The Ugly Truth (Support Conversations)

[OatmealRaisin]

Heya.

This is just a place for me to organize (and, possibly, get feedback on) some FE Support-esque conversations for a game concept that's been knocking around in my head.

I'm going to remain mostly mum about the story details (except those that are directly relevant to the supports), but with each conversation I'll give a brief bit of context about my characters and some of the events they talk about in their conversations. My goal is to make the characters' personalities consistent across all the supports, have a good blend of serious and comedic supports

This first support is between Rodrick and Sophia, the two characters you start with. They're both around 18 years old, but since they grow up in a post-apocalyptic world, they've had to go through quite a lot more than most their age, and the fact that they're the ones who kick off a highly dangerous but gravely important mission that is essential for the human race to rebuild itself puts an extra layer of pressure on them. Both of them hail from a small settlement tentatively called "The Accumula", where Rodrick's mother is the leader and they knew each other growing up (but were not exactly friends, for... certain reasons).

Rodrick, like his mother, has many qualities of a leader and in general, he represents the 1940s/50s image of the "All-American Boy". He is idealistic, kind and respectful to most people he meets, and is more well-read than most people alive thanks to his constant thirst for knowledge leading him to get his hands on as many books as possible, no matter what they are. And on top of all of that, he's a very good fighter and has a knack for keeping his cool during moments of incredible pressure. However, he suffers from the curse of being too kindhearted for the world he's been born into. While he is by no means naive or Corrin-levels of putting honor before reason, the actions he has to perform and the atrocities he has to commit for the purposes of his own survival and the survival of the people he's leading take a heavy toll on him, and the guilt starts eating him alive, as shown in these supports.

Sophia, despite growing up in the same settlement as Rodrick, is very different from him, and as Rodrick is the idealized image of the teenager of the past, Sophia represents the teenager of the modern era. Where he is idealistic and moral, she favors realism and pragmatism, and can come off as quite cynical at times. Where he is generally polite, she is prickly, makes poor first impressions a lot of the time, and warms to people slowly. However, compared to Rodrick she is much more adapted to life in the apocalypse, as her moral compass doesn't inhibit her as much as it does to him. But Sophia is not without baggage of her own: her now-dead single mother was a drug addict who contributed almost nothing to the settlement they lived in, and was considered a leech and a drain on the community and treated with contempt. This treatment was passed on to Sophia when she was just a child, to the point where she simply stopped caring what others thought of her, because no matter how hard she tried, it never improved her in the eyes of others. Even Rodrick didn't associate with her much back then due to the stigma surrounding her. She agreed to join him on the quest that drives the main plot, and the reason she initially gave was because she just wants to get out of the settlement where everyone treats her like garbage and explore more of the world.

And finally... Yeah, all of these supports are going to be C through A. I'm trying to avoid including explicitly romantic supports in the game, for three large reasons.

a) I don't feel that the characters falling in love with each other and confessing mid-campaign fits the mood I'm trying to capture in the game,

b) To explore and discuss the oft-overlooked concepts of platonic love and camaraderie,

and c) Because even though I like shipping just as much as the next guy, and there are some pairings that I definitely really like, I want to keep options open-ended so as to not cause arguments about canon pairings based on S-Supports.

[spoiler=Rodrick and Sophie]

C Support

(Note: This Support is pretty much scripted, as it is guaranteed to happen after the first Day, or first Chapter, of the game. This way, the fights against “the couriers” and “the Hunters” mentioned here make sense).

Rodrick: Hey Sophia, I don't think I ever thanked you properly for coming with me on this trip.

Sophia: I already told you why I came along, Rod. I needed to get out of that town. This was just the only opportunity I saw coming, so I took it.

Rodrick: I know, I know, but my mom wouldn't have let me leave if you hadn't volunteered to do that. Without that I probably would have needed to sneak out, and would have been in a lot more danger out here without anyone watching my back. So, no matter what your reasons were, I'm grateful for it. So I still want to thank you.

Sophia: Whatever makes you feel better about it. I just hope I'm not getting in the way.

Rodrick: Are you kidding me? You did great in that fight with the couriers today. And yesterday, I know the Hunters almost got the better of us, but you weren't defenseless there either. Give yourself a little credit.

