' HONEY & GOLD.

Am I back? That is hard to say. I am currently managing my other main blogs, and I say the word managing pretty generously. First and foremost, I have been looking after my own health and well-being. I know all the ‘real life first” etc. etc. sentiments, so it’s okay. I have other qualms in trying to write Rachel right now, however.

I have long held no interest in the general fandom consensus about Rachel, and I think most of you know that, but I don’t like to leave the door open for discomfort to come waltzing through. I don’t think she had romantic feelings for Chloe, I don’t think she had romantic feelings for most of her flings, and I don’t think she is the greatest person in the world. She was a chameleon, as the original game literally states. People idealized her, they saw what they wanted to see in her, and so she was beloved by most. She was not overtly rude or cruel, but she was selfish. I don’t want to write her in any other way than my own.

I think that Before the Storm pried my door right open for discomfort on this matter because we see Rachel Amber, and we see her through Chloe’s eyes. Chloe had one of the most biased views of Rachel, perhaps the most, and I think a lot of people don’t read into the fact that we are seeing her through Chloe’s eyes. She is a very complicated person, and while they do show us her weaknesses, or at least some of them, we are still getting an idealized perception of a character who was once a simple enigma. Not to mention that this game is written by an entirely different person who did not originally develop Rachel.

This is just my two cents, I know, and you are welcome to disagree with me, but I have no desire to conform Rachel to the current standard, and I have a fear of the people who may demand as much.