also can i just say i find it interesting it was, how different ro & zam reacted to thinking mapicc banned himself?
they are arguably the people who know him the best on the server and zam's immediate reaction was grief and to throw herself into flow out of her anger, whereas ro seemed more mad at mapicc and kept saying how she has no doubt in her mind that he'll regret banning himself bc it would be stupid if he did. and its funny bc i dont think either of them were particularly in the wrong for their reactions or how they felt bc it does not come down to who knows mapicc better or who loves him more, but to what their experiences w mapicc throughout the seasons have been like
when you realize that ro's experiences with mapicc, especially in the past few seasons, have always revolved around her ability to always return to him bc he will always be there no matter how far she wanders it makes sense that she reacted in anger. she has not had to deal w the fear of ever losing him and having no home to come back to since s4 began bc in her absence, the mapicc she knows and loves has been the same mapicc who would never ever actually give up or leave no matter how hard he got beaten down
BUT it also completely makes sense that zam would immediately begin to grieve him and be angry at the person who she thinks "took" mapicc away from her bc she has repeatedly lost him the past few seasons. s6 was especially bad bc not only did she feel like she lost him to the empire in him always choosing them over her, which drove her to actually lose him bc he pulled away so severely when she began teaming w derap, but she Actually lost him when he died and lost the mace in the most content griefing horrible way possible nd basically gave up on the server entirely by the time she came back. like he was still there kind of, but he was no longer a mapicc she recognized. and when he finally began being himself again she didnt even get to actually have him back bc he actually fully left her upon realizing she had betrayed EVERYONE for bacon (which absolutely was a betrayal and i stand by that!!!).
so its like . they are both people who love him so very much and who almost center him in their world, consciously or not, but they have such vastly different experiences when it comes to loss when it comes to mapicc. i don't think either of them are wrong for viewing him the way they do bc it is just their lived experience as people who have loved him for as long as they have. to zam, mapicc is someone she has lost and who she is always terrified of losing bc she has experienced it enough in the past to know its not something she ever wants to do again. whereas to ro, mapicc has always been and will always be the person she can come home to and attach herself to no matter how far she wanders or how long shes gone bc he has always accepted her w open arms no matter what his own situation has been.
its also worth noting that even outside of mapicc, both ro and zam have such incredibly different experiences on teams and with the people they love on lifesteal that its actually kind of absurd LOL. i don't think ro has ever actually been the one to be betrayed or to lose someone in ls besides the stuff that happened during s4— she has almost always been the one to do the leaving. meanwhile i dont think zam has ever gone a single season without experiencing some sort of major loss (even if many of those losses since s4 have lowk been due to her own choices and mistakes). im actually very excited to see how ro and zam individually will interact as proper teammates for the first time since s5. arguably even since s4 considering they barely got to be teammates during s5 w how late ro joined the team LOL
