label doctor_5:
window hide
with Pause(1)
show text "Fyodora" with dissolve
with Pause(2)
hide text with dissolve
window show
show inn zorder 3 with dissolve
show fyodoraimg zorder 4 with dissolve:
    xalign 0.05 yalign 0.25
fyodora  """

You have a way of catching me on my bad days.  I wish you didn't, I wish that you would be as excited to see me every time as I am to see you.
"""

"She takes a long, slow drink and then stares down at the table."
menu:
    "*Sit and say nothing*":
        $c=3
        $game.town_stability +=1

    "What's the matter Fyodora?":
        $c=3
        $game.town_stability +=1

    "Lighten up, it can't be that bad.":
        $c=2

    "Is it that, or are you always just miserable?":
        $c=1

if c==1:

    "Fyodora lets out a little snort."

    fyodora  "You might not be entirely wrong.  But I'd like to see you deal with what I've just had to go through."

    $game.town_stability -=4

    $c=3

if c==2:

    "Fyodora gently places her drink down on the table and for the first time lifts her head and looks you straight in the eyes."

    $game.town_stability -=4

    $c=3

if c==3:

    fyodora  """

    I just lost a patient.

    He'd fallen, just over two weeks ago, and badly mangled his leg.  He lives ... he lived, out in the farmlands and his father had decided that it wasn't worth the hassle to bring him into town when he could amputate the leg himself.

    I never even saw that first wound.  I don't know if I could have saved the leg, although from the description the father gave me, I doubt it.

    The father found a saw and took the leg off at the knee.  It was badly done.  Very badly done.

    I'd like to see that saw.  If I had to guess, I'd put money on it being both rusted and blunt.  But maybe it was just their living conditions that let the wound become so infected.

    By the time he was brought to me the whole end of the stump was black and pussing.  The boy's fever was so high I have to admit I was shocked he was still alive.

    And they just sat in the waiting area.  They just sat there, the boy lying in his mother's lap while I dealt with another patient's dry throat.  They would have waited longer as well, but when I stepped out to call the next patient I could smell the disease in the air.

    I hardly asked anything before I started operating.  Cut away the infected flesh, at least half an inch into healthy flesh, then you saw away the extruding bone but leave a flap of skin to use as a cover over the wound, sew that in place with the patient's own hair.

    Except, of course, I never got that far.  Should I have left him, waited for the pain medication to take hold?  I ... I honestly don't know if he died of a heart attack from the pain, or exhaustion, or blood loss.

    There wasn't even much blood.  Not much fresh blood, anyway.  The blood in the part I cut away, every sense could tell you that it was bad.

    I think I was aware of the very moment that he died.  Neither of his parents were in the room.  They hadn't complained when I sent them out.  Usually parents do, but these didn't.

    I already had his name.  But I asked them his age when I came out.

    Seven.

    He'd been collecting wood for his dad's fire when he fell.

    What do you think of that?  What do you think of all of that?
    """
    menu:
        "Those parents are monsters.":
            $c=5
            fyodora  "I don't know.  I really don't know.  I haven't had time to think about it."

            $game.town_stability +=2

            $c=7


        "I don't know what to say.  It's just so awful.":
            $c=6
            fyodora  "I don't think there is anything you can say."

            $game.town_stability +=1

            $c=7



        "These things happen.  I would have thought you'd be used to it by now.":
            $c=4
            fyodora  "Yes, these things do happen.  But that doesn't mean they should, should they?"

            $game.town_stability -=4

            $c=7
fyodora  """

It was all so …

It was all so fucking unnecessary.

I know I don't use that word often, but fuck, none of this needed to happen.

Was it just ignorance?  Did they really think that they were doing the best they could do for him?  Because that's inexcusable.  But whose fault is it?  Who should have taught them?

Or did they just not care?  They've got other children who can work the land, not that there's any land to work right now.  Was this son just not worth the trip into town unless it was absolutely necessary?

What kind of parents can watch their child in as much pain as theirs was and not do everything they can to save him?

I'm sorry, but why have children if you aren't going to love them?  What kind of monster brings such a beautiful thing into the world and lets it literally rot and die in front of them?

I … I …
"""

"She lowers her head into her hands and breathes deeply."

fyodora  """

They're taking the body back to their farm.  Apparently they have a family burial plot there.  They want to lay him to rest where they're going to be.

Is that love?  Or is it family pride?  Or just tradition?
"""
menu:
    "All parents love their children.  In this case, it was probably love that made them think they were the best people to care for their son.":
        $c=10
        $game.town_stability +=1

        fyodora  "Not all parents love their children."

        "Fyodora stares down into the dregs of her mug for a moment."

        fyodora  """

        But maybe you're right.  Maybe they thought they knew best.  Maybe if I was a mother, I would be able to sympathise.  Maybe.

        I prefer to think they're not evil.  I prefer to think that that boy lived seven very happy years.  Maybe dying just before things get even worse for everyone.  Maybe he lived the best life he could.

        Maybe.  Or maybe not.

        Sitting here and talking about it isn't going to change it either way.  And knowing isn't going to help me.  But still …

        I think I should be alone for a while.  I'm sorry to … no.  No, you need to know what's going on.

        But thank you for listening all the same.
        """


    "Can't love and pride be the same thing?":
        $c=9
        $game.town_stability -=2

        fyodora  """

        Not for people.  Maybe for countries or sports teams or … or something.  But being proud of a person isn't the same as loving them.  It's no substitute.

        Pride is selfish.  Even if it's not pride in your own part of the other's success, it's still selfish.  Or maybe that's the wrong word.  I don't know.

        When you're proud of someone, it's to do with what they achieve.  If they hadn't done the thing, you wouldn't be proud.

        Love shouldn't, doesn't, rely on anything else but the person.

        Pride pushes people into being something different.  Love tells them it's okay to be who they are.
        """

        "Fyodora stares down into the dregs of her mug for a moment."

        fyodora  """

        I think I should be alone for a while.  I'm sorry to … no.  No, you need to know what's going on.

        But you should go now.  I need to be alone.
        """



    "When you live in those kinds of conditions, you learn that life is cheap.":
        $c=8
        fyodora  """

        No child's life is cheap.  It makes me sick to even hear you say that.

        There is nothing, nothing more valuable than a child.  Not just because they're people, not just because a child still has the opportunities to become anyone, but because childhood is the closest thing to sacred that we … It's the closest to sacred that any of us will ever be.

        I don't have the energy to explain it to you now.  Just go.  Leave me alone with my thoughts.  You're not helping anyone by being here.
        """


    "Those parents should be made to pay for what they did.":
        $c=11
        $game.town_stability +=1

        fyodora  """

        I don't know.  I really don't know.  

        We will never know why they did what they did.

        But there are other children there, waiting at home for their brother to come back.  What are their lives like?  What will their lives be like?  

        I prefer to think the parents aren't evil.  I prefer to think that that boy lived seven very happy years.  Maybe dying just before things get even worse for everyone.  Maybe he lived the best life he could.

        Maybe.  Or maybe not.

        Sitting here and talking about it isn't going to change it either way.  And I know isn't going to help me.  But still …

        I think I should be alone for a while.  I'm sorry to … no.  No, you need to know what's going on.

        But thank you for listening all the same.
        """


hide fyodoraimg with dissolve


return