Thinking about Whitney's dismissal event, I always trigger it and save him, then have him and my pc get closer. My pc and Whitney beat each other up at school then go smoke together at the park after. I'm a low Dom, high love girly- second the social status says "Whitney thinks you're his bet" I gotta go beat his ass and remind him how this works. That and like a lot of Whitney fans, I think, I like the way this feels like a pivotal kind of event in terms of some part of Whitney having to reconcile with what he almost did and that despite this the player still saved him.
I've also seen a lot of talks of adding in a way to save Whitney if he does end up in the underground brothel, to see a version of him that can't quite as easily try to put on the mask and go back to his bullying bs. And like would thst broken of a version of him even be romanceable.
Now, I have ideas. But I'm no dev and my ideas are messy as hell and would likely be very convoluted to add in, but regardless- walk with me here.
I'd start with changing the options in the initial dismissal event. There becomes three options- Intervene, Do Nothing, and Run Away.
Intervene is same as it is now, player jumps in immediately and no one is taken away. Whitney has his, I don't fucking get you moment, and while hes a bit softer- he is still his bully ass self after some time to sit with it.
Do Nothing is, exactly what it says, due to shock- player does nothing. But instead of what it is now, if player does nothing, the kidnappers while grabbing Whitney will go "eh, might as well grab that one, two for one special on fresh meat" and the player gets abducted with Whitney. They both get taken to the underground brothel, if/when the PC escapes they're given the option to save Whitney. Maybe also if they linger in captivity for a while, PC has a few chances to speak with him/keep his spirits up. Whitney saved this way this still has his confusion and freak out, but he's even more surprised- partially just because you actually got stuck in that hell with him, because of him, and still saved him.
Running away means you get away and Whitney is left to his fate, while the player gets the fuck out of there. Whitney is taken to the underground brothel and player won't have another chance to save him unless they get taken there later or bust in somehow.
If you refuse the chance to save him once he's in the brothel, it's a hard dismissal, you cannot just swing back through once you think he's suffered enough. Any attempts to do so are met with a Whitney doesn't respond and shows no sign he heard you, he stares through you as you attempt to speak with him. You're not sure he's truly here anymore.
Now, regardless of how Whitney ends up in the brothel- the game starts to keep track of how long he's stuck there and maybe even gives him a hidden trauma counter that is just piling the fuck up. If the player character is with Whitney if they choose to take advantage of even little chances to comfort or show support, it can decrease it a little, but lbr not much.
Once you escape and save him, his reaction after should be correlated to time and trauma accumulated. If it's a relatively short period of time, I'm thinking a week or less, Whitney will have his usually initial reaction after being rescued, vulnerable and wondering why, this is amplified a bit more if PC was taken with him during the initial dismissal event since he's responsible for them having been there. If PC had initially run away, he fluctuates wildly between suggesting they came there to save him and calling them a dumb whore who still got themselves carted off there. In that scenario, he can more justify to himself that he isnt actually responsible for their pain because they still ended up there. Though he still clearly is just trying to talk himself out of guilt. If he's there a bit longer, a midway point of some sort, same reaction but you notice he'd not as loud as he usually would be, his voice cracks more often, he seems like he's trying not to cry. If he hit peak trauma/was there for a long period of time- he's despondent for a while, until finally he tries to talk, but keeps starting and stopping, until he's just full blown sobbing and impossible to understand, it ends with him running off clearly ashamed at how he can't get himself together.
There's then a cool off period where PC just does not see him, maybe this can then trigger his only really friend coming up to PC in school and asking if they've seen Whitney, if PC and Whitney were abducted at the same time- they remark about them both vanishing around the same time but seemingly only PC has come back. If not they just point out that whereve PC is, Whitney is usually one to follow but dont tell him I said that.
Once the cool off period ends, we see more of how this actually impacts Whitney moving forward. Firstly, his social circle- if for a shorter period of time, PC can notice that a few familiar faces are missing from Whitney's gang of cronies. The mid point, you notice he only has a few of his friends around him now, people whisper about him more. Of high point/long time, the PC will note only the friend who came up to ask about him is still around, anxiously rocking on their heels while Whitney stares into space. No one wants anything to do with him.
