#OVERANALYZING DIALOGUE YEEEEEEEEE

[invinciblerodent]

coincidentally, this penchant for overanalysis that I have also results in me repeatedly reloading certian scenes, just to get alternate lines recorded, and boy does the tiefling party scene i got (the one that doesn't start the romance but continues it) hit me right where I live

((excuse the ranting but i need my thoughts out, if only to reference them later for myself lol.))

like, to the "I love you", I first chose to have Iona respond with (and consider to be more or less her true response) "having fun, are you?".

And that's a good, very Iona thing to say. She called the bluff, but let him know in no uncertain terms that though she knows he's full of shit, she pays it no mind (which is a lie but w/e). He laughed at her dismissal and acknowledged that it was indeed a joke. All was well.

She's free to go and get her widdle feefees bruised thinking about how the idea of loving her being a joke to him kinda sucks. Like really, would it really be so bad. But I'm also free to have him in his feefees about how, if she knows it's a lie and doesn't mind, that must mean that she doesn't care about whether he loves her, no? So, he failed to make her fall for him, so his position as her "lover" is in jeopardy, SO he must redouble the efforts to make her fall for him. But she's all closed off now (because she feels that there's no point to getting herself more invested, it'd only hurt her more when he inevitably gets bored and decides that she's no longer a fun conquest), which only reinforces this sentiment that... she, at this point, doesn't care if he loves her, which is kind of the crux of his whole plan. To give her tiny fractions of inches until she's willing to do anything to get the mile. But if she already got all the inches he has to give (around six of them, at least twice now 👀) and could take or leave the mile, then the whole thing is uuuuuh kinda fucked in the ass. I like that, and I think it creates insecurity and some measure of urgency on both sides. Keeps them both off-balance for now, but for different reasons (that could tbh be solved with a single honest conversation, only they're both just utterly incapable of that at this stage).

BUT it's really interesting how the tone of the entire exchange changes if you either 1. call the bluff but refuse to find it entertaining, or 2. take it at face value.

In scenario no. 1, "you'd be lying", he doesn't backpedal or defend it. He just says that it'd be a beautiful lie: yet again, that to me is the same sentiment as there is in the first romance scene, the "this is what you want, isn't it?" kind of... of almost a benign chastisement. It's an "oh come now, yes, it's a lie, but think about how nice it would be if it were true, wouldn't it?", a call to pretend with him. By refusing to find it entertianing, you reveal that you don't think of these feelings as a joking matter, which in turn is an acknowledgement that they either exist, or that you have at least some investment in whether they exist. Either way, you've "lost". You care if he loves you. And since you keep seeing him, it's clear that you'd prefer if he did, so that's the bait swallowed hook, line, and sinker.

And in no. 2 (or, well, 3 in the order lol), "a little soon to say that, don't you think?", when it sounds like you actually believe him at least to a degree, it's like... he doesn't seem to want to break the illusion because it does benefit him if you take him seriously, but if you believed that he loved you without you loving him yourself, then he'd lose. So he says "it can be true", in a noncommittal, "don't take it too seriously, but keep it in mind as an enticing possibility that it might be true" sort of way. A "well, not quite, but imagine how nice it would be". That's again him with the "winning" hand.

Both these other options just have in common that... the PC is, in some way, genuine. And in an affair between one that is genuine and one that's taking the piss, the genuine one is always at a serious disadvantage: if you're honest in this scene, you either lose, or he wins, and you only really notice that those are the exact same outcome if you squint. The only way you can avoid him winning unequivocally is if you make sure that you both lose.

It's so interesting how much effort he puts into this whole thing but only if the scene is explicitly romantic-inclined. Like in casual conversation it's so clear that he's got it baaaaaaaad. But admitting that feelings exist when we're actually talking about them? Noooooooooooooo.

anyway i can't wait to have these two sopping wet cats finally admit that they care if the other lives or dies and I wrote like three whole pages about them just kissing

it's a really good thing that I'm recording all the scenes I can with Astarion, because it's like I need to listen to everything he says at least three times to get the nuances of what he's actually fucking saying

like. the cutscene that plays when you first pick up a Sussur bloom in the Underdark (I assume if you're a caster of some description? it'd be weird otherwise), you can have this little scene with him, where he says things like "I don't travel with you for your personality, you know" and "the sooner we can get your magic back, the safer we'll be", first I thought "well that's a bit of an uuuuuh how you say.... fucking rude thing to say to someone you're supposed to be halfway in love with already, but aight".

But rewatching it, I'm now also hearing the concern in the first lines ("you look drained" and "is the plant bothering you?"), the immediate call to action that's buried in sarcasm (WE [the group, me included] get your magic back so WE [you] can be safer), and that almost-anxious little "try not to die" at the end. Plus, if to the personality-line you respond with "the feeling is very mutual, my friend", he quite literally tells you that it was a (slightly ill-timed) joke, and that he's glad (relieved?) that you still have your sense of humor.

even though it's likely because he's the second in the party order, it's also not escaping my notice that narratively, in this party, Shadowheart (a fellow caster whose magic was also impacted) was standing right there, but it was still Astarion who kept a close enough eye on my girl to immediately clock that something was wrong. For all they know, she picked up a flower, went pale as a sheet, and he was at her side in like two seconds, well before the only other person with significant enough magic for it to actually matter would have as much as noticed.

you like her, don't you Squidward >w>