#btz!ram

[sufferu]

BTZ. Don't have to use this, but it would be a little comical if Ram was unable to insult Subaru in the teasing manner she used to, but slowly and overtime she starts to become friendly with Julius and begins to lay into him with her barbed tongue. Subaru is left devastated because he's no longer being insulted by Ram anymore. Lol.

Oh that’s already an issue between Ram and Subaru lmao. The only reason Ram felt free to be a dick to Subaru like that was because she thought it was obvious that she cared about him and would never actually hurt him. Now that THAT’s been proven false, she can’t bring herself to treat him like that anymore. It’s just not the same situation to her.

Of course, after a couple weeks of her just — coming to terms with everything, she DOES begin to reconnect with Subaru. It’s not the same as before, but that’s alright. Maybe she doesn’t banter with him in the same way nowadays, but she still makes him steamed tatoes, and now she’s been doing her best to try and be more open about the fact that she loves him instead of being all coy with it. She helps him tidy his hair sometimes, and they go shopping together, and — it’s DIFFERENT, but Ram doesn’t think that has to mean it’s BAD.

But of course, Subaru is in no condition to actually recognized the positives of their new relationship. As far as he’s concerned, Ram is just — refusing every overture he makes, and acting like their old dynamic never existed. She hates him now, doesn’t she?

…Now. Rubbing it in by making it so that Ram starts insulting JULIUS could actually be really fun. Ram treats Subaru like her beloved second little sibling and Julius like the dumb hound who keeps getting his head stuck in buckets. Everyone sees Subaru as the one who’s getting special treatment except for Subaru himself. Oops.

[sufferu]

@cipher-wise brought up an absolutely brilliant idea that deserves its own post: Subaru needing to learn to groom himself. Oh my god that’s so cute.

Okay so — I’m thinking that in the old timeline, it actually WASN’T Rem who decided to groom his fur while he was at the manor, even though that seems obvious. No, I’m gonna go ahead and say that it was RAM. Ram, who didn’t want her little sister getting so “intimate” with Subaru so fast, who was largely responsible for mentoring him during his first few days, who is very much Subaru’s big sister whether she will admit it or not.

In BTZ, however, Ram no longer wants to touch him — and neither does Rem, for similar reasons, and for reasons that are much more intense. And as he has no idea why this is the case, that breaks Subaru’s heart :(

[sufferu]

I realize this might be self explanatory and the point of BTZ already, but does there come a point that the cast realizes they have flaws to - the same if not greater then Subaru's and aim to fix it?

Doesn't seem fair that Subaru is the only one expected to change?

Aka: Felix fear of death? Emilia's naivete? ect...

Something important to note about BTZ is that none of them are actually trying to change Subaru in basically any way, shape, or form: as far as they’re all concerned, he is already a perfectly good kid who just needs some security and space to grow into his own. Legit the only thing they are really pushing back on here is the idea that he should be putting himself in danger for anyone else’s sake, because 1) they’re all traumatized from watching Subaru Gets Eviscerated Repeatedly: The Real-Life Snuff Film and 2) the world will literally end if he dies apparently. Everything else is just like — “Yeah, we can help him learn to read.” “Learning how to use a sword for self-defense purposes probably isn’t a bad idea. I can spend two hours training him every morning, sure.” “I hate that it apparently has to be THIS rabbit, but if Subaru wants to keep the rabbit then Subaru gets to keep the rabbit, and I am going to do my damn best to hide how much of a menace this thing is from everyone else just to make sure that happens.” “Hey Subaru likes sewing right? Why don’t we get him these rare fabrics as a souvenir?” “Subaru looks a little downer than usual, I’ll ask the staff to make one of his favorite meals for dinner tonight.” Like they are GENUINELY trying, they just keep running headfirst into various walls while Subaru stares on as the unfortunate straight man to all their clownery.

Nah, most of the intentional character growth is on their own ends. Like, Wilhelm is actually making an effort to reconnect with Reinhard and Reinhard trying to connect more with the people around him, even if both of them are so emotionally stunted that they’re kinda just fumbling around blind here. Emilia is trying to take on more responsibility without relying on Subaru quite so much, and is also gonna eventually start putting more thought into what SHE wants, as opposed to what’s expected of her (ie. the Royal Selection). Julius is making an effort to be less uptight and more playful and approachable — and not just with Subaru, because he also remembers just how much of an impact Subaru’s more playful and easygoing nature was able to have on the world around him. Garfiel considers himself Subaru’s senior, now, and as such he is trying to be the kind of older brother figure that Subaru once was for him — assisted by Mimi, who is of much the same mindset (and also keeps trying to force Subaru into calling her “Onee-chan”). Rem is making an effort to be less impulsive and think things through more, and when she eventually starts reconnecting with Subaru she tries to be more honest with him about what kind of a person she is (as opposed to putting on a show of being the kind of girl that she knows he would like). Ram is trying to be gentler, especially with Subaru, who she apparently hurt really badly (even if she knows he wants to forgive her for it).

