How're we squaring up Halara's motivations/actions in her DLC chapter with each other? Or with her statements in the main game?
In the main narrative of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, we learn that Halara Nightmare adores cats. However, through a cruel twist of fate, they're also allergic to cats. Therefore, Halara sadly declares they can never have one.
I've complained before that Halara's conclusion is short-sighted and stupid because their story is literally just like mine: I'm allergic to cats but also love cats. And guess what? I underwent allergy treatments so I could still have cats around without repercussions. Yes, TREATMENTS EXIST! And Halara lives in some kind of weird sci-fi future where said treatment is probably even better. Buuut... that's not my complaint right now.
My complaint is instead about how we square this up with what Halara says and does in Ch.Halara: Raining Cats and Dog. They take actions TWICE in this chapter that don't appear to make sense either when put up against their previous claims in Gumshoe Gab... and even don't make sense when taken together in just this one hour of DLC!
Some spoilers for how the chapter starts and ends — nothing related to the actual mystery/case, ONLY the conversations in the intro and denouement scenes — are included below the cut where I explain the issue.
At the start of this DLC chapter, Halara is initially uninterested in whatever Yakou's got going on with his latest client, but circumstances require Yakou to enlist Halara's help with the case that his newest client brings to him. He's unable to afford Halara's typical exhorbitant fee, so he makes a proposition: If Halara solves the case, they can keep a cat in Nocturnal Detective Agency's office. And with that offer on the table, Halara is suddenly all in.
The first issue: Aside from when they're actively working a case, Halara seems to hang out at the office for 90% of the day every day since arriving in Kanai Ward. Won't this cat naturally trigger their allergies? A whole lot? ALL DAY? So... why is it okay for them to have a cat now? Why did they previously claim they couldn't, but now it's totally cool?
But then, days later, after their case is wrapped up? Halara doesn't ever get a cat. They receive no recompense at all. In our wrap-up scene for the DLC chapter, Yakou approaches Halara as they play with a stray. He asks if they're going to adopt it and have it live at the agency. Halara responds by faux-"translating" the cat's vocalizations as the cat saying that it doesn't need them or their help. And... that's just... it. No other cats are discussed, nor is their dream of cat ownership taken any farther than their rejecting this one specific stray on the docks that they feel doesn't want to live with them.
Yeah, that's the second issue: What the hell just happened? Halara was SO HYPED about potentially having an office cat, but then suddenly just drops the entire possbility after the case. No explanation. What in god's name drove them to flip on the concept and not ever get the cat?
