Whew. What a difference sleep can make. So. Anton. This vote wasn't sitting right with me so I did some digging and... may have got a bit overzealous. Bear with me here, the quotes jump around in time a bit.
The two times we've visited him in the middle of holding court, he's immediately postponed everything to chat with Mathilde.
The first time that happened, the talk lasted until well after sunset.
That's something he doesn't have with any of his prospective suitors. The closest is the one who likes talking about guns, and Wilhelmina herself is obsessively focused on economics.
And when Mathilde went off on the Karak Eight Peaks expedition, the only reason he could come up with not to run off to war with her was his responsibility to Blutdorf, where his father was training him to be the next Baron.
So he towed her around for half the day to find a going away present.
We're looking at this as a practical thing. "Who should Anton settle down with so he can be happy?" But we've kind of missed the forest for the trees. Why are we assuming he'd be happy settling down like traditional Baron at all?
He went to Ostermark for mercenaries. He came back with an elf riding a dragon. He's content and happy settling peasant disputes and doing stewardy things in Blutdorf, but he goes back to being genuinely vibrant whenever Mathilde rolls around to throw some curve balls at him.
Imagine his answer if asked the question, "Hey, you want to ride a gyrocopter down to Karak Eight Peaks, stay for a season? Just to see the sights?"
It's weird to think about in a Quest Mechanics sense, because as Mathilde we definitely should have the freedom to make the big choices. Anything else would be 1) QM railroading, 2) super creepy, and 3) not fun.
But as far as Anton Quest is concerned, the Marry for Love option is right there. And half the questers are busy yelling at each other that they're going ruin their platonic friendship with asexual-aromantic-Mathilde forever and Blutdorf will fall into ruin and she'll run off to fight Skaven deep beneath the earth to avoid the awkwardness, and then the Mods have to step in...
Sorry. Too real for a second there.
But Anton is very charming. Of course he would frame marriage as a practical thing, because he thinks Mathilde is a practical person. Almost no one knows how many cheesy adventure and romance novels she's read, let alone currently owns. But again: his response to her "I'm going to war!" declaration was basically, "Me too!... wait... I guess I can't. Darn it." At which point Mathilde obliterated his spine with a hug.
I'm not sure how to feel about all of this; best approximation would be "extremely flattered". Physical attraction doesn't even factor into it. Mathilde been avoiding the romance novel side of things because Reality Does Not Work That Way, but the living breathing romance novel is standing right there. And neither can see it because they both think the other is too practical for that sort of thing.
So yeah. Having seen it all laid out like that, I think I can finally settle confidently on:
[] Marry me...
- [] Soon.
[] Stay single. Marry for love.
One is direct. The other indirect, with a chance that he'll find someone else in process. But letting him know that she is in favour of marriage for love is basically letting all the cats out of a bag she didn't even know she was holding.
Because it looks to me like the Anton Compass points in exactly one direction, no matter how many powerful and influential women throw themselves at him. Even if he is easy to charm, hah.
(Sneak Edit: Okay, maybe the Anton Compass is bad metaphor because it wobbles a lot in the presence of flirting. I meant romantically! Commitment! Other words!)
(I can't even decide on an advisory position anymore, even the possibility that Anton might just pick up and spend some time in K8P totally upended my ability to even make a decision on that end)
