VN Ren'Py Being a DIK [v0.10.1] [DrPinkCake]

[Holy Bacchus]

Technically the letter was already this episode's cliffhanger, I would't like to use the same thing twice. I'd expect to know something more about what's in it and get a WTF moment at least, not leave us with the same info two episodes in a row.

And get more info about Chad's blackmail, we don't know anything more about it since episode 2 .

The letter wasn't a cliffhanger in ep 5, it was almost something of a throwaway mention in a text message the morning after the Prep party. It was a small tease but the episode moved on quickly and didn't dwell on it.

As for Chad, we still can't say for sure it was blackmail as that's not explicitly stated. All we know is that he feels threatened by it by not that he is being blackmailed by it.

Interesting that you think it'll be in 7 because I think it'll be 8 but I'm not sure whether I believe that for storytelling purposes or because I think the shot of MC's face, upon reading the letter, would be one hell of a cliffhanger at the end of the next Steam version.

Well I didn't think we'd even see the MC's birthday until ep 8 for that very reason, but that tweet which will be an in-game Rooster post changes things and seems to move that timeline up quite a bit.

expectations on the twist about MC's mother seem exaggerated to me.

There's a lot of exaggerated stuff in this game and a game-changing reveal about the MC's Mom would be the least of it.

I still believe it unlikely, or in any case a stretch in the plot, that a boy of twenty has no idea who his mother is, we are used to stories of adopted children who do everything to find out who their real parents are while MC would be satisfied with know the name of a mother he has never seen..

There are people much older than the MC who have no idea who their real parents are, it's not an unusual situation. There are people who used to grow up with an "older sister" who turned out to actually be their mother because it was deemed shameful for girls under 18 and out of wedlock to have kids.

Not knowing the truth about your parents, whether you're adopted or grew up with just one parent, is not a foreign concept and happens more often than you'd think.

Why should he be upset about being a Burgmeister? it could only be good news (even though he already knew that his mother's family was rich) or at least not change anything for his life.

He wouldn't be upset, just shocked, especially due to the fact that he attends a college named after them making him a legacy, and he's met a Burgmeister who may very well be his cousin.

Replying mostly to the bolded section ... I think you're misreading the situation, MC isn't an adopted kid looking for his birth parents, he knows who his parents are/were, it's the family of his mother that he doesn't know and, from what we've seen, doesn't care to know.

In this context, him being a Burgmeister means very little (him being a Royce would for the reasons you pointed out but we know that ain't happening)

It would mean little to him but it could mean a lot to others when they find out because it adds a whole new dynamic to the MC's life even if they try to ignore it. As we've seen, the MC trying to ignore something doesn't work because it will invariably affect him somehow and this would do the same.

As for the rest of your post, 100% agree, it would be terrible to discover that Neil had been lying about Lynette being dead for 18 years (MC is 18, nearly 19, btw, not 20), he's been presented as a loving and supportive father who, despite being broke, does everything he possibly can for his son in stark contrast to Lynette's father who cut her off for the unforgivable crime of falling in love with one of the serfs.

Being a loving, supportive parent doesn't mean they're incapable of keeping secrets from their children, especially if they believe they're doing it in the best interests of their child. In that sense, I'd say it's a very parental thing to want to shield your child from something you think would do more harm than good to them.

Usually in these situations, parents will only tell their child the truth when they feel there is a need for it, like if someone who is adopted goes in for an organ transplant, that's when they find their parents aren't compatible donours because they're adopted. In Neil's case, while his son may very well be attending a college named after his mother's family, he probably didn't think there was any way the family would find out so there was no reason to tell him. But since arriving, the MC has been making some waves, including a very public fight with the Jock President, so this may be how the family found out about him and now Neil will be forced to tell him what he was keeping from him.

If they ignored me all my life, I wouldn't have a burning need to know about them either.
How do you even know that he doesn't know his mother's family name?
It simply hasn't come up in any of the conversations featured because... they've had no impact on his life until now.

It seems clear he doesn't know because it's noted how his Dad never gives a full and complete story about he and his mother got together, and specifically just says she came from a "rich family". Neil's lack of clarity has led the MC to not really ask his Dad much since he never gets a good enough answer and this, to me, seems like it could be a tactic of Neil's to keep the MC from asking him rather than Neil simply having a bad memory.

 

[spacekun]

This is one thing that has always left me a little confused even on multiple playthroughs at this point and off the top of my head i don't remember anything about this being mentioned but why exactly is Neil and there for our MC so broke? Neil is or has carpentry skills, works construction. He mentioned the hotel they were working on when he met our MC' mother was a really big project so likely expensive, no? I've known people in both fields of carpentry and building/construction and they make pretty sizable bank to say the least .... so my thought on this is, could there be something else going on? Like the family of our MC mother having had Neil blacklisted in some way maybe so he can't make much or something? He's clearly working as we see in the game but how is he so broke? It was just something that stuck out to me as odd. Any thought?

