Richard

Captain of the Elysium.

## Appearance & personality

He is an older captain in his mid to late fifties and is approaching retirement. He is pretty formal with his passengers, but has a fond relationship with Ely. Riddled with guilt, regret, self-recrimination, and depression, he still has a slightly rebellious sense of humour and an instinctive kindness.

## History

Originally from Nomia, Richard worked aboard the supply ship Cicero and eventually bought her from his previous captain, becoming a captain in his own right. Despite his general "bad luck," Richard was a good captain, keeping crew employed even when it meant paying from his own accounts. Among his crew was Art, a close friend and former lover.

While working a job from Nomia to Tetium 2, Richard met Elske, captain of Duck, and they became both business partners and lovers. Though dating for several years and despite Richard's eagerness to become a family, Elske didn't let Richard spent much time with her daughter, Manon; he and Manon had only two significant meetings.

Richard was drafted into the Coalition’s military after they expanded into Nomia and Cicero was repurposed into a military supply and transport ship. For a time, he smuggled codes to Elske to keep her off the military's radar, but eventually she decided to leave the new Coalition entirely, breaking up with Richard and joining the rebels. Richard let Manon know that her mother had gone, and then got pulled off towards increased war efforts.

During the Battle of Eridium Kai, Richard watched the Coalition destroy Duck (and Elske); he "broke" a little, and subsequently punched General Arturo, who had ordered the attack. Cicero was reprogrammed and Richard was imprisoned but not court-martialed. Instead, the MAN forced him to become captain of the Elysium and tell their version of what happened at the battle, threatening his crew if he didn't do so. They also forbade him from contacting Manon at her own peril, as he'd been trying to do so following the battle. After almost a year and extensive emotional regulation testing, Richard was "allowed" to pilot the Elysium, with regular interviews with the MAN at every port for the first year. Although Richard never talked about his past with Ely, and she initially mistook the constant interviews as his dissatisfaction with her, the two became very close over the 15 years.

## Quotes

### Episode 0

* "I can’t deny that sometimes I like the idea of… going out there and… having some more adventures." (0.6.)

### Episode 1

* "I guess loss is… part of life, just as much as any other kind of *emotion* is. You know... you care about other people. You love people. And people die. Or go away. You know, maybe a relationship doesn’t work out. And then you miss them. Because you lost them. And it’s not something… it’s not something… people talk about a lot in casual conversation. You know, they write songs about it, they write movies about it. But, in essence it’s something... people mostly experience in private. It’s not something you can really… You- y- People talk about going through it, you know, as if there is like, a place you can get to where it isn’t a problem anymore, but...that’s not really true.  It’s… something you… carry with you. Always. You know, it might hurt less, or… become less relevant… but… it’s just part of you." (1.1)
* "I think although there might be bad ways to deal with loss, most of them cannot be... divided in either good or bad, it just is. People cope anyway they think is best." (1.1)

### Episode 2

* "I mean... at least what I’m doing, I can sleep at night. I just ferry rich people around." (2.1)
* "People do stupid things when they’re scared. Bad things, Ely. You have to *think."* (2.2)
* "*It’s not about me*. I’ll be fine. What are they gonna do? Fire me?" (2.2)

### Episode 4

* "I really thought there were depths this organization wouldn't sink down to. It's just lack of imagination on my part." (4.1)
* "It’s, uh… a— a question I… I’ve asked myself almost every single day, since. And, uh… some days I tell myself it was *loyalty*. To my… to my ship, and to my crew. I’m not sure where they are now, but… Other days, I… I tell myself it was *ignorance*, but a— a *willful* one. It’s not that I didn’t *see*, it’s… I chose not to see. Most days… most days, I… I know it was cowardice. *And…* I don’t have anything profound to say about that. I was… I was so *scared* to risk *anything*, or *anyone*. But I ended up losing it all anyway. (4.3)
* "I’m sorry. I’ve *always* been *sorry*. But I- I- I... *know* that, just the fact that I lost… doesn’t mean I deserve forgiveness." (4.3)
* "After the war, I… I had… I had nothing. You… you’ve given me *everything, Ely*." (4.3)
* "I wanted to leave. I wanted… I don’t know what I wanted. I was *done*. And I wanted to tell her. What had happened… to her mom. She deserved to know. *They didn’t like that*. They didn’t like *me*. I can see why. So they made me not a problem anymore. Now, *me*, in my foolishness, thought maybe they’d just make me disappear. And honestly at that point in time I... didn’t care. But no… that would be too easy wouldn’t it. People would ask *questions*. So, I ended up here." (4.4)
* "I don’t think you used to be this bloodthirsty before you met me." (4.5)

### Episode 5

* "Well, when I was really young, I was a bit of a troublemaker — at least, my family would think so. But… ummm... *I* wisened up, I’d like to think at least. [...] I have learned a little bit about… you know, sometimes life’s just easier if you uh, don’t *get* yourself into trouble. It can be fun sometimes, but once you have some responsibility, you know, for a crew and a ship and [inhales] making sure everything *works out*, it kind of loses its allure — at least for me. Just… wouldn’t feel right having to explain why… uh, this month’s winnings are much lower than expected because I, uh, didn’t *read all the local laws."* (5.4)

