situation is not that much of a deal for Ryder or what she thinks of Reyes in the long run. She may be a bit of a hardhead, and also a bit of a spoiled brat who always excelled at anything and sort of had to, as well, whose skill convinced her that things can be tackled head on and if you need to resort to cheating it's not worth it and you're probably not worth it either. But that's not saying she's a typical by-the-book do gooder herself, or that she's dumb or naive, just.. sort of arrogant. A little more on the idealistic side somewhere deep inside too, perhaps. In fact she could handle a situation like that in other circumstances. But in that cave, it's just impossible. Since I mostly RP in first person, it would be easier to proceed dissecting her point of view in that situation, as to illustrate why shit happens why and where the big deal about Reyes cheating disappears:


- Ryder has spent all this damn time trying to make Sloane see reason, because despite her bad choices she can still respect her in a way. After all, she sees the world a bit similarly herself. (Really, though it's not the analogy I mentioned, it's worrying how my Ryder would be liable to exactly repeat most of Sloane's mistakes, though perhaps with a bit more subtlety and minus the drug pushing, she'd hold it that a crew of junkies is a bad idea) before the cave scene, she grins to have it made. She might have her convinced (I headcanon she worked very hard at it when they were both royally bored at Sloane's party) and even had it sped up by that inconsequential boogeyman going round Kadara, who will simply be killed and deals will be made. Profit!

- Ooh, turns out the inconsequential boogeyman is the man Ryder shared a whiskey with last night. The same man she's spent quite some time talking and flirting with in the past few weeks. Someone who managed the almost impossible and made her like him. Forget the pathfinder business and enjoy something for herself, damn the way it looks, damn what it brings to her mission or the consequences it might have, all of it despite the huge amount of shit-talking going on at the beginning. And also made her grin like an idiot for a whole second when he asked her out too. And seriously wonder if they might do it again after the storage kiss. She could've seen the revelation coming miles away. She didn't. She got distracted. In Ryder's book, that's a big epic fucking fail. Ryder facepalms at herself, feeling trapped. And like an idiot because nothing's ever easy and she allowed herself to think otherwise.

- Despite all her liking for Reyes, bringing a sniper to a duel is just a big nope for Ryder, so a no-brainer there and then. If they'd know each other longer, had more of a bond, the result would most likely be different. Like this, a sniper in a duel? (undoing all the work counts really marginally at this point. The main focus is on sniper in a duel) Fuck no. But despite that big a fuck no, she doesn't for a moment consider shooting Reyes. Game allowing, it might even be her biotics that make Sloane miss that very close shot.

-Well, all of that was in the heat of the moment, of course. Dust settling, the reality kicks in. Ryder has just been made a capital fool of. No, better, Ryder has just made a capital fool of herself without anyone's help. Having her hand forced to do one or other thing that will end unfavorably for her, with like a second to decide couldn't end any better. (She definitely gets under terrible pressure in that situation, so you might say she simply falls back on her principles as the last thing to save her.) Of course she'd make no specific apologies about choosing her honor that moment (she did tell Sloane she'd watch her back, after all, and that's not negligible). Buut she gets bananas berserk at the fact that with doing that she probably consigned one of the best things that happened to her in Heleus to death. Also, that she couldn't go the whole way and didn't shoot him herself as was her due, because her liking of him stopped her. Ryder has made it a point in her life not to let anyone mess with her like that- and she got severely outplayed, looks like a fool anywhere she looks and totally can't handle it, and the mind/heart rending schizophrenia is the most terrifying thing I've RP-ingly experienced since my NV Courier's existential crisis and that's saying something, because that thing borders on intense mental and emotional masochism.