Maybe a fat mortgage and he has money tied up in the stock market or bitcoin lmao

 

[Holy Bacchus]

This is one thing that has always left me a little confused even on multiple playthroughs at this point and off the top of my head i don't remember anything about this being mentioned but why exactly is Neil and there for our MC so broke? Neil is or has carpentry skills, works construction. He mentioned the hotel they were working on when he met our MC' mother was a really big project so likely expensive, no? I've known people in both fields of carpentry and building/construction and they make pretty sizable bank to say the least .... so my thought on this is, could there be something else going on? Like the family of our MC mother having had Neil blacklisted in some way maybe so he can't make much or something? He's clearly working as we see in the game but how is he so broke? It was just something that stuck out to me as odd. Any thought?

Being blacklisted is something I'm thinking as well, because if the Mom's family were bitter about what they viewed as him "stealing" their daughter away, them doing something vindictive like this would certainly go a long way to explaining why Neil wouldn't want them anywhere near his son.

 

[flippityflop]

This is one thing that has always left me a little confused even on multiple playthroughs at this point and off the top of my head i don't remember anything about this being mentioned but why exactly is Neil and there for our MC so broke? Neil is or has carpentry skills, works construction. He mentioned the hotel they were working on when he met our MC' mother was a really big project so likely expensive, no? I've known people in both fields of carpentry and building/construction and they make pretty sizable bank to say the least .... so my thought on this is, could there be something else going on? Like the family of our MC mother having had Neil blacklisted in some way maybe so he can't make much or something? He's clearly working as we see in the game but how is he so broke? It was just something that stuck out to me as odd. Any thought?

Might have something to do with this...

As to what kind of legal issues? Beats me. I'm curious myself.

 

[Cigar-Ferras]

Being blacklisted is something I'm thinking as well, because if the Mom's family were bitter about what they viewed as him "stealing" their daughter away, them doing something vindictive like this would certainly go a long way to explaining why Neil wouldn't want them anywhere near his son.

That's kind of where my mind was going also with that. The other little niggle was from the party in Ep5. It may well be nothing at all, but do you (or anyone else for that matter) have any thoughts on who the two guests were at the party - "Red Haired guest/Blonde guest" - I'm thinking Red would be Sage' Dad since she said he was there and Blonde would be maybe Jill's Dad? I only ask because of the way the Blonde guest eye balls our MC. If both men turned and looked at him like he was nothing i wouldn't pay it any mind but there was something weird about that look to me. If he's Jill's Dad maybe he's aware of the MC sniffing around his daughter?
I do enjoy these speculation/theory talks on this board, they're fun for the most part.

 

[Cigar-Ferras]

Might have something to do with this...
View attachment 803938
As to what kind of legal issues? Beats me. I'm curious myself.

Ooh, i completely forgot about that in the bio.

 

[felicemastronzo]

There are people much older than the MC who have no idea who their real parents are, it's not an unusual situation. There are people who used to grow up with an "older sister" who turned out to actually be their mother because it was deemed shameful for girls under 18 and out of wedlock to have kids.

Not knowing the truth about your parents, whether you're adopted or grew up with just one parent, is not a foreign concept and happens more often than you'd think.

it won't be impossible, but it is still very uncommon.

MC has a father to ask, and Neil should have given him some explanations in order not to answer him, if he had refused to answer him this would have created tension, curiosity about the matter, and it does not seem to be so

Neil may have lied to him, even in this case there must be a reason, and in any case if he had lied to him MC would still know his mother's surname, the fake one he was told, but he would be convinced that he knew.
it is very different not to know something, or to be convinced that you know it

and all this unlikely and dramatic situation would serve to make MC discover that he is a Burgmeister, who apart from exchanging Christmas greetings with Rusty, that would have additional consequences to the simple fact of belonging to a wealthy family (which he is already aware of) ?

 

[Jimayo]

In this context, him being a Burgmeister means very little (him being a Royce would for the reasons you pointed out but we know that ain't happening)

I think Rusty would disagree. I imagine he'd be thrilled to find out the MC is a cousin.

you're right, I exasperated the concept

but among all these questions would there not be the name of his mother's family? who they are? What are they doing? where they live?

I think you don't understand what it means to grow up under the poverty line. Such questions are a luxury for someone who struggles daily.

 

[flippityflop]

Ooh, i completely forgot about that in the bio.

Yeah, reading the bios sometimes reveals interesting tidbits like that one.