Sophia: Well, even a complete loser has her shining moments once in a while. I think those were flukes more than anything.

Rodrick: Your priorities are pretty weird, you know that? You're willing to risk your life to come on a dangerous, month-long trip with me, but dropping the ice queen act for three seconds is too much to ask?

Sophia: "Ice queen act"? The hell are you talking about?

Rodrick: Sophia, I'm going to keep bothering you until you accept my thanks properly.

Sophia: Fine! I accept! You're welcome! Whatever! Now shut up about it.

Rodrick: Heh heh.

Sophia: And seriously, if we're going to be on this big buddy-buddy journey or whatever, you don't need to call me by the full name. It feels too... formal or something. Imagine how weird it would be for me to call you Rodrick all the time! That's why I shorten it to Rod. You should do the same thing.

Rodrick: (What? Where did this come from...?) Uh, alright. Is "Sophie" better?

Sophia: Yeah, that's actually exactly what I was going to suggest.

Rodrick: Okay, Sophie. Here's to a successful trip!

Sophia: Hee hee, you're such a dork sometimes.

B Support

(Note: This is another scripted support, as it always happens at the end of the second level, where Rodrick and Sophia are spending a few days resting at the camp of the Crushers, a group of nomadic bandits who they were able to gain the trust of by killing their cruel leader, Cress. They’re sharing a tent due to space limitations. This is the last support that’s scripted.)

Rodrick: Zzzzz....

Sophia: ...

Rodrick: Zzzz... Zzz- Urk! Agh!

Sophia: Hm?

Rodrick: Oh, uh, sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up.

Sophia: No, I was already awake.

Rodrick: Oh. Good.

Sophia: Bad dream?

Rodrick: ...Yeah.

Sophia: Wanna talk about it?

Rodrick: Uh... I can't really remember what it was about.

Sophia: ...You're a terrible liar, Rod.

Rodrick: ...

Sophia: You don't have to talk about if you don't want to. I just thought it might make you feel better.

Rodrick: Since when do you actually care how I feel?

Sophia: Since just now, I guess. Plus, I can tell that something's been eating at you for a while. Even during the day, you haven't been acting like yourself when I see you. And something tells me that your bad dream just now was about the same thing. If there's any way I can help-

Rodrick: No. Look, I appreciate it, but I don't really want to talk about it. And even if I did, I don't know how I'd put it into words. I think it's just something that I need to work through on my own.

Sophia: Hm. Alright. But if I see that it's still making you act all spacey going forward, if it doesn't seem like you're succeeding at working through it alone, I'm gonna have to insist that you spill the beans. For your own safety, y'know? Deal?

Rodrick: Okay, sure. Deal.

Sophia: Good. You've always been a dependable guy, I'm not going to let you suffer the indignity of getting killed by carelessness.

Rodrick: Do my ears deceive me, or did you just pay me a compliment?

Sophia: Oh, for... that's it. Forget I said anything. GOOD NIGHT!

Rodrick: Kidding, kidding! I was kidding, Sophie!

Sophia: Hmph.

Rodrick: ...Feels like forever since we left the Accumula.

Sophia: Yeah, it does.

Rodrick: ...

Sophia: I guess we've been through a lot already.

Rodrick: Yeah.

Sophia: ...

Rodrick: ...

Sophia: ...Rod?

Rodrick: Zzzzz....

Sophia: Heh. G'night, Rod.

A Support

Sophia: Rod.

Rodrick: Oh, hey.

Sophia: We need to talk. I'm calling in my end of the deal.

Rodrick: Deal? What deal?

Sophia: The deal we made back in the Crushers' camp. You said that you'd try to work through whatever was making you act weird.

Rodrick: Oh. That one.

Sophia: You're still not back to your old self, so I need you to talk to me about whatever's bringing you down. That was the deal.

Rodrick: Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Sophia: Don't overthink it, just let it out.

Rodrick: ...Sophie, I'm barely holding it together out here.

Sophia: What do you mean?

Rodrick: Killing people. That's what the problem has been. I... Ever since that fight in the Crushers' camp, when we had to kill some of Cress' guards... I didn't realize how different it was killing people instead of Hunters.

