Alright, here's the thing: We're showing sympathy, but we're still trying to make her fit our worldview. Here's Oriko's World, as I perceive it:
- She is the Protagonist. She is not a side character: She views everything as her responsiblity to fix. Kirika is her deuteragonist and love interest. Everyone else is either a bystander, supporting character, or antagonist.
- Her life was meaningless, and she desperately needs to change that. To make a major difference and avert the End. She will not change this.
- It doesn't matter if we think she's being stupid, or edgy, or whatever makes any given player disapprove of her stance. We have to work with this, because we can only break it by breaking the Oriko.
- (This is just a suspicion.) We almost did. We took away her agency, imprisoned her, and gave her a happy daily life...and she almost gave up on her Wish because of it. She cannot abandon her pursuit of a meaningful life, no matter how happy she might be living a normal one. That would be literally fatal.
- She can see almost all of the possible outcomes, and the unknown Sabrina represents is VERY risky to gamble on.
- She loves Kirika, but the world is more important. If the world ends, they both die regardless...if their deaths can save almost everyone else, then it's absolutely worth it.
There's one thing she likely isn't fully aware of, too: The trauma from her father's fall from grace has left her with a suicidal impulse that is contradictory to her conscious beliefs.
We have to work
with her beliefs. We cannot change her core convictions...but we can shift the secondary ones. We need to appeal to her existing values (the greater good and her responsibility for the world), in order to convince her of several things:
- Sabrina is more than a side character or antagonist. She's a major party member and/or rival character. She can be an ally rather than a game piece, minion, or adversary.
- Seemingly impossible futures are worth fighting for, and she can make them happen. We can help.
- She can do a lot more good alive than dead, and dying prematurely is a betrayal of her own ideals.
Plan (
Explanations for lines are in Green):
[X] Explain that you agree: Oriko has that right. That doesn't mean she needs to do it as soon as possible. You understand wanting to die doing something meaningful, and wanting to live the same way.
Opposing her on her right to die is going to put her back up. Agreeing with her should weaken her guard.
-[X]Ask her outright: Is this about saving the world, or about ending her life? She can do a lot more alive than she can do by dying immediately...but her fixation on her own demise suggests she's just in a rush to get it over with.
Much like Hitomi's situation, we need to find out exactly what her issue is, or we'll be shooting at targets that may not exist. Notably, we need to determine if she consciously wants to die, or simply thinks it's inevitable.
--[X]If she says she's destined to die, and is simply trying to make sure it counts, point out the fallibility of her visions.
Oriko's really bad about being blinded by her own precogonition
---[X]She is a
magical girl. Magic doesn't submit, letting the universe and its laws dictate what happens: Magic is a Wish or a Curse...it defies Order, Law, and Fate to create impossibilities. Why the hell is she
submitting to something she is
capable of conquering?!
While I'm kind of passionate personally on this topic, it's a very literal situation here: Magic is so valuable because it casually violates the laws of physics. Causality and possibility can be overcome, with such power.
---[X]Letting her personal lack of hope keep her from doing as much as she can...that's a waste. A waste of all of her and Kirika's potential.
Appealing to her emotions on this issue isn't going to work great. Appealing to pragmatism, though, might be more successful.
-[X]If she admits she simply wants to die: Hear her out, then Return to Voting.
I don't think she is knowingly trying to kill herself for it's own sake, and it's a loaded enough situation that a dedicated vote would be best.
-[X] If she says it's about saving the world, then ask her what needs to change in order for her and Kirika to live a meaningful life together and
eventually die a meaningful death as heroes, rather than simply dying meaningful deaths as villains.
Simple enough: She loves Kirika. She doesn't want to kill the girl, but she's willing to do so for the greater good. What this basically comes down to is trying to help her find a way of having her cake and eating it too.
-[X] If she answers in some other way: Hear her out, then Return to Voting.
Can't predict everything.
-[X] If she tries to dodge the question, push her for a proper answer. The only way we can help her is if we know her problem...and trying to play all of her cards close to her chest is crippling both of our options.
We can't fix a problem we can't actually recognize, as usual.
), but it's a supermajority of voters.
