#but thats not a design you guys have seen . unless you want to . regardless every other design change has been slow/gradual/hard to notice

[marblerose-rue]

OKOK for realsies im gonna draw but it wont be an immediate thing

[isaacathom]

the fun thing about the post game idea is that Rhia puts you in danger. deliberately, consciously, with knowledge. she spends most of the main game attempting to convince you to go home, go to safety, she and the doc both support the idea of protecting people from this stuff, and shes determined to shield you from team whatsits wrath and elliots poor influence. and yet, by the end, she asks you to come with her into a clear trap, something clearly designed to lure her and the Doc out to rescue the daughter. she knows its a trap. she even says so. she technically gives you the chance to leave. she technically says you dont have to come. but you will. she needs you to. she needs you to follow her into a trap.

she doesnt want to. shes lost. shes helpless. she knows shes strong, she knows she COULD take CEO in a fight, but she knows that youre better than the both of them and if anyone will ruin CEOs day, its you. youre her contingency. she doesnt plan to have you fight. youre backup

so when shes knocked away, and she looks up to see you being wrapped up and lifted off the ground, she SUDDENLY understands how Elliot feels.she suddenly understand what he was feeling when he ran away, what sort of impact him leaving might have had, she feels that possibility and it tears her apart then and there. shes helpless o help you, and SHE put you in this position. yes, she gave you a choice, but you were always going to take it. technically he gave her a choice, but she was always going to take it.

because now, shes elliot, being held by a grunt while a young rhia is grabbed in the same manner. suddenly shes filled with his flight or fight instinct. and she has to make that conscious decision to fight, to stay, to not leave her young self behind. and then she sees the consequence of it. Elliot takes a blow and collapses backwards to the utter shock of all present. and suddenly she knows what he thought when he ran, why he made the conscious decision to fly. because this was the sort of thing he feared. he feared a backlash so severe it could kill him. and here he is. and its her fault.

no matter what end she got, whether shes split or reconcile, she recognises this parallel in deep place. shes now lived both sides of the incident, as herself and as elliot, and when she made what she thought was the ‘right’ choice - to fight - she sees the consequences that has. she understands. she wasnt right, and neither was he. for a split side, it forces her to see what elliot was doing and understand. she doesnt have to forgive. but now she understands, deeply. for a reconcile side, it reframes how she approached them repairing their relationship - its not about him becoming a ‘better’ person, its about them both becoming better people. is that realisation too late? she doesnt know.

its why shed become the e4 member on his request in split route. she doesnt want to talk to him much. but when he makes this request of her, sitting in a hospital bed, she cant not accept it. not out of some sense of owing him, though she does (in a way. it could also be seen as them finally being even). she does it because she now understand his perspective and WHY he wants this of her. in fact, thisd work better if elliot had previously asked her to take the role, regardless of route. in reconcile, she does, but in split, she refuses to hear it and leaves (to then be absent until her reappearance in the post game content). and elliot would mention that in your e4 battle. how he thought rhia deserved the spot more than he did, but that she’d refused to speak to him and take it. so when he sits there and shakingly calls Rhia into the room (as shed been sitting on a chair outside having a bit of an angsty moment) she does it in a heartbeat. shes changed, this time. and he asks her to take it, and she accepts. maybe shed be sorta tsundere about it, but everyone would tell its meant well, and the daughters sitting in a corner trying not to giggle. sweet.

like, the main story rhia/elliot arc is about Elliot changing. the post game rhia/elliot arc is about RHIA changing. its about whats ‘right’ and whats ‘correct’. lesser of two evils and such. i think thats a fun theme to have. because theres a difference between the ‘moral right’ path (in terms of the incident, this is Elliot staying and fighting the grunts) and the path with the ‘best outcome’ (thats elliot running away, which if nothing else guarantees he lives instead of them both dying/being brutally injured/such shit). and its about balancing the two. i /guess/ its similar to that dumb train thing, with switching the tracks to kill one person or 4. except a little more..... nuanced.... i hope, anyway. thats just sort the rough idea for it.

the daughter is just there to flesh out Rhia, really.

another thing - where is Rhia in reconcile? because she still has to appear in post game at a couple of random points, which in split is easily explained as her being a vigilante of sorts, roaming the region doing Shit My Guy. but in reconcile, shes in the e4... unless, ooh, so she goes home every night. you complete the last mission for the daughter, she sends you home, a day passes (in game lol), and rhia calls you as soon as you wake up to say daughter is missing. the idea is that rhia and daughter went to sleep and that rhia woke up to find daughter gone, and the ransom note from CEO on her kitchen table. also they sleep separately for this purely because i think id hate if im in bed all cozy and suddenly the partner comes in and steals the blanket like, the fuck. they both have weird schedules with work, so they sleep in separate rooms anyway. way easier for them both. so rhia comes home, goes to bed (possibly seeing the daughter beforehand, i assume so) and then waking up to the note. and calling you, because the daughters phone is on the table and you were the last person she contacted. come quick, fuck. that works.

and rhia still comes home in split. its just late at night, after everyones asleep. the family know shes there. they know shes coming and going. they figure shell calm down and interact with them soon. that sorta thing. and she comes in through her window and crashes on the bed, and bam. its morning, bitch. trot downstairs to grab some Sweet Sweet Bread, and bam, your girlfriend has been kidnapped by the cunt that made you join a gang. fuck.

also shit the mums there for all of this........... shit. like, Doc is in the city, working with the police and also helping people after city chaos. the daughter came home to fill her dads role in the community while hes busy. the mum is still there. the fucks she doing during all this. is she the one who raises the alarm idk. shit. thats complicated. i completely forgot about the mum. oh man. we COULD say shes in the city with Doc, afterall Rhia and the daughter are both adults and can handle themselves........ like she flew over to be with him while hes dealing with police and people? that could work. bit of a cop out but it figures.

honestly all the main characters are dealing with police except for split!Rhia and the daughter. split!rhia because shes off being vigilante, and the daughter because she was spoken to by police after her dad came forward and its immediately understood that she has Absolutely Nothing to do with it, like theyre the ones to reveal her dads gang connections to her and shes just D: WHAT ans they go ‘oh shit’. it was a very difficult conversation for everyone involved.

idk. this works? well enough at any rate. honestly i just like the idea of rhia going through an arc on screen. because in the main story she doesnt really change (ESPECIALLY in split, where she sticks to her guns more fiercely because she hasnt has her views challenged by elliot), its more about elliots development. they both change for post game. elliot by either completing his gradual change into ‘the better person’ rhia wanted, or by just throwing himself into that. he had time. theres like a week of in game time between you becoming champion and him getting shot. and rhia changes by either completing her own change into ‘the better person’ or having her stead fast idea challenged concretely. idk. listen this shits fun im a slut for drama and this is My Shit My Guy