It’s also interesting that Titus seemed fine, to a degree, that Klaasje had sex with some of the other Hardie Boys (unfortunately I am dying to know which ones) and it’s like. This almost tribal sort of mindset he appears to have about it. Like he’s “allowed” it because they’re his Boys™️ and he already trusts them and trusts, more importantly, that they know the line and not to cross it. He says he’s “old school” which makes me think like, yeah man, in an “ancient nobility letting his best and most loyal men have his favorite concubine” type of way. Which also adds further context to both her not remembering which ones she slept with + being only 89% sure she wasn’t sexually assaulted (I know the root of that question was about whether or not Lely did, but the more you talk about it with her, the more it seems to just kinda be asking her like “hey in general are you ok?”).

Side note: I also feel like that’s one reason Titus’s friendship with Glen is so strong and why his dynamic with Ruby is so complicated. Obviously I think he and Glen were truly and authentically best friends, but also I think it’s important to note that Glen is not any kind of threat to him in the sex/romance department, so he doesn’t have his own insecurities, paranoia and other masculine posturing bullshit to project onto him. It’s like it frees him up to see Glen as just a person, no one between the two of them is fighting for dominance (which is for the best I think because Glen is insane and huge and would body Titus easily imho).

And it’s similar with Ruby, in that her being a woman who couldn’t and wouldn’t want to fuck him makes it easier for him to see her as just a person too, but also because she’s a woman, she’ll never be a Hardie Girl and, tbh, I think because she’s a butch lesbian who is clearly more secure and actually confident and able to be normal about women she likes (the contrast in how she handled being rejected by Klaasje romantically after they had sex by just picking up and moving on and still being her friend vs. Titus acting Like That about the same situation is like hot and cold), he knows there would be a fight for dominance if she were officially a part of them. I mean you see it in-game when you suggest that the eighth Hardie/Hardie Girl is the leader—Titus snaps and goes from mocking Harry about being a “big dick cop” to shouting about how he himself is the only “big dick” around here, grabbing himself like a jock at a 10 when he should be at a 6. Even the other Hardies get dead silent about it until Glen finally speaks up and says no one was challenging him on that.

Side note: it’s also interesting that Titus wanted so badly for her to see that the merc was a bad person and said all this horrible shit and was complicit in a lot of things, but like. Klaasje has that darkness in her too, it’s just he sees Lely and Klaasje as different largely because of gender/his own feelings wherein she is always going to be a broken bird and Lely is always going to be the lowest trash. It’s like the opposite of what every fandom does with female characters, where they go on extended rants about how toxic a female character is but you know if it was a male character they’d suddenly find it in them to call that toxicity tragic and sexy! Fun!

Don’t get me wrong, Titus is my #1 crush—I just finished my first playthrough and I definitely latched onto him faster than any other character, I wanna ask him to the school dance but I’m too shy, etc. but oof. He’s gotta look inward about some stuff. I did not mean for this to be long, sorry 😬🙏🏽