Cater, Portraits, Women, and Reading the Room

Cater may be the only character who references NRC’s talking portraits.

He mentions Rosaria multiple times, first when trying to throw a party for her with Kalim and Leona.

He is able to pressure Leona into cooperating by using his “being respectful to ladies” upbringing, telling Kalim, “I know I look fun and fancy free, but I tend to keep my ear to the ground more than you think. I’ve even got a ton of dirt on you.”

By the end of the vignette both Kalim and Leona are led away by Jamil and Ruggie and it is revealed that Cater’s motive was to hear what was going to be on an upcoming history exam, as Rosaria’s portrait is hung outside of the faculty office.

He also mentions her at the very beginning of Book 1 when we meet him for the second time, offering to “set something up” between Rosaria and Ace.

There is a third portrait mention in Book 2 when they are looking for information about the attacks on the Spelldrive athletes, but the portrait in question is not named.

Cater might mention women/dating more than anyone else, saying he is in his element “if you want advice on how to woo a cutie”, that Trey’s magic “has gotta be a hit when Trey’s having tea with the ladies” and asking Ace for “a party trick that’ll impress the ladies!”

Cater’s official “dislike” is having to “walk on eggshells around his sisters”, but he also seems to dislike having to tell other people to read the room, and he says as much to Trey twice in the game (once during a vignette and again during Halloween).

Trey tells Jamil that Cater “is very observant”, and that certainly seems to be the case: we see him telling Ace to read the room in a vignette and commenting on Deuce, Kalim and Malleus being oblivious in Phantom Bride and in Firelit Sky.

It is also Cater who realizes that no one has noticed Malleus during their trip to the Scalding Sands and how it was suspicious that Jamil was able to locate Malleus later on when he goes missing.

In his Ceremonial Robes vignette Cater makes a bet with Trey to guess which new students are to be assigned to Heartslabyul, as “If I’m good at anything, it’s judging people’s character”, but he then loses the game five to four, so we can’t be sure how accurate this claim is.