#i'm a firm believer that shallow narratives are the problem rather than popular ones

[burr-ell]

I didn't want to make this post by @utilitycaster even longer than it was or derail from the immediate subject, so I'm making my own to discuss these frustratingly apt tags:

#tangent but the best way to put it is that there is a FRIGHTENING lack of empathy among a certain set of shippers #and every other character is constant collateral and right now Orym's on the chopping block#but like. feed fcg the coin? guests merely exist to make the relationship happen? Orym would be happier dead? #how dare ashton express they have also experienced trauma? shitting on every past deity-aligned character? it's a real pattern.

Because I was reminded that this is also, by my estimation, the reason a lot of people were genuinely upset with C3 Percy. Some corners of the fandom had spent months building up fanon where Percy, one half of one of the most iconic CR ships (and therefore a huge form of potential validation), would do everything in his power to make Imodna happen bring Laudna back to life and get rid of Delilah. And then Bell's Hells actually met him, and it turned out that under the circumstances, Percy was an individual with his own thoughts and feelings about death and fate who'd had thirty years to reflect and had reservations about resurrection even laying aside the Delilah situation.

It didn't matter that he explicitly said he wasn't rejecting the idea of bringing Laudna back entirely. It didn't matter that he had very good reasons to behave this way, reasons that the entire fandom was reminded about rather viscerally less than a year beforehand. It didn't matter that once he was assured there was no threat, he was actually really helpful and genuinely kind to Laudna in particular. If he wasn't immediately accommodating to fanon and validating the juggernaut ship, he was an irredeemable asshole who deserved to be "humbled" by having his wife and close friend go behind his back despite any reasons they might have to be concerned. (Which, to be clear, they didn't do, but the "nyah-nyah, Vex and Pike totally OWNED that rich old geezer cause they're strong women who do what they want!" sentiment was very obnoxious and I was pleased to see that Matt torpedoed it.)