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Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

What would readers prefer?

  • Pure narrative quest: no dice will be used, the author will have free reign to decide what happens.

    Votes: 25 59.5%

  • New dice system: the author will design a new, better dice system to add some randomness and risk.

    Votes: 17 40.5%
  • Total voters
    42
  • Poll closed .
Reader mode
[X] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."

Ryza literally just promised the duke she'd keep control. But there is no way her first look at her father's remains is going to trigger happiness. Nobody, but nobody, reacts positively to confirmation of a beloved relative's death.

[X] Write-in: A deep sadness wells up in you. To wake up knowing your parents must be dead is vastly different from holding proof. "Please excuse me, for just a few minutes," you say quietly. Your eyes are already filling with tears.

Edited to add approval vote for write-in.
 
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[X] A flare of anger weaves its way through the hurt; for all that she brought this to you, this human should not have been in your home! "What do you want?" you ask sharply. Your tolerance for niceties is exhausted.

[X] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."

Switching to approval voting since my first choice isn't getting much traction.

Edit:

Merging unintentional double post.

Barondoctor said:
is something I want to pay off for her.
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That isn't what this vote is about though; it's about Ryza reaction to an emotional blow after experiencing a series of unpleasant revelations delivered by someone who's pressing that same button.

A negative reaction isn't even strange coming from Ryza. Flamestone might have ended it, but what she was doing in the first place was wrong and how she proceeded itself unintentionally hurtful.

Ryza's response here should be about her reaction to what's happening, not rewarding someone else.

This is especially important because we're still establishing the impression of the significance of this issue with the people around us. Burying the negative entirely at every turn won't do us any favors trying to keep people in sync with what Ryza's feeling and how it'll inform her decision making.
 
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[X] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."
 
[x] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."
 
[X] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."
 
[X] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."
 
BronzeTongue said:
In my experience you can't keep poking someone in a sore spot and keep getting a positive and understanding reaction. It also kind of undercuts Ryza's visceral horror at all of this if it basically stays inside her head because we always vote to ignore it in favor of something cute or universally understanding regardless of context or personal pressure.
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Quoted for truth.

Remember: We only get one chance to react to someone bringing Ryza the remains of her beloved father. There will be time for understanding and cuteness later.
 
I'm just astounded anyone would opt for the "give her a hug" option. Oh, yes, thanks terribly for plundering our home and rooting through our father's corpse. So kind of you to refrain from grinding up his soul! I can see her avoiding the angry option, but really, a hug? Seriously?

[X] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."

Edit for approval voting purposes:
[X] A flare of anger weaves its way through the hurt; for all that she brought this to you, this human should not have been in your home! "What do you want?" you ask sharply. Your tolerance for niceties is exhausted.
 
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[X] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."
 
Calico J said:
I'm just astounded anyone would opt for the "give her a hug" option. Oh, yes, thanks terribly for plundering our home and rooting through our father's corpse. So kind of you to refrain from grinding up his soul! I can see her avoiding the angry option, but really, a hug? Seriously?
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The idea, I think, is that Ryza is glad that her dad hasn't been ground up and turned into a batch of Elthunders that sit in the back of Anna's storehouse. (Plus being glad that Flarestone has enough decency to return the dragonstone to its owner's next of kin.) I can see things that Ryza would be grateful for.

I don't think they outweigh all the other stuff, but I can see why some people would think a joyful breakdown would be an appropriate emotional reaction.

Especially since the "swallowing your pain" option seems...clinical? I do think the situation is emotional enough that some kind of breakdown is warranted. I don't think either breakdown we've been provided with is appropriate, but I can also see people thinking that Ryza really should be breaking down over this revelation and picking the least bad breakdown.
 
[X] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."

Feeling complicated should fit best here.
 
I see this as essentially a referendum on the sort of relationship we want to develop with Flarestone. If that helps anyone.
 
TaliesinSkye said:
I see this as essentially a referendum on the sort of relationship we want to develop with Flarestone. If that helps anyone.
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Well, first off, I disagree with analyzing it this way. It's an immediate reaction to an immediate situation; at most, it's a referendum on how Ryza's relationship with Flarestone begins. If it starts friendly, it can sour later; if it starts sour, Flarestone can earn her friendship. Things change. And beyond that, it's more than just the note on which Flarestone's relationship with Ryza begins; it's also how Ryza reacts to her father's dragonstone. That's also important!

But even accepting your analytical framework...Flarestone was eager to rob the graves of the manakete. She works for a woman who held Ryza and her friends captive—who still holds her friends captive! And she is a mage; Ryza doesn't think human magic is immoral, or at least not bad enough to start fights over, but its use of dragonstones is still not something she has uncomplicatedly positive feelings about. All signs are pointing to a provisionally cordial relationship, at best.
 