### Episode 6

* "I have not been born with your, your luck! I need to be careful, I have a lifetime of experience of, you know, I know where my luck level is at!" (6.1)
* "It's a long time to live in fear, Ely, and it's hard to let go." (6.2)
* "I was never on my own." (6.2)
* "Who knows, maybe we'll get to blow them up, at the end." (6.2)
* "We make our own luck." (6.2)
* "*Fuck*." (6.5)
* "Feels like... I'm getting off a sinking ship on another shipping ship." (6.5)

### Episode 8

* "You're *afraid to lose your ship*, and you're asking me to leave *mine?* And *my crew?* And *Manon? For what?"* (8.6)

### Episode 10

* "Look, I need to know what kind of ship my ship is dating." (10.3)
* "Ely is… Over the last fifteen years, she’s been everything... for me. Don’t think I would have… *pulled it off* without her." (10.3)

### Episode 11

* "It's not pretty right? Seeing those kind of consequences of your choices." (11.4)
* "It's never too late to make a different choice." (11.4)

### Episode 13

* "If you do end up getting bored of me, uh, that’s okay. You can tell me." (13.2)
* (about Elske) "I… don’t think I ever really fully… understood her. Didn’t make me love her less, though." (13.2)

### Episode 14

* "People get all *upset* when you punch people." (14.5)

### Episode 15

* "It's one thing to feel... helpless when I wasn't doing anything, but... this is somehow... different and worse." (15.2)

### Episode 16

* "I don’t have a choice. I rarely do. And I don’t want to drag anyone else down with me." (16.4)
* "My crew isn’t expendable, Manon’s crew isn’t expendable, *Oliver* isn’t expendable. Neither are *you."* (16.6)
* "You’re expecting to *die soon* so you don’t have to deal with *any* consequences, and… I know what that’s like. And it *blinds you to options."* (16.6)

### Episode 17

* “That's the scariest part. Things being out of your control, and... waiting.” (17.4)
* “I think Ely's optimism has rubbed off on me. We'll... figure it out. And we'll make it work. And we'll get out of here.” (17.4)

### Episode 18

* "Optimism seems to be our main fuel these days." (18.2)
* "Well, you know where to find me, if you change your mind. *Or*, if you ever think you need to…  give me or Ely or someone else uh, *an apology*. Goodnight." (18.4)

### Episode 19

* "Is it a new experience for you, being afraid? Being afraid for... someone else than just for yourself. It's not fun, is it? Suddenly you're doing things you really don't wanna do. And *yet*, we do them anyway." (19.2)

### Episode 21

* “I had the same with my crew, there were always people that came and went, it doesn’t mean they’re not part of the family.” (21.1)

### Episode 23

* "I know I've said this before, uh, but… you do know you don’t have to do any of this, right? And I mean that. There are other options. You can walk away and we, uh, can help you, if you need it, to, uh, get back to your family. Figure something out." (23.4)
* "We could find a different way. Or wait. There’s nothing wrong with waiting. I've waited a long time." (23.4)
* "Kid, you… you’ve had a weird three years behind you. And you’ve got a heck of a lot of responsibility suddenly on your shoulders. You don’t have to apologize for anything if you’re still figuring it out." (23.4)

### Episode 25

* (About Oliver) "He’ll carry it. Because he has to. And… he has people around who will help him with it. He didn’t die tonight. And if we do our jobs correctly, he won’t die in the future either. Neither will you. Hopefully… none of us will. At least for a while yet." (25.7)
* "I trust you won’t pour yourself another drink but, still… I’d suggest you do the whole moodily staring out of the window somewhere else than the bar deck." (25.7)

### Episode 26

* "Um… is this gossip that’s gonna make me... *laugh,* or is this gossip that’s gonna make me feel bad about you overhearing it?" (26.4)
* "I think the important thing is you, uh... changed your mind, and personally I’m, uh… a bit familiar with the feeling of working for an organization you don’t want to work for." (26.4)
* "I’ve had some years to, uh, think about it and learn and now I’m, uh, *much* wiser." (26.5)

### Episode 31

* "It’s… strange, somehow. To, uh... have something to look forward to. Potentially." (31.1)
* "If I... didn't think this plan would work, I wouldn't be here, I guess. Wouldn't have let it get this far. So, I have to believe in it. Which kind of changes, uh, how I look at the future." (31.1)
* (To Ely) "I mean, you get used to it, thinking- feeling certain in what you think will happen. And it changing... and other people being involved, of course... it's scary. But also, less scary. I mean... it's also better for you, this potential future, and I'm really happy about that." (31.1)
* "That’s not a threat, by the way, I just realized it sounds like one. It’s not." (31.3)
* "Look. I'm not gonna pretend I don't enjoy you, um... beating the shit out of a Coalition soldier. But you gotta be more careful." (31.4)