#anyway. what i'm saying is shippers ignoring marisha's words are like ludinus except less interesting and with fewer wizard powers.

[utilitycaster]

I said this much right after the episode but just to sum it up outside an ask: I honestly think that taking Laudna seriously and at her word when she says that she thinks of Imogen as a sister from another mister instead of dismissing her as not knowing how she feels or being in denial bodes better for an eventual romance, not worse.

The best way I can put it is to imagine Imogen and Laudna under the current status quo as traveling parallel to each other. They will always be close to each other and relatively synchronized; but their paths will never cross. I think most people have realized this, which is why the refrain of "when will (Delilah/Deanna/Deni$e/Bor'Dor/Prism/Ashton/Orym) (ask them about their relationship/assume they're married (?????)/otherwise serve entirely as development for Imogen or Laudna)" is so prevalent.

However, this really hits on the heart of why I can't get aboard the popular fandom idea of this ship: someone else shoving them together (which has, thus far, backfired entirely; I think had Yu not been present as a distraction, the gnarlrock fight actually might have gone somewhere productive; and Bor'Dor's question led to a distinctly unromantic answer) takes everything out of Imogen and Laudna's hands. Once again, the ship takes precedence over Imogen and Laudna having any agency over their own lives. Laudna should be given choices and allowed to develop as her own person and blossom and grow...unless the choice is to view Imogen platonically.

In the end, this decision isn't going to be made because of a guest character, or another PC. It's going to have to come from Imogen and from Laudna, no one else. If this story is about them choosing themselves and each other - and I don't know if it is, but that sure has been the party line about them - then they need to make that choice on their own. One of their deaths, a sense of an impending apocalypse, and magically enforced separation haven't been sufficient shakeups to the relationship. But a mismatch in how they feel, actually voiced to each other, might be.

It feels like a strong statement to place your desire for a woman to be with the person you want her to be with over that woman's own voiced beliefs. I think a vocal disagreement that opens up room for change is going to be the most likely bet, at this point, should a relationship happen; not still more people maneuvering Imogen and Laudna into place with no thought to what they want.