Neil

**Neil** is a minor character in The Smoke Room. He is a politician and a good friend of Jim. He comes to Echo along with Reubin to celebrate Jim's bachelor party and wedding.

## Appearance

Neil is a tall, thin greyhound with gray fur. He has a deep voice that Samuel describes as grim-sounding. For Jim's party, he wears a dapper suit with purple accents.

## Personality

Neil is stoic and dour, with an air of haughtiness and a love of vice that seem to come from a refined life of wealth and ease.

According to Jim, Neil used to be 'hotblooded' but his political career has since made him 'dusty and dutiful.' Murdoch notes that all of Neil's words are carefully curated and he is constantly taking time to think about what he is about to say, theorizing that Neil secretly fears judgement from others.

## Story

### Prior to The Smoke Room

Neil is likely from the same "big city" as Jim. He presumably comes from a privileged family, and he mentions that his father owns a horse barn and employs staff to manage it. Neil seems to have befriended Jim in college, and has maintained a close friendship with him for years. Neil is a politician of some local importance in his home city, although his exact office is not specified, and according to Holly he is in the process of running for Congress.

At one point, Ralph mentions that Neil has recently become the subject of a scandal involving cocaine, but has avoided legal consequences.

### Murdoch's Route

Along with Reubin and another man named Roger, Neil is first mentioned by Jim's fiancée Holly during a Byrnes family dinner. She extols the successful careers of Jim's many friends from the city in order to impress her parents, citing Neil's recent bid for Congress as one such example.

Neil and Reubin later arrive at the Byrnes family home after traveling by train in Echo to celebrate Jim's bachelor party. Neil calls the house "little" and assumes that Sam and Ralph are catering staff when he first meets them, revealing his own presumably lavish lifestyle. Gretchen bars the group from coming inside however, as they must keep Jim from seeing the bride before the wedding. Afterward, Neil and his friends go to the Saguaro's Hip to drink and celebrate Jim's last night as a bachelor, accompanied by Samuel, Ralph, and Jim's future brother-in-law Murdoch.

At the Hip, Ralph delights Neil and Reubin with his crassness. After Neil's attention is drawn to some women dancing on the Hip's stage, Jim slyly brings up the subject of having sex with male prostitutes. Neil seems to consider this a 'desperate' last resort and laments the relative lack of women in Echo, but seems open to it provided he is able to get drunk enough first.

Sure enough, Neil spends the rest of the evening getting drunk, and when the time for their booking comes, he turns up outside the door to Sam's room along with Jim and Reubin. Neil complains initially that there are no women present and tries to remain aloof, but he becomes aroused and intrigued by the sight of Murdoch fellating Jim. He then joins Reubin in having sex with Sam. At one point Jim seems to get overly caught up in the pleasure he gets from Murdoch only to be physically rebuffed, which earns the ridicule of both Neil and Reubin, and they speculate snidely about their friend's sexuality. Murdoch observes that this moment seems to indicate some kind of shift in the dynamic between the three men.

After Murdoch and Sam leave the Hip and Jim follows them, Neil and Reubin are left in the care of Ralph, who promises to make sure that their inevitable hangovers do not prevent the two of them from attending the wedding the following day. Following a confrontation between Jim and Holly resulting in Jim's participation in the marriage ceremony becoming a coerced role, Jim states that he is going to tell Neil and Reubin to leave the following day so that they do not witness his wedding.

Shortly after the wedding ceremony begins the following morning, Neil and Reubin arrive at the church out of breath and unkempt despite having been thought to have left town earlier that morning. Given other events happening throughout Echo, particularly the arson of the Hendricks' mansion and trains seemingly being unable to make it into town, it is likely that Neil was trapped in Echo by the outbreak of a mass hysteria event.

## Relationships

### Jim and Reubin

Neil enjoys trading playful insults with his friends and their mutual ribbing indicates an easy friendship, although they tend to ignore and demean anyone outside of their immediate social group. The three are apparently comfortable sharing sexual partners, even male ones, although Jim seems to cross a line in Neil's eyes by openly showing a hint of same-sex attraction for Murdoch. Neil also mocks Jim for Murdoch shoving him off, finding humor in him being rebuffed by someone considered to be of lower stature. Murdoch later theorizes that Neil is careful about the way he portrays himself in order to avoid being perceived negatively, especially by his "friends."

## Gallery

Artwork of Neil with Jim and Reubin, posted alongside Build 24 of The Smoke Room.