Low to mid level trauma Whitney will show up to class more often after the cool off, notably sitting next to PC even if they aren't together. If an npc is being kicked out of a seat, there's a higher chance of that npc refusing to move. Low trauma Whitney will argue with them right away, mid trauma will waffle back and forth, theres also a chance for the npc to start taunting Whitney with pictures/videos the underground brothel spread of them. Low trauma Whitney will end up attacking them. Mid trauma Whitney will just walk the fuck out- PC then has a chance to skip class with them, or follow them when River kicks Whitney out- at the cost of some delinquency points. If he sits next to PC during class, he still bugs them, but its less stabbing them with protractors and more poking them, occasionally reaching over the desk and grabbing and wiggling their hand around. Maybe just leans over and bites them. At higher love he'll occasionally have his head down on his desk like he's trying to sleep, then reach over and put PC's hand in his hair, silently "demanding" they stroke his hair while he naps. Bullying is still there but its softened, a lot more likely to just be spooking PC or bugging them, more the schoolyard shit, sometimes he'll grab or shove them and it looks like he's thinking really hard, PC is prepared for the worst, and he'll just grumble something beneath his breath before leaving. He still considers doing some heinous things, but he's more likely (but not always) to lose his nerve. Occasionally will just grab PC but instead of doing anything violent or sexual, he just sort of puts his around their neck and shoulders, buries his face in their neck or top of their head, huffs for a moment and before PC can realize he's just... hugging them. He bites their neck or licks their face, shoves them, and leaves. And moving forward his lust has to be higher now for him to initiate his more blatantly sexual bullying punishments, though that changes as his trauma meter goes down.
Hes also now more likely to come sit with PC during lunch or at lunch time will grab them and drag them to the roof. If PC is sitting with Robin and or Sydney, Whitney will just kind of sit with his head down like he's going to sleep but will occasionally perk his head up to glower at them, say some rude shit, or poke PC. If PC sitting witb Kylar, ngl, even with trauma I think he's grabbing that twink by the collar and throwing him from the table/kicking him and telling him to gtfo, PC can then choose to defend Kylar or not. If PC does, Whitney will roll his eyes, but let Kylar come back to the table while he sits next to PC- the two just shooting death glares the entire time.
High trauma Whitney never comes to class. High trauma Whitney never shows up in the canteen. High trauma Whiney doesn't bug you in the halls. Their "cool down" period is longer, in fact the game would have to prompt you- "you haven't seen Whitney in a really long time, if you want to check on them you might be able to find them on the roof during school hours or in the park if its raining" and you the player have to decide if you want to go interact with Whitney. I think if at max trauma, there should be a limit to how much you can lower it, you can make it better but it never can be fully decreased. And I think only at max trauma- his dominance stat goes away completely. A lot of chats are just him staring into space, never fully confides/open ups, closest he'll get his hiding is face in your shoulder and crying, while saying of you tell anyone about this he'll kill you, but his voice is cracking, it sounds more pathetic than intimidating, clearly clinging to a reputation he's completely lost. You can still build love in this state but until it gets to a certain point, Whitney will not come to you, you gotta find him. As that love builds he'll start seeking you out more and do those small "bullying" things but he's more likely to lose his nerve and only does the more sexual bullying if he's at very high lust. If at high enough love he starts showing up to class, he'll have his head down the entire time. If someone doesn't him sit next to you, he'll just leave always- you can step and ask the person to move for him, but this will lower your status. Being seen with high trauma Whitney will start lowering your status like Kylar does.
Now, while possible to build his love with high trauma, a high trauma Whitney- will never confess. Whitney thinks you're too good for him. He's lost all confidence and doesn't have the nerve to proclaim it, occasionally he seems like be wants to say something but he always says nothing. And unless the player is prompted/wants to, the relationship will never progress beyond this strange unexpected kind of friendship where Whitney is hiding how he truly feels.
