Reed

* In-game
* Render

>
> "*I wish I could tell you where you end up, but I don't know. I like to think it's somewhere nice, though. What I do know is that the world you left behind was saved. People will live and die happy lives, in peace, because of what you all did. They won't remember you, or even know you existed, but they'll be there because of you."*
>

**Reed** is one of the main characters in *Goodbye Volcano High*. He is a student at Volcano High. Along with his friends Fang and Trish, he is part of the band Worm Drama and is their drummer. He is also the host of the game's three *L&L* sessions.

## Appearance

Reed is a pink velociraptor who stands at 5'8" with dark pink hair and purple eyes. He has a long, pink tail with dark pink feathers at the base and tip, where the feathers are large and fluffy. His arms and torso have lighter pink markings and his fingers are dark pink, and the front of his face is lighter pink with a darker pink portion of his snout.

Reed typically wears a red tanktop and torn black leggings. He wears multicolored sneakers consisting of blue, indigo, violet, orange, yellow, and white. He is always seen with a pair of white wireless headphones around his neck.

## Personality

> *"It's weird how everyone's acting like nothing is different. Like, to me,* everything *feels different now."*
>
>

Reed is a chill, laid-back guy who serves as the drummer of Worm Drama. He is a smoker and while he writes with his left hand, he smokes with his right hand.

Reed is generally relaxed and easygoing, and tries his best to support his friends, consoling them when they need the help. He understands what it means to be an outsider, or to fixate on something others might not care as much about, and how to relate that to his friends' problems. However, he is not immune to a bit of realistic teenage brashness sometimes, such as when he tries to hold Fang's midi controller hostage, and when he calls Rosa's fern weird, to which Rosa and Trish give him a look that it was unnecessary to say.

Reed's tranquil persona can crack when sufficiently pressured, causing him to become visibly nervous, such as when he needs to get his photo taken for picture day. He is also very averse to confrontation; when Trish and Fang begin to argue, Reed tries to avoid letting Trish get a word in, to the point of visibly sweating, and only once whispering in an attempt to break them up. Even after Trish storms off, he seems unable to say a word to Fang before long.

Additionally, his usual zen temperament is undermined by his existential dread, especially for the Asteroid. He spends much of the year taking the threat seriously and believes no one has a future to look forward to. Though at times he openly worries about its potential impacts, he mainly tries to mask this insecurity by treating the asteroid with cynicism and expressing a "whatever happens, happens" mindset towards it. All the same, Reed seems very concerned about total annihilation, specifically, the complete absence of a legacy, as his bonfire talk focuses on the ending to his L&L campaign and the potential of an impact chain-reaction. Reed is shown shown to be a bit conspiratorial, believing the government and/or the authorities would never tell the public if they were sure everyone would die.

He is also the DM of his friends' sessions of *Legends & Lore*. He enjoys because it allows him to see new facets of his friends through roleplaying, and given he shows interest in taking creative writing or game design courses, he has an interest in constructive endeavors. Despite his claim to apathy, the asteroid bleeds into his storytelling decisions. Most notably, Braxus takes on the symbolic mantle of the asteroid, and is remarkably petty, manipulative, violent and hostile for a natural disaster.

## Background

Reed has an older brother named Orson who works as a courier, with Reed thinking he might take a similar job in the future.

Reed has been friends with Fang and Trish since at least the early days of Worm Drama. It is not shown how Reed became friends with the two, but it can be inferred that Reed is a more recent friend. Evidence to support this is that Reed has been playing playing *L&L* since he was eight years old, and is disappointed the vast majority of the school isn't into it, as it makes him feel more alone. Fang only attends one of Reed's *L&L* sessions during their senior high school year.

Reed has a crush on a student named Alvin, who he had flirted with (albeit poorly) on one occasion. Reed seems to be embarrassed of this, not wanting Fang and Trish to see this, possibly hinting he is closeted and is bi/gay/pan, though it is also possible he simply does not want to show his flirting. When Trish tries to see the picture of who Reed has a crush on, he retorts, "Absolutely not."

## *Goodbye Volcano High*

### Episode One

Reed is first seen in the prologue, commenting that he votes yes on burning the yearbook, although Naser replies it's not really a voting type of situation.

He is then seen in Ms. Roberts' classroom. Fang tells him that there is big band news coming up. Naomi then arrives and she and Reed talk about L&L, confusing Fang. Ms. Roberts then asks her students what they want to do after graduation, and Reed mentions he is thinking of becoming a deliveryman like his older brother. Roberts feels it's a smart choice for a job.

