#and 'director qi' sounds way more authoritative than 'director heng'

[sanddusted-wisteria]

Qi and names

A really, really random thing I've been noticing as I'm doing a second playthrough: Qi almost never calls anyone by just their name. Unless he's talking directly to someone, he almost always uses a title or a stand-in...nickname? Epithet? Not sure what to call it.

[VERY long post below, contains some act 2 and mild act 3 spoilers]

Grace: The frycook

Elsie: The rancher's daughter/ranch girl

[pardon the text mine, i don't have screenshots of some of the act 3 quotes and it's not up on the wiki yet]

Catori: The entrepreneur

Justice: The sheriff

Also combined with Unsuur: The lawmen

Pen: The homunculus man

Yan: "Your director"

X: The bird

Bronco the Kid: "The person seeking Logan"

Pablo: "Our local barber"

Here are the ones with titles:

Trudy: Mayor Trudy (but also sometimes just "Mayor" or even "Trudy")

Fang: Dr. Fang

Nia: Assistant Nia

You/the builder: Earlier in the game/at lower relationship levels, he'll only call you "Builder". But later on, he'll always use your builder's name.

(at Buddy level)

(at Good Friend level)

And last but not least, those who Qi always refers to by name:

Mint (but he also calls him Sleepyhead, of course)

Zeke

Logan

Matilda (though she's only ever referred to once and she's been de facto stripped of her minister title at this point, so I'll gloss over her)

So uh...what's the takeaway? Well, I think it's an insight to Qi's idea of respect. All the people in the first section have nicknames, which are mostly light jabs at their character/job.

Contrast to the people in the second and third sections. If they have an established title of authority, he'll use it. And for those he refers to by name directly, it's someone he personally respects. Think about it:

Trudy is the mayor, the highest authority in town (and also probably singlehandedly responsible for his funding lol)

Qi's no quiet admirer of Fang's work, as shown by their few interactions

He respects Zeke as a fellow man of science, and a very persistent one at that

Nia is part of academia, advised by a reputable professor

Mint is obvious; he's his closest friend

And you! Take another look at his dialogue with you as it progresses through the main quest, especially after you build the mobile suit. He comes to respect you and your work.

Logan is an interesting exception, but I picked the above quote for a reason. I think he knows straight off the bat that the Logan situation is more complicated than other people say, and he sympathizes with him a little bit (even though he'll promptly hole himself up again and keep working after any Logan event happens).

I made another very long post a while back that touched on why Qi insists on being called "Director" all the time, and I think that's only compounded by this. It's a golden rule type situation, yk? You respect his titles, work, and time, and he'll do the same to you.

ETA: you could also interpret this as Qi viewing people as their occupations first. He's not the most sociable person in town, and he'd like to keep it that way (maybe). So he keeps a veneer of over-professionalism on by default.