TL;CR

[cyclists]

TL;CR MEME

1. Comment with your character.
2. Receive comments from others.
3. Reply to their comments with long ballads and explanations of your characters' relationship throughout the game.
4. Endure everyone else reading your comment like the vultures they are.

Comments

[nonbelligerent]

cinnabar.........

Okay, so Cinnabar was mean at first, but it was pretty quickly clear it came from a place of awkwardness and sadness and fear rather than Cinnabar trying to be a dick, so Shess was willing to endure. It was unfortunate they felt they had to be isolated for something that probably didn't matter here, so as far as Shess was concerned, it was low effort on his part for something that could give Cinnabar greater happiness.

Then Cinnabar's further issues came to light, and that was pretty much when Shess decided he was never giving up on this person, ever. Because—yeah. He never told Cinnabar, but he did get it. He was abused and abandoned for being weak during his childhood (and the one person who cared about him got erased from the world, meaning he didn't remember her for most of his life), so while their situations were very different, he sympathized with Cinnabar for what it's like to be alone and unwanted for something you can't even help. In particular, since Shess probably had to learn how to stand his ground on his own, he wanted to make it easier for Cinnabar—to become more confident knowing that there was someone to catch them if they fell.

(This was why they got child-zoned, though... you're right... Not because he saw them as a kid, especially, but the person who was once there for him was his foster mom, so at heart, he was kind of trying to be for Cinnabar what she was for him, so.)

So while Cinnabar saw their relationship as unequal and they aren't entirely wrong about that, Shess did feel he got something out of their relationship. He never repaid his debt to his foster mom, and while he can't say for sure, Mikazuki suggested that Shess turned out the way he did because he subconsciously wanted to be like her, so being able to help Cinnabar helped honour her memory, in a way. And, more selfishly, it was nice knowing for sure someone here meaningfully cared about him (because Shess is perfectly capable of making friendly relations with humans, but he's also pretty sure most of them wouldn't be devastated if anything happened to him, at least back home).

It helped that Cinnabar was good!! Clueless and uninterested in the grand scheme of things, but Shess could tell they tried very hard and cared a lot—like he said, it's why he trusted them with the tidbit that they could get their powers back. The idea that they hated having something that made them strong is SO WEIRD for a sura, given their strength-obsessed society and flippancy towards destruction, but he really did like how kind they were. He was also very proud whenever he saw them making an effort!!

(Except the thing with Akane. That tired him out a lot, even if he did understand why Cinnabar hated her.)

Ultimately, he wasn't... shocked when Akane killed them (avoiding people killing him is part of why Shess is so diplomatic?), but he was still upset, especially since it did feel like he'd failed them. Still, if he made their life even a bit happier, then he accepted he'd have to be content with that.

And then somehow he ended up still playing counsellor for them even when they were dead, but because it was Cinnabar he shoved aside any tiredness and always tried responding to their messages, no matter how exasperating or mundane.

... But yeah, sorry Cinnabar, he was never going to burden them with his issues.