 

[lemonfreak]

Well I didn't think we'd even see the MC's birthday until ep 8 for that very reason, but that tweet which will be an in-game Rooster post changes things and seems to move that timeline up quite a bit.

Only if you assume that Derek shoving a piece of cake into MC's mouth is part of MC's birthday celebration and not a do-over for the end of Hell Week. We know that some of the Diks feel bad about how Hell Week ended, it's far from inconcievable that they'd try to throw together a do-over.

There are people much older than the MC who have no idea who their real parents are, it's not an unusual situation. There are people who used to grow up with an "older sister" who turned out to actually be their mother because it was deemed shameful for girls under 18 and out of wedlock to have kids.

Not knowing the truth about your parents, whether you're adopted or grew up with just one parent, is not a foreign concept and happens more often than you'd think.

Apply Occam's razor and see if your hypothesis still works.

It may be fairly common for kids to grow up not knowing who their parents are but nothing we've been shown even hints at that scenario.

It would mean little to him but it could mean a lot to others when they find out because it adds a whole new dynamic to the MC's life even if they try to ignore it. As we've seen, the MC trying to ignore something doesn't work because it will invariably affect him somehow and this would do the same.

MC coming into an inheritence might mean a lot to the people around him and nobody has ever said otherwise, I was arguing that it wouldn'thave any significent effect on the relationship between MC and Neil

Being a loving, supportive parent doesn't mean they're incapable of keeping secrets from their children, especially if they believe they're doing it in the best interests of their child. In that sense, I'd say it's a very parental thing to want to shield your child from something you think would do more harm than good to them.

Neil's a DILF, I don't doubt, for one second, that he's hooked up with a few women since the death of Lynette. Equally, I don't doubt that he's kept those women secret from MC since they, presumably, weren't stepmother material

Usually in these situations, parents will only tell their child the truth when they feel there is a need for it, like if someone who is adopted goes in for an organ transplant, that's when they find their parents aren't compatible donours because they're adopted. In Neil's case, while his son may very well be attending a college named after his mother's family, he probably didn't think there was any way the family would find out so there was no reason to tell him. But since arriving, the MC has been making some waves, including a very public fight with the Jock President, so this may be how the family found out about him and now Neil will be forced to tell him what he was keeping from him.

You don't really believe this do you? I don't have the best relationship with my parents but I know they wouldn't let me attend a college founded by my great-grandparents without warning me that some of the students might be my cousins.

It seems clear he doesn't know because it's noted how his Dad never gives a full and complete story about he and his mother got together, and specifically just says she came from a "rich family". Neil's lack of clarity has led the MC to not really ask his Dad much since he never gets a good enough answer and this, to me, seems like it could be a tactic of Neil's to keep the MC from asking him rather than Neil simply having a bad memory.

It is equally likely that Neil doesn't go into detail when talking to his 18 year old son because he's already said everything that needs to be said prior to the events of the game.

I think Rusty would disagree. I imagine he'd be thrilled to find out the MC is a cousin.

I'm sure he would but that misses the point of my post, MC doesn't have a great deal of interest in his mother's family so learning he and Rusty are cousins would make fuck all difference.

 

[Lusikun]

Major Spoiler in Episode 6
Watch at your own risk

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[lemonfreak]

Major Spoiler in Episode 6
Watch at your own risk

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You are, officially, the king of the internet

 

[Wizard_Shiryuu]

The letter wasn't a cliffhanger in ep 5, it was almost something of a throwaway mention in a text message the morning after the Prep party. It was a small tease but the episode moved on quickly and didn't dwell on it.

As for Chad, we still can't say for sure it was blackmail as that's not explicitly stated. All we know is that he feels threatened by it by not that he is being blackmailed by it.

I knew you would say something along those lines, let me rephrase. Cutting it after the MC opens the letter but without telling us anything about it wouldn't add anything we don't already know. Doing a cliffhanger on alreay known information is lame.

 

[Swayz]

When is the new update coming?

 

[Holy Bacchus]

it won't be impossible, but it is still very uncommon.

MC has a father to ask, and Neil should have given him some explanations in order not to answer him, if he had refused to answer him this would have created tension, curiosity about the matter, and it does not seem to be so

Neil may have lied to him, even in this case there must be a reason, and in any case if he had lied to him MC would still know his mother's surname, the fake one he was told, but he would be convinced that he knew.
it is very different not to know something, or to be convinced that you know it

and all this unlikely and dramatic situation would serve to make MC discover that he is a Burgmeister, who apart from exchanging Christmas greetings with Rusty, that would have additional consequences to the simple fact of belonging to a wealthy family (which he is already aware of) ?

