i think this is a good conversation for the characters to have, and I think from Red’s perspective it does sort of make sense. However, I feel like Red’s complaints aren’t entirely accurate here?
(Note: points 1 and 2 are basically one giant combined point but oh well)
1. She’s acting like Annie forced her friends to do this, as if they dont have any free will of their own. Now, the two fairies were last minute recruits for the mission, but the other four were all pretty personally invested in the mission. It wasn’t just Annie’s mission at this point; it was also Kat’s, and Smitty’s, and Parley’s. Most of them had pretty personal attachments to this mission as well; Parley after the whole Coward Heart incident, and Kat because of the whole Diego/creator angle. I can’t think of one for Smitty, but he likes to help people out and he’s a medium himself, I’m sure this was something he WANTED to do as well. And I keep forgetting Robot was there with them since he only showed up for a brief period of time, but obviously we all know he’s invested in Jeanne. They’ve all been planning this for years, and they knew the dangers. We don’t really know at this point how well Annie warned the fairies how dangerous it would be, but I’m sure she gave them some warning, plus they HAVE met Jeanne before back when they met Annie for the first time. Also, if we’re going to blame whoever got everyone else involved in the mission, then along that line of thinking the blame should be on the Psychopomps, who asked Annie (a CHILD) to help.
2. The others chose to participate, had been helping to plan this mission for YEARS, and most had personal investments in the mission: Yeah, maybe the others getting involved was Annie’s doing, but like I said, most of them had a personal investment in the mission, and they all CHOSE to participate. Plus, we’ve already had a chapter about how Annie shouldn’t keep everything to herself, and that it can be good to get other people’s help (her convo with Jones during the control tower arc). Maybe she should’ve told the adults, but like I’ll say in another point down below, the Court is the reason Jeanne is down there in the first place. To tell someone loyal to the Court would’ve compromised the whole mission, and I think everyone’s agreed that it’s not right for Jeanne to be trapped down there against her will. There are a couple people they could trust, like Kat’s parents, Jones, and Eglamore, but I doubt any of them would've been okay with the kids doing this. I guess you could argue about whether or not they should’ve done this whole mission in the first place, and maybe they shouldn’t have, but 1) this IS a story, and they’ve been setting this up for a while, of course they’re gonna do it lol, 2) they’re trying to do what they think is right, and although we don’t know what the consequences of freeing Jeanne are just yet, I think we can all agree that it wasn’t right or fair what the Court did to Jeanne
3. Red’s acting like Annie wasn’t taking the mission seriously or something, when RED was the one messing around the most. She wasn’t even invited along, she just came cause Ayilu went. Ayilu almost got stabbed in the face because Red was the one distracting her. I feel like part of the root of why she’s saying all this is because she might not have reapplied just how dangerous the mission was, even if they had tried to explain it to her beforehand. Knowing her personality, she comes across as the kind of person who doesn’t realize somethings dangerous until its happening. I do however like that she's bringing this up, as I don’t like the idea of the faeries being these complete naive idiots who would be completely fine being put in danger cause they never realize the seriousness of a satiation.
4. Annie focused on Jeanne because she was dangerous and to complete their mission: Red says Annie just left Smitty there to bleed to death, but 1) leading Jeanne into the aether was their whole mission, and that’s what she was doing, and 2) Jeanne was the whole reason they were in danger. By getting her out of the way as quickly as possible, she removed the danger from her friends. It’s hard to care for someone who’s injured while you’re still getting attacked.
5. Even if they had gotten Smitty to a doctor, there’s no guarantee they would’ve been able to save him, plus he would’ve had to go into surgery and would’ve taken a while to recover. With the Psychopomps power, it was a guaranteed save with zero recovery time and no permanent injuries. Red says Annie made him wait in pain, but the psychopomps method was easily the quickest way to get rid of both the pain and the injury.
