Weird question but how many friends did the ROs have before joining the shepherds?
I just imagine that the ones who had tons of friends didn't have that hard of a time to suddenly get used to having the "inner cycle friendship group". But how the more introverted/loner characters felt intrigues me. Blade, Riel and Ayla suddenly having friends (plural!) must have been shocking to them 😂
Blade: this might be surprising, but he actually had more "friends" than you would think! He was isolated from most of the people in his own age group both by his accelerated training, envy over his position as a kind of favored prodigy, and also his own solitary nature and/or extremely aloof/awkward tendencies. But he was "friends" with some older kids who usually forced him to socialize every once in a while or doggedly just cared about him. They were just, by and large, related to him tangentially LOL they were mostly his cousins. Or his brother's friends. Or both!
Trouble: he has lots of friends everywhere he goes, especially having grown up in Haven itself, and he still maintains those friendships to this day! There are few bars in Ashtown that he could walk into and not be recognized by someone. However, he also has a fair amount of enemies and rivals too LOL
Tallys: she has a lot of friends to pass the time with and enjoy leisurely activities with, especially in the Elven Quarter, but very few "bosom friends" that she confides her true emotions in; the few there are either have a very long history with her or are also tangentially related to her (though of different clans). This is part of why she's perceived as more of a loner/introvert in the Shepherds, most of her close friends were grandfathered in and are from outside the Order!
Shery: she didn't have many friends at all; maybe one or two classmates that were friendly in feeling towards her, but whom didn't spend much time with her and who hardly thought of her/immediately forgot about her outside of school or after graduating. Like they might stop and say hello in the street and catch up for a few minutes, but she was never an integral part of their lives! She struggled with making friends when she was younger, so the Shepherds are really the first place where she feels at home and like she can make lots of friends!
Riel: prior to coming to Haven, he had exactly 1 friend: his mentor, Quentin Makepeace. After coming to Haven for university, he made some friends, but they were more classmates, acquaintances, or associates: Riel's a difficult person to truly become friends with, partially because he isn't really interested in friendship unless you're a remarkable person and pique his interest, which is a really high bar, and is more preoccupied with other things! He has a lot of people he's on "friendly terms" with--you don't really get to become leader of Merchants Guild without wining and dining, rubbing shoulders, and playing politics--but he would never label them his friends, they're more filed as "useful connections" or "solid allies" in his head! If you asked him outright, I'm not sure he's even paused to file Aerin as a friend in his head, she's his "right-hand" but it would surprise him if she was like "dude I'm like your best friend"
Chase: he has lots of friends EVERYWHERE, and is probably technically the most socially connected person out of anyone in the Shepherds except for maybe Lavinet (?), just because he makes it a point to be. Again, you're not really a good spymaster if you don't have a ton of friends and keep to yourself. But of course, if you're defining friendship as someone he deliberately confides his true thoughts to or shows his emotions through the mask, the number would be astonishingly low. Maybe even 0.
Red: extremely popular, which is established enough in canon, I think, that little more needs to be said!
Ayla: she had 0 friends 🥹🥲 Part of Ayla's whole emotional schtick is that she's been alone--well and truly alone--for almost her entire life. Even in the village where she was raised, she was considered a strange and difficult child, so it wasn't as if the other children were particularly fond of her. 🥲 It's extremely sad, but it informs her personality and why she's so jaded and wary about getting settled with the Shepherds!
Briony: as we know from Chapter 5, she had Nathe and a few friends in the arena, though of course organic friendship was hard to develop in that environment, especially when she was effortlessly walloping rivals as champion and they were all aware that they could be forced to fight each other someday!
Lavinet: Lavinet is extremely popular and well-connected, and has a lot of "acquaintance friends," "allies," and "actual bosom friends". Among the Winter Court (the regional echelon of aristocrats in the North), she probably ranks among the most well-connected and influential, at least within her tier of lords and ladies! The Shepherds is actually more shocking to her because she's way less popular and has a harder time making friends than she did growing up!
Halek: as sol, you could say he's used to being surrounded by followers and "friends," but the only one he ever confided his true thoughts and feelings to was basically his twin brother Naolin. Still, they did grow up with a gaggle of cousins and social friends that they ran around and did fun things with! He's friendly with a surprising amount of people who genuinely like him!