Later, Fang mentions to Worm Drama they have an audition for Battle of the Bands, shocking Reed. When Fang plays their new take on their music, Reed feels it is very different and wonders if it's even Worm Drama. Fang also agrees to give L&L a try, exciting Reed who has a dark mage character ready.

If the player has more affinity with Reed instead of Trish, Reed will meet Fang at the bus stop instead of Trish. Reed complains Fang walks too fast and Fang wonders why he doesn't drive. Reed mentions his van is being repaired in the shop. Reed is surprised and curious about Fang's interest in L&L. Fang mentions they know Reed is a good storyteller when he convinced Fang and Trish that Mr. Montoya was conducting rituals in the school basement.

### Episode Two

Reed encounters Fang in school and is shocked they are early, asking them to blink twice if they are a mimic. Reed mentions the news about the apocalypse makes him feel everything is more pointless, and would rather chill on the roof than attend the assembly. Worm Drama agrees to have a band meeting on the roof. There, Reed offers Fang a cigarette but they decline for the sake of their voice. Reed does not seem as enthusiastic as Fang is about the Battle of the Bands, instead entertaining Trish's notion of being hedonistic. When Trish leaves, Reed and Fang may talk about their concerns regarding Trish and the band. Reed comments the school roof would be a nice place to be when the asteroid hits. After, Reed decides to ditch the assembly to do invoicing and L&L planning.

On Photo Day, Reed ditches to go hide on the roof. After a search, Fang finds him and tries to convince him to get his photo taken, as Naomi would love a complete yearbook and Fang needs to convince Naomi to repair the broken MIDI controller. Reed says that in order agree to be photographed, Fang must play out a character arc over multiple L&L sessions.

At night, Reed shows up at Lava Java for the Battle of the Bands audition.

### Episode Five

Reed attends the Battle of the Bands, and Worm Drama ends up winning. Although Reed is on board for CalderaFest, Trish backs out, causing her and Fang to enter an argument which unsettles Reed. After, Reed looks at Fang sadly and leaves.

### Episode Six

Fang thinks about their friendship with Trish, and wonder if she's still a friend. Fang talks to Reed about this concern on the roof; the two agree they would think the three of them would at least stick it out until the end. Reed mentions L&L is probably over forever, even if they could use a way to escape from the doom of the asteroid.

Despite the ongoing situation, Reed decides to host a final L&L session anyway, where it is implied all of their characters die while entering a portal after defeating Braxus, and no one really knows what happened to them. This makes the group feel gloomy.

### Episode Seven

During Reed's bonfire scene, Fang approaches Reed, joking they are Fey, the dark mage of breaking friend groups. Reed replies it was probably a party effort, but Fang's choice of words to Naomi was a hell of a spell. Reed asks Fang if they wonder what their lives lately mean, and if everything really happens for a reason. Reed compares the current universe to being the remains of space death, but also mentions that none of it really had to do with them as dinosaurs.

Reed posits once their planet is hit, more space death will transform into something else in other people's future. Fang and Reed comment they enjoy looking at the lights in the sky, and Fang also mentions they enjoy their time with Reed. Fang wonders what's next in L&L and Reed replies everyone dies but it won't be the end of the story since the people in the future will look into the sky and see the remains of their legacy.

### Episode Eight

After learning about Fang's parents never returning home, Reed comes up with the idea to have a fun night at the beach where they can melt their brains for a day, and he, Trish and Fang play with sparklers.

On the final day, Reed surprises Fang with his repaired van which now has artwork of the band's logo. Him, Fang and Trish arrive on the school roof. Before Fang is ready to play, he gives a gift: a badge with Braxus on it that says GODKILLER. He plays with Worm Drama during the concert and like the rest of the dinosaurs, it is possible Reed died as the asteroid as seen in the distance.

## Development History

Reed was developed during the early stages of *Goodbye Volcano High*, when the game had been imagined as a dating sim. Reed was written as the best friend of Leo, one of the three player characters at the time. It is unknown if Reed would have been a romance option for Leo or one of the other two player characters, Fang and Rosa. When the dating sim concept was dropped and Leo was cut from the game, Reed was folded into the main story.

Reed's design went through at least three iterations before his final design. His preliminary design is significantly different; he is depicted as a green raptor with pink-red hair, a white tank top, and feathers on his elbows. He is also shown drinking a can of beer instead of smoking. KO\_OP's official social media refers to this iteration as "Chad Reed". Both his preliminary and first pass designs show a tattoo on his left arm, which is absent from his second pass and final designs.

Reed physically appears with his final design in all three of the game's trailers. He first speaks in the Story Trailer, and his voice talent, Mark Whitten, was revealed afterward. Of the five main characters, Reed was the only one who did not have a character profile on the main website before they were removed.