6. The group prepared as well as they could have, they can’t account for everything that could happen: Red could try and argue that maybe they didn’t prepare well enough for the mission, but honestly? They were pretty well prepared. I’m not sure they could’ve been much more prepared than they were. They can’t account for everything that could’ve happened, they just had to prepare their best and do what they could.
7. Getting in trouble with the Court could’ve compromised ALL of their safeties: Red says Annie didn't want to get in trouble, and while I don’t doubt some of Annie’s reluctance to take Smitty to the doctor was rooted in selfish reasons, she’s not the only one who would’ve gotten in trouble. And knowing the Court, the people who TRAPPED JEANNE DOWN THERE in the first place, it would’ve been more than just a week of detention. They could’ve all gotten kicked out (including Red and Ayilu!), plus the court probably didn't want Jeanne to be removed. They might’ve chosen someone else to replace her, and that someone could’ve easily come from Annie’s group. We know how capable the Court is of making inhumane and unethical decisions. Yes, Smitty’s safety (and everyone else’s safety as well) was the most important thing to this mission, and compromising it in order to save someone was definitely something they should do. However, like I said, letting the Court find out probably would’ve compromised ALL of their safeties.
8. Ayilu needs to speak up: i also really want Ayilu to say something? Red’s the one getting angry on her behalf, while Ayilu’s standing RIGHT THERE. I feel like she needs to speak up on her view of things. She’s her own person, she doesn’t need Red to speak for her. I want her to say something, regardless of whether she’s going to defend or attack Annie.
9. Annie is a bit selfish, but she’s also been put on the spot: I DO feel like Annie’s not making as good of an argument that she could, which could be a result of being put on the spot, but it also kind of shows that she might’ve been making her decisions based more on selfish reasons that truly logical ones. Which I do think is a good thing to be called out on; even though I mostly agree with what she did I agree for different reasons that than the ones she’s giving, and if she was only thinking about herself in these situations then it could lead to her making selfish decisions that I DONT agree with and that are objectively bad decisions. Even though I don’t agree with everything Red’s saying, I do think this is good for Annie to hear. I just don’t want it to end like this, I want some legitimate rebuttal to Red’s points.
I dont want the conclusion for this chapter to be that Annie’s a perfect, flawless angel that did nothing wrong, but I ALSO don’t want it to be that the entire mission was Annie’s fault and that she did everything wrong and she’s completely selfish, etc. I want her to grow and learn from it, and for her to realize what was at stake here, but I don’t want her to walk away form it thinking that she’s a terrible person, or for the others to think she's a terrible person. This situation is more complex than just “Annie’s perfect vs Annie’s terrible”, y’know? She might not’ve made all the best decisions, but she tried her best, and yes she has flaws but so do all the other characters. I don’t want Annie to leave this conversation thinking that she should never ask others for help ever again.
It was very dangerous, tough mission they were all taking part in, against a ghost who has literally killed not only multiple creatures, but multiple escorts of the dead. And they, a group of teenagers, managed to complete the mission (one that more powerful, adult creatures failed at) without anyone actually dying or anyone becoming permanently injured from it. I’d say they did a pretty damn good job, Red.
- At least Annie did manage to point out that Parley was personally invested in facing Jeanne, but Red didn’t really react to it.
-Annie…Kat’s been working with you on this whole Jeanne thing for as long as you have. She was invested in it just like you, and she’s your best friend who loves you with her whole heart. You’re really gonna believe that you forced her to do this now? (Though I understand that it’s more of a guilt/self-doubt sort of thing going on here)
-Ayilu still hasn’t said anything??
-At the very least, it seems like Red isn’t really acting super mad (based on her body language and facial expressions on this a page) so hopefully this won’t turn into a big fight or anything
-And again with the whole ‘this was only what YOU wanted Annie’ shtick. Nevermind the fact that she, a CHILD, was personally asked by the magical escorts of the dead to help with this, or the fact that her friends have been working with her on this for years, or the fact that she doesn’t personally get anything out of this and really mainly did it because she thought it was the right thing to do. Nope, this was entirely Annie’s fault. Geez.