The MC has seemingly asked Neil over the years, but his "memory" isn't so good and he never gives the MC a clear, straight answer, instead he goes off on tangents and mentions a lot of irrelevant details that ends up frustrating the MC. This much is made clear in ep 1 when we get a bit of the story of how the parents met and it's likely one of the reasons why the MC doesn't ask much about her.

Again, it doesn't seem the MC knows his mother's surname at all. In that story Neil tells, all the details are vague about who this "rich family" was and that's likely very much done on purpose. I see no reason why he absolutely has to have known what her surname was all this time because it's not exactly an important detail to know. He knows her first name and that's enough for him.

If the MC is revealed to be a Burgmeister, it opens up some very interesing angles, some of which can still work him gaining an inheritance and not the name of one of the college founders, but having that name would make these things even more impactful as it at least gives the sense of him having a higher standing than if he was just some random rich family legacy.

Only if you assume that Derek shoving a piece of cake into MC's mouth is part of MC's birthday celebration and not a do-over for the end of Hell Week. We know that some of the Diks feel bad about how Hell Week ended, it's far from inconceivable that they'd try to throw together a do-over.

The words "happy birthday" are literally in the tweet.

Apply Occam's razor and see if your hypothesis still works.

It may be fairly common for kids to grow up not knowing who their parents are but nothing we've been shown even hints at that scenario.

We know that he knows his mother's first name and that his Dad is an apparent terrible story teller when it comes to telling the tale of how he and Lynette got together and only ever says she came from a "rich family". Her family name isn't mentioned and that's likely deliberate on the part of DPC as it indicates that not only the MC doesn't know, but that it will be a consequential detail to be revealed later on.

You don't really believe this do you? I don't have the best relationship with my parents but I know they wouldn't let me attend a college founded by my great-grandparents without warning me that some of the students might be my cousins.

Yes, I do. A college campus is a big place and the MC comes from a completely lower social standing than the rich families of the college's founding fathers, so Neil probably doesn't think there's any chance he'd ever meet them since they would typically run in different circles. But, plot contrivances being what they are, he has interacted with them when most people in the MC's position aren't normally likely to hang out with the rich legacy kids. It's like if someone like him attended the same college as a member of the Walton family; in the real-world, there's very little chance they'd ever meet due to their different social standings.

The thing always has been for me that, if Neil is indeed keeping such a secret from the MC, even when faced with him attending B&R and the small likelihood of running into distant relatives, then he must have a damn good (or at least justifiable) reason for not telling him and also for hoping that the secret can be kept despite these things.

 

[lemonfreak]

When is the new update coming?

I, and my fellow time travellers, cannot reveal that information for fear of contaminating the timeline

 

[lemonfreak]

The words "happy birthday" are literally in the tweet.

View attachment 803991

Yes and I've just remembered that you've pointed this out to me before so feel free to hit me with a shitload of facepalms

In fairness to me, it could be in reference to MC's birth as a full-fledged Dik brother but, even if that turns out to be correct, I'd still be wrong because it isn't something I could deduce from the available evidence.

Yes, I do. A college campus is a big place and the MC comes from a completely lower social standing than the rich families of the college's founding fathers, so Neil probably doesn't think there's any chance he'd ever meet them since they would typically run in different circles. But, plot contrivances being what they are, he has interacted with them when most people in the MC's position aren't normally likely to hang out with the rich legacy kids. It's like if someone like him attended the same college as a member of the Walton family; in the real-world, there's very little chance they'd ever meet due to their different social standings.

The thing always has been for me that, if Neil is indeed keeping such a secret from the MC, even when faced with him attending B&R and the small likelihood of running into distant relatives, then he must have a damn good (or at least justifiable) reason for not telling him and also for hoping that the secret can be kept despite these things.

I'm curious, how big is B&R? The highest dorm room number we've been shown is in the 70s, meaning that, given 2 students per room plus those living in the frat houses and a few living off-campus, there are likely fewer than 200 students attending the college.

 

[Wizard_Shiryuu]

Yes and I've just remembered that you've pointed this out to me before so feel free to hit me with a shitload of facepalms

In fairness to me, it could be in reference to MC's birth as a full-fledged Dik brother but, even if that turns out to be correct, I'd still be wrong because it isn't something I could deduce from the available evidence.

And the part about the vagina around his neck? C'mon

 

[Holy Bacchus]

Yes and I've just remembered that you've pointed this out to me before so feel free to hit me with a shitload of facepalms

In fairness to me, it could be in reference to MC's birth as a full-fledged Dik brother but, even if that turns out to be correct, I'd still be wrong because it isn't something I could deduce from the available evidence.

Nah, no facepalm, but I'll give you one of these: .

And the part about the vagina around his neck? C'mon

Must be one hell of a party.

 

[evertonv60]

When is the new update coming?

late September or early October