Of course, not EVERYONE is actively trying to better themselves. Otto just got WAAAY worse, for example, and is now up to all his old hijinks turned up to eleven in the worst Mission Impossible parody of all time. Vincent is just cranky that Subaru won’t pick fights with him anymore and is trying to hide the fact that he keeps sulking about it. Cecilus is Cecilus and is thus immune to character development. There’s a lot going on.

(And then on the Aldebaran end of things — basically all the Vollachians (even CECILUS) are going “Damn we fucked up” and trying to make up for it by treating this extremely irate ten-year-old like a Vollachian Prince (which. He essentially is, at this point).)

[sufferu]

Hey quick question but will other characters have a nickname for subaru? Like what would you have them call him as a sign of affection?

I haven’t actually given a whole lot of thought to it, lol, but — yeah, that could be fun. Even outside of it being a sign of affection, it could also very easily translate tot them attempting to mentally distinguish this Subaru from the one in their memories, which — works, on a number of levels. Open to suggestions!

Some ideas I actually have had already:

Julius: Subaru-chan. I considered Subaru-tan, but that one is a little too closely associated with “Emilia-tan” for me to really see him stealing it to use in this context. Sometimes he shortens it to “Su-chan.”

Ferris: Puppy. Julius is at least a little formal and restrained, but Ferris is exactly the kind of teasy asshole who would continuously call Subaru the puppy of the Karsten Estate. Sometimes he escalates it to “Puppy-chan,” mainly just to rile Subaru up.

Rem and Ram: These two both had nicknames for Subaru in the old timeline (“Subaru-kun” and “Barusu”), so their main change is that now they — don’t. It’s just “Subaru” now. (Or, early on and even worse, “Subaru-sama.”)

Wilhelm: Not normally one for nicknames, but — he can’t say “Subaru-dono” anymore, but every time he says Subaru’s name on its own it just feels WRONG, somehow. He spends ages trying to think of a good one. I’m thinking he names Subaru after some kind of flower…? Anyway, he ends up falling flat on his face somehow, but I haven’t figured out how yet. (I was thinking “Pansy,” but that seems a little too overt tbh.) (Or maybe he ends up calling Subaru something that references an embarrassing moment that he believes was absolutely endearing, but that Subaru — does not.)

Reinhard: Whatever Wilhelm uses, Reinhard will adopt.

Cecilus: At first he just went back to calling Subaru “Boss,” but then he heard Julius call Subaru “Su-chan” and now he won’t stop using it himself.

Emilia: Still haven’t figured it out, but that one reply was absolutely correct. As the woman who would have named her daughter “Chocoreina,” it has to be something utterly ridiculous.

[sufferu]

Does Ram still consider Subaru her brother in BTZ? Is their relationship completely soured?

Honestly haven’t given much thought to her yet. She DOES show up, but…

Okay so, the thing about how Ram is reacting to All That is that the foundations for her relationship with Subaru just got COMPLETELY upended. Because on top of mocking or scolding him, Ram regularly threatens him with bodily harm. She doesn’t MEAN it, obviously, but the healthiness of that whole dynamic is completely reliant on Subaru KNOWING that she doesn’t mean it. And now that she actually DID — allow him to be tortured, kill him to spare her sister’s feelings, chase him into the woods in a murderous rage — she just can’t do that shit anymore. And so a lot of what had really been her showing him affection, in her own Ram-like way — she just doesn’t feel comfortable with it now. She has to pull back.

So from Subaru’s POV, Ram is suddenly being very polite, cordial, and utterly cold to him, and now he’s lost a friend.

As time goes on, Ram probably does try to rebuild her relationship with Subaru, but she can’t build the same relationship they had before. For a lot of reasons. And because Subaru doesn’t know why she’s suddenly so different, he might not recognize that that’s her intention in the first place.

[sufferu]

Will Subaru and Ram meet again properly in BTZ or will she just remain adamant about keeping herself away?

Probably but I don’t have any plans yet.