## Quotes

* *"Please kill me."* (when Fang and Trish discover his crush on Alvin)
* *"About the giant rock that's going to kill us all? Yeah, we heard."*
* *"It's like once something may or may not happen, you can't stop thinking about it. And that's, like, the rest of my life all of the sudden."* (to Fang, about the asteroid news)
* *"I know [Legends & Lore] better than anyone in this school. It sucks when the people you want to share it with aren't as interested. So I get it."* (to Fang, trying to sympathize with them obsessing over the band)
* *"Are you okay? You've come into this year kinda intense with the band stuff. What's up?"* (to Fang)
* *"Sorry, really, but... what future? I hate to break it you, but this? Seems like a waste of time. I mean, the "future" we're looking at's got a big rock blasting through it."* (confronting Ms. Roberts about her mandate they must do schoolwork in light of the apocalypse)
* *"Personally? I can't think of anything I'd rather do than mess around in a fantasy world. Laughing, crying, making stupid jokes, seduction rolls, whatever. That's a real escape."*
* *"I guess I knew things would get bad. But I thought we'd at least stick it out together."*
* *"I wish I could tell you where you end up, but I don't know. I like to think it's somewhere nice, though. What I do know is that the world you left behind was saved. People will live and die happy lives, in peace, because of what you all did. They won't remember you, or even know you existed, but they'll be there because of you. Beyond that, though, I'm not sure. My guess is as good as yours. That's it. The end, I guess."*
* *"Naomi, are you actually talking about a career right now? There's way more to life--"*
* *"Maybe when our planet gets fucked up, a big hunk of space-death is gonna break off from us. Fly its way to the next one. Where a bunch of folks get to look up. And see this."*

## Trivia

* While concept art mentions that Reed smokes "some type of grass" (marijuana), he instead smokes cigarettes (tobacco) in the final game. This was done in order to preserve the game's T rating.
	+ Originally, the final slideshow during the Episode Eight performance showed Reed doing a "Blaze It" stand at the science fair, and holding a presentation on legalizing pot in Ms. Robert's class. In-game, his presentation is instead on the topic of gasoline, while the science fair moment is unused entirely.
* Multiple of Reed's L&L NPCs contain references to the *Final Fantasy* series.
	+ Sydd is a reference to the *Final Fantasy* characters all named Cid. Characters named Cid appear in almost every *Final Fantasy* property, and are usually portrayed as the captains of various vessels, especially airships.
	+ Keph is possibly a reference to Kefka from *Final Fantasy VI*. Similar to Kefka, Keph desires to destroy the world through divine means. Although Kefka becomes the god of magic, Keph simply intends to summon him (Braxus).
	+ Given all the references, Reed may be a fan of *Last Fairytale*, *Goodbye Volcano High*'s counterpart to *Final Fantasy*.
* All of Reed's major *L&L* NPCs (Sydd, Celeste, Keph) look similar to him; all have purple eyes and a pink snout, and appear to be velociraptors. Even Keph shares this trait, until he is played by Naser. This is due to the player looking at Reed portray said characters.
* His Discord bot says he has a philosophy called the 24 hour rule: always wait 24 hours before making a big decision.

## Gallery

### Art

Reed's reference sheetPreliminary artDesign first passDesign second passConcept art of Reed (first pass design) smokingConcept art of Reed (second pass design) with LeoReed (center left) in the 2020 key artClose-up of ReedReed in a promotional illustration by Ellen AlsopArt by Francesca LlorenSnowball fightReed cosplaying Kaedehara Kazuha from *Genshin Impact*
### Screenshots

Reed (bottom center) at the beach campfire in the Reveal TrailerReed (top center) at the beach campfire in the demoSyddReedTrish sitting with Reed"You did. And it is... to you."Fang and Reed on the school roofReed playing with Fang and TrishReed invites Fang to gameReed falling asleep during an assemblyReed and the group talk about their futuresGroup photoReed hugging TrishThe trio having a momentFang wonders if they are still friends with TrishFang and Reed during the bonfireReed with a sparklerReed impressed by Trish's strengthReed paints the vanReed and Alvin attending what appears to be prom, holding hands.Reed's presentation on weed (unused)Reed's presentation on gasReed with his friendsReed on the final dayReed giving Fang a gift on the final dayReed on the final day

**Other Volcano High students****Abby • Adanna • Alanna • Alexis • Alvin • Bag Girl • Chris • Claire • Damon • Dani • Dee • Des • Francesca • Jess • Kaylani • Kris • KT • Leo • Lina • Marcela • Mark • Marty • Mel • Morgan • Nick • Noor • Rando • Sam • Sarah • Saturday • Serena • Smoker Dino • Steve or Derek • Tom**