#also i definitely feel venam is one of the better developing relationships with the protagonist

[lemonade-juley]

Intitally struck me odd that the 3-note relationship indicator popped up over the Protagonists head from the simple act of Venam giving them a soda (unless of course it was a visual bug, been having a few of those, and in that case this whole post is moot). Because well, generally the relationship icons doesn't appear for your character, just the other characters in response to your actions/words.

Then I kinda realized there aren't really many moments where other characters just kind of regard you casually. Most cutscenes, other characters frequently tend to mention how strong the protagonist is, or how helpful or heroic they've been. Definitely there's been moments of genuine concern of course, especially after Nancy's death with everyone being worried, and later on Melia asking and making sure they're okay, but generally any conversation that directly mentions or includes the protagonist tend to lean more towards their capabilities then them as a person (alas the downsides of being a silent protagonist sometimes)

So I guess in the eyes of the protagonist, not the player, they're touched they were considered outside of their heroism or strength. And on that note, Venam is also probably the character who you interact casually with the most with surprisingly (Aelita gets pretty close or the same though, since there's a solid period of the game where the two of you are traveling together). Ya know just kind of hanging out or eating food and whatnot and at least having some time NOT directly worrying about Team Xen or Psychic Nukes or hostage situations and whatnot