- Well, time goes by. Ryder makes calls she disapproves of but can't have any other way (e.g Drack's scouts), thinks in terms she never needed (fuck, the angara sorta own the cluster now? does it make the ai the worst kind of galactic vagrants? don't tell Jaal, but fingers crossed it cripples them for like a decade to come or they mount new roekaar movement and it' all gonna go to hell), in light of all that lying to the satellite angara. Everyone chooses themselves and theirs first and Ryder realizes that's the only honor for someone who's not merely out for himself anywhere. She comes to see what Reyes did as what he had to do, fought the way Reyes fights. And that whole situation just seems to her as the smack behind the ear to open her eyes to what she sorely needed to see. In a way, Reyes is the bigger pragmatist of the two, the one who had it figured out and knew what had to be done, feelings aside. And she, fully realizing that intrigue, shadows and politicking will never be her domains, can finally respect that, even though she'd still personally favor to go head against the wall as she always does, and I'm not sure knowing any of these things beforehand would make her break a promise she once gave.

Where does all this rant lead? To pointing out the reasons why it wouldn't have to be just Reyes keeping away from Ryder's honor, but also Ryder keeping her honor out of Reyes' business. Also, to saying that unless Reyes breaks it, it's not really a question of "again" as in "second chance" but rather "still". I think I've mentioned somewhere that to me Ryder is still in romance with Reyes. She might act on it if it seemed there was a point in acting on it or she might keep it to herself if he were no longer interested or she saw there was no way a warrior and a rogue can reach any sort of compromise, ever. Funny, I said it would no longer be a game, but it seems with the two of them it would always still come down to "well, I'm game if you are".

And that's what you get when you ask me a question. I apologize.

While Reyes is not mentioned at all, it was Addison's idea to send out 8 scout ships to look for viable planets because of food shortage and the scourge. He could have been in one of the 7 which returned. Spender coordinated the crews on her behalf. It's also unclear when he woke up. Either when the scourge hit (Sloane freed Kandros and others and those in turn and Kesh as well freed more from their stasis pods) or later when they needed technicians and so on, they made a list. Addison said she needs people from the colonial administration to check the remaining ships.

Fuck up PCs for da win, as they say, seriously if I had to play as a well-boobed Mary Sue runnning around in her underwear I'd fall into a coma in five minutes And nobody can really blame your courier, Caesar is just that fucking fascinating. If my own Courier hadn't been hanging around with Boone like all the time before getting that invitation and getting sot of influenced in that regard, who knows what might have happened...

Which bridges nicely to the answer to your question which is- the Courier. Or, from all the PCs and OCs and whatever else that I ever created, the one I love most. I don't know why that happened, but it somehow did. And the comparison in this case really seems like something that spammed my brain for no reason and didn't go away. That's saying she's nothing Sloane, cares nothing for power and the first time someone suggests she could take over, she laughs for solid ten minutes. Actually her leadership style in totally Charlatan-like in the end when her per deathclaw somehow happens to chew on Mr. House's life support when unattended (choosing a faction with that character? believe me, an impossible fools errand)... and she decides that telling it is a completely idiotic idea. She's more of a surprisingly thoughtful, devilishly intelligent jerk, a bit quijotic, a bit cheshire cat-like... and that's the problem. If Boone weren't around to shoot Reyes' head off, scoff and mutter something about her painting a target on her back, she'd totally go for that offer, just because of her pride and recklessness and the fact all the world is just a fucking game that ends with more or less stupid death to her anyway... and despite being pretty cunning herself, and having the history of screwing (non-innocent) people over for the laughs, she'd never suspect he never really means it, especially if he'd put it like he did. Having time to decide, she might eventually reconsider and prepare. In an instant like that, never. So, having created in a very 1st person-style a mind that could die from this as well makes me shudder from that kind of murder (unless there is some overwhelming reason, no, let us not go there again), especially since I kind of get where that surprised/terrified look comes from.. and it makes me excessively -and perhaps undeservedly, I know- sorry for Sloane. It's not the only reason, not is it the main one, but it's a damn glaring one for sure.

And that's even when I know all of this is generally nonsensical, because if the Courier really were in Sloane's place, it would also mean that her closest (probably Boone) is near death. She'd have no mind for games then, only for giving someone what they've got coming, which would probably result in her emptying a clip in Reyes' face without a further word the moment he asserts his identity...