Renegade Reinterpretations
Dossier: Kelly
"So why don't you tell me why, then? So I can understand?"
While not an important character per say, I felt Kelly could have been expanded. Despite supposedly being more than a VI with an XX chromosome, she never did much beyond that: a single piece on each new arrival and a generic 'X wants to talk to you' doesn't quite cut it. She's supposed to be a psychologist who talks with all the members of the crew… so let her be one. Besides Jacob and his team-greeting, Kelly is now a person most companions have at least a line about talking to, reflecting her involvement with everyone on the ship. She can also play a more personal role for Shepard as a confident, moral justification device, and a more serious LI.
In regards to the crew, Kelly herself has an expanded list of ambient chatter relating to them: lines that will fire when Shepard walks by. Something like three different lines per character (depending on loyalty/romance/other), just to give an emphasis that Kelly really does get around. And by that I mean she talks to everyone on the ship, and gives a stronger point of being the observer she was always supposed to be.
As a moral justification/moral confidant, if talked to Kelly will talk to you about your loyalty missions. Whether at the holomap or in Shepard's quarters on opposite ends of the couch, Kelly will play counselor about the last mission with a choice: Kelly will mention the choice, give a thought, and then let Shepard justify it (or decline to) on the X/P axis. This allows some players to justify X actions with P arguments for some minor morality points afterwords, or give a general X justification for the action. Kelly will accept any explanation (variations of 'I understand' or 'No one here doubts you'), and thus concludes your informal counseling of character justification for Shepard.
Flirting with Kelly slips into the Counseling moments, but isn't so over the top as it was in canon. Shepard can be outright flirtatious, or a more reserved Renegade take: both are sincere enough, but both are clear on both sides that Renegade Shepard would never put Kelly before the mission. Fortunately, she understands. If you pursue a romance, in lieu of a pre-Omega Relay scene you can get pre-abduction scene (in which, during one of those dinners, the night before, Shepard and Kelly consider a formal relationship or just 'friends who flirt') and a post-Omega Relay scene (if she's alive and you wanted romance).
Kelly has a Broker dossier as well. Her psychology credentials are lauded: she worked as an intern for Ambassador Udina in deciphering alien body language and mental states. References to her profiling and forwarding profiles on all the crew and companions to the Illusive Man, and suggested some subtle actions to help members of the crew (transfer of family to safe colonies, etc.). So far she's declined all romantic proposals on the Normandy on the basis of not wanting to mix her job with her relationships.
Author Notes:
I'll admit: Kelly is easy on the eyes. And I was initially interested in the concept of her character: a friendly, intellectual person whose job it is to make sure everyone is as emotionally stable as possible? Someone who is supposed to be around and talk with the crew at large? A romance in which Shepard actually has a dinner date before sleeping with someone who is NOT part of the fire team? It would have been wonderful if, you know, it weren't such cotton-candy flirting that can be summed up as 'Where's my hug, huh Kelly? Where's my hug?'
Apparently, however, Kelly was something of a last-minute addition. It shows, and part of the Reinterpretation is imagining if she weren't. That allows expansion on a number of fronts: someone for Shepard to show thoughts on the decisions (either re-affirming a choice, or expressing regret if your general X/P tendency clashes with the P/X choice), someone who actually reflects involvement with the team members both personally and with mention from team members themselves, and also a bit more of a mature romance possibility.
/wishful thinking
Next chapter begins Shepard's team.