Sophia: ...

Rodrick: You weren't there when Sven and I took out the first two. Before we killed them, they were having a conversation. And they weren't monsters, they didn't even seem like they were bad. They were people, just like us, laughing together and poking fun at each other... they were people just like us, Sophie. They could have been us. And we just... took them away from the world, away from each other, away from everybody they knew, forever. After everything they've been through, their lives were cut short, just like that. And it was ME who did it. What right do I have to do that to another person?

Sophia: ...

Rodrick: And then you made that speech about how killing someone is the worst thing you can do, that there's no better way you can spin it. Murder is still murder. And I just... can't get over it. I keep seeing the faces of the people I've killed in my head, and in my dreams when I sleep. The guilt of it is eating at me. I just feel so... evil. Hunters are one thing, they're monsters and their minds are completely gone. It's like euthanasia, putting them down. But people are different. It keeps coming back to that thought, Sophie. They were just like us. They could have been us.

Sophia: Rod, we had to kill those people. There was no other way, and it was for the good of everyone. Us, the Crushers who were freed from Cress' rule, and everyone back home for avoiding a bloody war against bandits.

Rodrick: That doesn't make it right.

Sophia: I'm not saying it does. But you shouldn't feel like an irredeemably bad person for doing it. The fact that you feel so terrible about it is enough proof that you're not too far gone. You're doing better than me in that respect.

Rodrick: You don't feel bad about killing people?

Sophia: Honestly? Not really. Like, I'd rather avoid it if possible, but if I have to do it, then I won't lose any sleep over it.

Rodrick: How do you do that? Like, what mindset do you put yourself in to be like that?

Sophia: I dunno. I don't try to put myself in any kind of mindset. It just doesn't really affect me the way you described. It might be that we're just wired differently. Maybe you just have a purer heart or some crap like that.

Rodrick: I think maybe I'm just weaker than you are.

Sophia: Weak? Are you crazy? Rod, you're the strongest out of all of us. You're the one taking on the leadership role, doing a damn good job, and all while you're carrying this heavy guilt around with you. If you were weak, you wouldn't be here right now.

Rodrick: Heh. Thanks.

Sophia: Feel better?

Rodrick: A little. Just a little. But.. I think it's a start.

Sophia: Look, I want you to promise me something.

Rodrick: What is it?

Sophia: You took this job because you believed, with all your heart, that it's going to save the world. Right now, you're sacrificing your own personal morals to reach that goal, and you're holding yourself responsible for the lives of other people. Including me, which feels really good because... nobody else in my life has cared about me enough to want to do that for me.

Rodrick: Sophie...

Sophia: So here's the promise. We started this, and we're going to see it through to the end. All the sacrifices we've made, and the many more we're probably going to need to make, we're not going to let them be in vain. We're going to respect those sacrifices by not giving up, and not letting ourselves get caught up in what could have been. If you can't fight anymore, I'll fight in your place. If you fall, I'll always be there to pick you back up. And more than anything, we will finish this mission, one way or another.

Rodrick: I.. don't know what to say. Why are you...

Sophia: Because you're a goody two-shoes, and I know that once you make a promise, you'd never break it. So I figure the best way I can keep you safe is by making you promise to stay safe.

Rodrick: Pretty clever. You've got me all figured out.

Sophia: I know you pretty well by now. So?

Rodrick: Okay, Sophie. I promise.

Sophia: Thank you, Rod.

Rodrick: It's funny. When we were growing up, I never thought I'd grow this close to YOU of all people. And I don't think I ever would have if it wasn't for this crazy mission.

Sophia: Same. But I'm kinda glad things worked out this way.

Rodrick: Me too.

If you enjoyed it or thought there was something I could improve, feel free to drop a comment. I'll try to pump these out at a pretty regular clip.

The next one will be Rodrick with Sven, the honorable bandit.

[Agro]

The dialogue is well done but the actual content is kind of boring. We've seen this kind of conversation before (cf. Rolf/Mist) and it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Plus, without the proper context it's just conversations between two characters which isn't much. I appreciate you want to keep your project under wraps but it just means there's no context to these conversations.