I think you have not played a path where you get a better relationship with August. August does not trust easily, but you can earn trust points with him and better relations unrelated to it. August is currently the only PC leader who shows awareness not tinted by mental conditions. In a talk with Otto he tells him that he is starting to think that Kath and Chuck are beginning to loose it.true that kathleen is a direct boss of edwin, but it doesnt explains augusts dodgy behaviors. all 3 of them are his superiors. august is the only one who stands out
Naturally he is concerned and careful when he sees the "new guy" eating out of Kath´s hand. August does only trust few people and him seeing you following Kath like a nice eager puppy is certainly not helpful gaining his trust.
In my three "own canon" playthroughs I see this up and down quite nicely. I try to keep enough trust with Kathleen so the game goes on (you can loose early with too low trust) and have some wriggle room if I need to take a hit by not following Kath´s ideas, but not more. I have good relations with Chuck and August too, so it is not as great a problem as seem to think it is.
Still, I am careful not to blindly follow either one of the three. And going by what we learn and see throughout the game, I certainly make sure to maintain a good wire to Abel and Sophia.
Very true. Kath sees alot of potential in Edwin, BUT securely UNDER her guidiance. Unless you ingratiate yourself with her a lot, she does not trust you or your opinion all that much, see the Rosalind situation, where in my game she waved off directly, but I was able to secure August´s(!) help. The guy GigglingCock views as near inapproachable.As for Kathleen being more trusting of the MC, maybe. She certainly gives him a pretty free rein when it comes to handling the Carnations, but then again what does that actually cost her? If the MC asks her to sort out Rosalind's liquidity issue, Kathleen will refuse (unless you've specifically ingratiated the MC to her, but you said to ignore those game mechanics). So she doesn't seem to value his input too highly by default.
And that Kath uses the cards she got dealt with can also be seen in another scene. Off the cuff I think it was Hana who told our hero she now sees why Kath is using him as the kindness sponge for the Carnations. With the unvoiced addition that Kath herself never could do so similarly, because there is no kindness in Kath which is not fake for the vast majority of people.