Part of this is that I've just been trying to smarter about coding stuff. :'D So, I try not to create a "rel" status unless it's a significant divergence from another path.
Originally, I tended to group most stuff under a 'rel' modifier. Ashe has five or six after her first appearance. One showing she likes you, one showing she's afraid of you, one showing she hates you.. But, also some to show if she never came to your condo, or other minor, dumb things. I could've just done ashrel = 0, ch2_ashcondovisit = True, ashkiss = False, etc. and saved myself immense headache trying to dance around the specifics of their interactions. Over time, I've been trying to use more one-off/disposable variables to denote certain actions taken, or knowledge a character has, etc. and reserving "rel" statuses for significant plot divergences.
With that Britt scene, as you noted, she has the "brifear" modifier to show that Guy scared her by whipping his dick out. But, besides being a little skittish about Guy, her storyline in the brirel 0 path isn't too different, no matter what decisions you made. She came in and took photos, she had no explicit sexual contact with Guy, and she went home without Jamie returning and finding her. The main difference is how she feels about Guy. Did she like him? Did she like him enough to kiss him? Or did he freak her out? None of those things really require a new "rel" score, but I can always use her points/status to inform a later possible route. So, if brirel == 0 and brifear == True, maybe the player can do another pushy photoshoot, or generally just be a bit more of a sleaze, whereas maybe the option won't be there if brifear == False.
Honestly, if I knew what I know now, a lot of stuff would be tagged/coded differently. A big part of my desire to rework Chapter One/restart everyone's saves, is that I'd like to streamline and unify everyone's points, statuses, etc. It's honestly a mess, as I kept trying different stuff, experimenting with what was most intuitive. For instance, I think I started with nidkpts, nihpts, etc. Then Viola and Risa got ri_lt, or ri_dk, because it seemed less annoying to type. Then I realized that what I really should've done all along is just start everyone with a base level of 10 points, which can decrease to 0, or increase to 20. Everyone would just have scores like $ nipt/gbpt/ashpt = 10 to begin with, and then move plus/minus like a sliding scale. As is, it's a fucking mess of various, often conflicting values, which makes coding new sections a pain in the dick.