#bc the only thing that really ties these two chars experiences together is that they're 'my' main characters?

[masschase]

Some ramblings on Matt and Casey's respective sibling figures.

I make jokes about Matt and his only-child induced longing for siblings but at least his choices are sensible.

Johnny probably is a good big brother for him. He's tough, street smart and sociable, the things Matt needs help with, but still treats him well and fills a gap of a younger male role model being 18 years older than him whereas Matt's own dad I see as being 40+ years older than him. I can't see Johnny berating Matt for his more effeminate or nerdy qualities either, he'd just be like *shrug* bc he's super confident in his own masculinity.

In turn Matt being drawn towards Jezebel as a younger sister is beneficial for them both as she doesn't necessarily need to be super tough or fight much. She mostly needs guidance on being a normal, decent human because she's literally been raised by Satan. And I always talk about how for all his seeming quirks or cowardice compared to the Saints, Matt must feel he's the only sane man in a pretty fucked up world at times.

I can see him just allowing her to be a teenager and it would allow him to be one vicariously because he had the typical "smart teen who thinks they are super mature to adult who finally steps back and lets himself be a little silly" progression. Teaching her normal shit like using a phone or a computer without Kinzie's level of jargon. How to enjoy music and tv and makeup and stuff. Plus being young enough for her to relate to but sensible enough to create boundaries. His ego would appreciate having someone younger looking up to him after years of the reverse.

Even the "who the fuck is this" when she comes crashing into their lives is resemblant of the feels small children get when suddenly confronted with a baby sibling.

MEANWHILE my Boss Casey has formed a pretty solid family in the Saints by the time of SRIV, I feel like I've already talked about that one way or another. BUT she spent her younger years wanting to be Johnny Gat while Troy was quite often thanklessly keeping her safe in the background. Big brother fail right there. And the silly thing is she knew that in the back of her mind. She didn't really have that teenage crush on Troy the way she did with Johnny, Dex and Lin. She thought it was because Troy wasn't as cool.

But he wasn't trying to be cool, he was trying to be responsible. Don't get me wrong, they all knew she was just a kid and they all looked out for her, I don't want to discount their care for her, especially Lin. But only Troy was enough of an outsider to the gang to not see some form of protege or mini-me or pawn.

First and foremost he just saw the civilian he'd felt duty bound to save in the first place, and that never really left him. I don't think they had much contact post-coma but I like to think he was watching until the day she left for Steelport. Maybe he made a quick call to check they had that new notoriety wipe thing. Then he finally let go.