TaliesinSkye said:
I see this as essentially a referendum on the sort of relationship we want to develop with Flarestone. If that helps anyone.
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I mean...it's really not, though, is it? We're getting along well enough the apprentice mages and the old healer woman, despite their usage of dragonstones. The relationship is really seperate from the dragonstone issue. I'll grant Flarestone this; she's doing her best to acknowledge her malfeasance and climb out of the hole she dug herself, even if her motivation is primarily self-preservation rather than ethics. That hardly means we freakin' hug her for rummaging through our dad's body.
 
[x] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."
 
Calico J said:
I'm just astounded anyone would opt for the "give her a hug" option. Oh, yes, thanks terribly for plundering our home and rooting through our father's corpse. So kind of you to refrain from grinding up his soul! I can see her avoiding the angry option, but really, a hug? Seriously?
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I personally don't read the first option as an entirely joyful breakdown. Grateful is not entirely joyful and happiness doesn't preclude sadness. The first option describes Ryza as whimpering in Flarestone's shoulder. More than anything else it seems to me like the first option is Ryza realizing her fear that she'll never find her parent's dragonstones isn't true. That at least one of their dragonstones hasn't been ground into dust. That she can fully complete the shrine that she's been working so hard on, and has brought her some solace. It's something Ryza has worried about since the beginning of the quest.

It doesn't necessitate that Ryza be happy with people digging through her home or how mages operate or the like. Only that she feel gratitude that her father's dragonstone that she thought was lost was returned to her. I can see things going either direction but the first one rings more true to me.
 
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Fish & Chips said:
More than anything else it seems to me like the first option is Ryza realizing her fear that she'll never find her parent's dragonstones isn't true.
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This is more what I was going for with that option, yes. None of these are Ryza being happy: she's not. She's still recovering from the death of her family and the loss of her entire world.

The closest metaphor I can think of is a family getting the body of their kin returned to them; they're sad that they have confirmation of a death, but at least they can have some closure.

That's not to preclude other feelings of "why was this person digging through my house?" but the immediate emotion for that vote would be gratitude that at least Ryza knows where her father's stone is: in her hand.
 
[X] You dash forward and hug Mistress Flarestone. "Thank you thank you thank you…" you whimper into her shoulder. She brought a piece of your family back to you, she kept it safe, and you're so grateful…
 
[X] Swallowing your pain, you push all the feelings and hurt into the back of your mind. You have to be strong. "Thank you," you say, tucking Father's stone into your pocket next to yours. "We… should talk elsewhere. There's a lot to be said."
 
Fish & Chips said:
I personally don't read the first option as an entirely joyful breakdown. Grateful is not entirely joyful and happiness doesn't preclude sadness. The first option describes Ryza as whimpering in Flarestone's shoulder. More than anything else it seems to me like the first option is Ryza realizing her fear that she'll never find her parent's dragonstones isn't true. That at least one of their dragonstones hasn't been ground into dust. That she can fully complete the shrine that she's been working so hard on, and has brought her some solace. It's something Ryza has worried about since the beginning of the quest.

It doesn't necessitate that Ryza be happy with people digging through her home or how mages operate or the like. Only that she feel gratitude that her father's dragonstone that she thought was lost was returned to her. I can see things going either direction but the first one rings more true to me.
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Still not something to feel grateful over in my opinion. People don't get bonus points for not being as shitty as they possibly could be.

Showing contrition is good, but acknowledging that you've done something wrong doesn't erase that it Even bringing us the stone was arguably wrong of her.

Flarestone shouldn't have been where she was and while she was there she shouldn't have been screwing with people's corpses.

That doesn't mean she's an obligate enemy we should smite, but it should be made clear here that she didn't steal a wedding band from a grave and return it to the proper owner, she desecrated a body and then owned up to it.


Gratitude for the result of the harm that she did is sending mixed signals.
 
In her defense she said multiple people saw her find the broken dragonstone. It was either hide it and risk it being stolen or bring it personally to keep it safe but risk insulting Ryza.
 
Another thing, Flarestone was there under orders. Sure, she didn't object and that doesn't make it right, but I feel that should be taken into account that it's not entirely Flarestone's fault.
 
She took the best of a multitude of terrible options. That Ryza only recently found out were possible.
She was sent to Ryza's home in the first place by Mantrae. Who is probably going to be very easy to persuade to give back Ryza's home. Easier if we can get Flarestone onside.
 
Flarestone was not given many options after being ordered to investigate Ryza's home. All things considered, she arguably chose pretty decent ones.

That doesn't mean Ryza should react to the results of that investigation with gratitude. It's not all Flarestone's fault, but that doesn't mean Ryza should act happy about it.
 
[X] You dash forward and hug Mistress Flarestone. "Thank you thank you thank you…" you whimper into her shoulder. She brought a piece of your family back to you, she kept it safe, and you're so grateful…
 
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