I suddenly have a lot of emotions about how Jester sees love and loyalty, and why.
Jester has never experienced transient friendships. As a child, Jester’s only close relationships were ones she saw as unconditional commitments: Marion, and the Traveller. Jester never left her hometown to go to school, like Caleb; she was never separated from a love interest like Beau, or – until Molly – suffered a bereavement like Yasha. Marion was always at the Chateau, never absent like the Clay parents. Even Bluud seems to have been a constant in Jester’s life.
Jester’s model for love is being there, no matter what. As far as Jester knew, the Traveller was always watching over her. Marion might have been busy with clients, but Jester knew her mother’s love would never be retracted. Her biggest times of stress have been when those loves stopped seeming 100% constant: when Marion’s package took time to reach her, and whenever the Traveller failed to show.
And this is so, so clearly Jester’s template for love and loyalty now. For Jester, affection is a commitment, one she doesn’t retract.
Caduceus has Sending, but it’s always Jester who maintains relationships over time and distance, refusing to let people pass out of her life. She checks in on Kiri, even though they knew her so briefly and left her behind ages ago. She never once questions Yasha’s goodness. She reaches out to the Inevitable End. She keeps her promise to send Isharnai more cupcakes. Jester’s goal when we meet her is to reach out to the one person - her father - who broke that ‘important people in my life will always be there’ rule, and fix that. When she finds him, she keeps being affectionate until at last he lets her in.
And then there’s Essek. On the day they met, she told him ‘I hope we can be friends,’ and she followed through. Hugging him, giving him a cupcake and a parasol, holding his hand through his confession. Messaging him to ask how he’s feeling, to ask for help and pastries, so that he knows he’s still welcome.
When Beau says ‘he’s a war criminal, you know?’ Jester gets quiet, and shares an uncomfortable look with Caduceus. Because of course Jester knows that. And of course she cares anyway, because she’s made a commitment to Essek, and Jester doesn’t do take-backs on that.
It’s just… so impressive that Laura looked at Jester’s models for relationship dynamics and has had Jester mirror them so consistently. I’m sure even Jester’s loyalty has limits, and there are situations where this attitude hurts her (as we’re seeing now re: her finding out the Traveller isn’t always there.)
But god, Jester really is the summary of that ‘I’m going to love you on purpose / I’ll love you without any strings attached’ post. She has 20 Wisdom; her kindness isn’t naive. It’s so, so deliberate, and I adore her for it.
tl;dr: Jester’s template for relationships is that love is a promise, and it’s not one she breaks.
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