I realized something yesterday. It ties into this whole thing about Red I posted a while back on a different book, probably.
For example, she'd never describe it in this way, but she can be pretty territorial. Her friends, her family, her room, her possessions (especially notebooks) - she is fiercely protective of anything she considers hers.
I was thinking on it and I was wondering how that might have some relation to how she interacts with Ranger. And then my brain offered me this: Her friends, her family, her room, her possessions...her enemies.
And yeah, obviously there's a lot to unpack and analyze about that statement, because there's truth to it. In multiple instances, Red is shown attacking a mutual enemy or in some way protecting Ranger from danger that does not come from her. For example, there's a roleplay where everyone is in-character but the events are slightly different, so I consider it an AU of sorts. At one point, she takes an arrow for Ranger, and in another, wrecks Ranger's father for almost killing Ranger's apprentice and friend, Patch. Canonically, in Veil of Shadows, she drops her sword and leaves herself unarmed to prevent Ranger from having to watch Equinox die. At first, this seems out of character, to be defending Ranger of all people. But when you get to the root of it, it makes sense.
Red wants to be the one to confront Ranger. To force her to face the fact that she wasn't entirely innocent in what happened. To make her admit that she made mistakes. Red wants to be the one who gets what she wants out of Ranger - especially revenge. And, in a twisted way to some degree, closure. Anyone who stands in the way of that is therefore stopping her from getting what she wants. In this way, she is still putting her own interests first, even though she's assisting Ranger. And yes, she remains openly hostile towards Ranger, which can make her seem a bit inconsistent.
However. In a separate roleplay in which the same standards apply, she says "I respect honest hatred." She doesn't see the point in playing nice with someone if she doesn't like them, finding it irritating and unnecessary. She also respects people who say what they perceive to be truth and don't try to sugarcoat or hide from what they mean. So, obviously, she isn't going to bury her misgivings inside and act like everything's fine. She expresses her hatred for people exactly as it is - nothing more and nothing less. She's a very direct person, so the anger and hatred she feels is something she tends to express without considering the consequences, because she doesn't believe there should be any other way. Acknowledging the emotion and dealing with the source of it - in this case, Ranger - is her priority, not sparing feelings or jumping through hoops to avoid inconveniencing people who have no real stake in how she feels and why. Her enemies. It makes sense for Red to be protecting Ranger from harm and severe emotional turmoil, mostly because she is unapologetically interested in being the one to cause it.
Well, right up until she inevitably isn't anymore. Because there's that darn thing again.
She is fiercely protective of anything she considers hers. Her family.
What changes? Well, consider this. She knows Ranger, probably better than anyone. She knows that Ranger doesn't just talk about things. Ranger shows her emotions mostly through actions. Saying how she honestly feels is rare, and a bit like a dam breaking. So Red knows not to bother listening to her words, because they can be warped and filtered and spoken to fit whatever act she's subconsciously putting on. Actions are what she pays attention to, because how Ranger feels always bleeds into what she does, no matter what. Everyone pegs Red as the emotional one because she's more open and obvious about how she feels. Out of the two of them, Ranger is actually the one who cares about things most deeply. She's just not great at showing it. But Red sees. The instinct to hide. The panic at the idea of her friends being hurt, because they're all she has. The guilt. The exhaustion. The way she pushes herself harder and harder. The way she hides how she feels to protect herself. Red gradually realizes that Ranger is just as afraid as she once was.
