"My parents, my grandmother, my two brothers and two of my sisters all died...."
Welp, I'm finally posting it.
I've been thinkin about Raul and pre-war and just his...everything.
It started with me thinkin about Rafaela, then what his other sibs were like, what his canonical age put into perspective, and a whole lot of rotating started goin and now here I am.
I guess lets start from the top:
We're given a canonical age for Raul after doing some math. He's born in 2047, making him roughly 30 when the bombs drop. We are also give a canonical two brothers and three sisters.
From there I made my own thoughts on this. He does not read as an oldest child, nor does he give spare vibes. I think you all know that I believe from context clues (and outright statement) that he comes from a well off family of horse ranchers. From a lot of his dialogues he doesn't sound like he had a partner (nor do I get the vibe he wanted one). We can't confirm that he wasn't being pressured into settling down and while most of his dialogues about his family don't really give finer details into his life, he does talk about personality and behavior which lends me to think that he got away with a lot of unruly things, even within the contexts of his family. Was he the favorite? Or was he a middle child. I read the latter into him.
So, neither heir nor spare. No serious pressure to start his own family and continue the family line. In my opinion, two older siblings at the least. Rafaela existing means he definitely wasn't the baby either. However the way he talks about her makes her seem much younger than him. Not entirely a child though, he makes a comment about the scar on her ankle that she got "when she was a little girl". So she's not a "little girl" anymore, but the way he mentions taking care of her lends me to think she hasn't fully grown up yet. He makes her smile by dressing in a costume store Vaquero outfit, some things he mentions makes her sound a bit on the immature side. This makes me think she's in her older teens area. Not entirely grown but not entirely a baby either.
With that said, if she's in that age range and he's 30, he would have been the "baby" of the family for a while before Rafaela was born. He certainly does not give me family's baby energy, so perhaps one sibling closely born after him takes that title. This leaves one sibling in limbo, either older or younger than him, which I chose to place as older. Since to me, Raul is canonically a man in his 30s when the bombs dropped, and with the way he describes himself pre-war, it really does feel like he wasn't forced to mature up in some ways. I decided to put that other sibling as older, just to drive home how much cushion he had from having to take on family business or personal responsibilities.
So, with my logic on sibling placement done, lets dive into the sibling group as individuals.
Congrats, it's a boy! I don't think he was made much for ranching life, but he certainly did handle bringing the family business into a modern world well. I definitely think he holds a business degree and handles the trade/finance side of things. Softer spoken, he does as whats expected of him but finds fulfillment in his finance work. He certainly appreciates his children now that they're older, and is glad he and his wife can focus on themselves for the most part.
If there are any social pressures/norms that the siblings break, Julieta is in their corner swinging for them. She did well in her childhood helping with her siblings, with the ranch, with the house, with basically everything. Shut up and nut up-- until you snap, of course. She did give in and get married, but once the pressure of having kids rolled around something cracked. She raised her siblings, was she really gonna spend her adult years raising more? Hell, did she really even like who she was with or was he just easier to tolerate? Julieta decided she was tired of checking off expectations on a list that wasn't hers, divorced, and is happily just within an arms length of her family. Boundaries and bluntness were her freedom, and while she certainly helps Manny with the business end of things, overall she's contented pursuing her own career.
She also helped raise her younger siblings, but wasn't nearly as expected to hold the responsibility of such. Regardless, she loved caring for them. Turns out she also was a bit of a romantic. Married young, and honestly good for her that it worked out on the first go. She loves how big her family is, but lord almighty, someone should tell them how this keeps happening.....
Our boy. From how he speaks, I get the idea he was content staying and working the ranch with Manny and co. More on the manual labor end, more animal handling, but it was rewarding in its own way and he got to stay around family. I think that he would have hobby work in the city, I know I've mentioned him working in a body shop so he can get his fill of cars and car work, but this wasn't something he needed to take on. Momma wishes he would cut his hair and get a partner, but he certainly thinks he looks stylish and much prefers to be the cool uncle. Besides, Raf is still in high school. Someone's gotta watch out for her.
Probably suffers from being the once baby of the family. No real ambitions, ranch work is good enough, doesn't mind floating through life. Not stubborn, just hard to integrate change into his life. Hes held along term partner, though everyone wishes he would propose at this point. He is very aware that if they ever break up, the family is keeping the boyfriend.
An oops baby, but not unloved by any stretch. Everyone jokes that she may be their parents kid but she's Raul's baby. Because of this, she's his little shadow and is spoiled beyond belief. While a bit immature for her age and a bit bratty, she's a good kid and a good student.
