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The Broccoli Test
Mar. 15th, 2020 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melannenI was backreading old posts, and stumbled on one about the Broccoli Test, which got me thinking.
The Broccoli Test, if you're not familiar, is an old fannish trope that asks the simple question: if two people were out shopping together, and one of them was standing by the broccoli, and the other one was some distance away and suddenly realized they needed broccoli, could they convey it to the first person, and could the two of them successfully acquire broccoli? There's more about it in the fanlore link, but that's the gist: If person A wants broccoli, will person B get them broccoli? And it becomes a metaphor for all sorts of communication and service and so on in their relationship.
So, do your current favorite characters pass the Broccoli Test?
Here's mine:
Garak gets the broccoli, but manages to give the impression he knew Bashir wanted it due to a complicated Cardassian intelligence operation that may or may not actually exist.
Bashir knows that Garak wants the broccoli, but he's not sure a normal person would know, so he pretends he didn't know. Garak knows he knew but Bashir isn't sure if Garak knows he knew.
Lan Wangji gets Wei Wuxian the broccoli, because he knows Wei Wuxian that well. Wei Wuxian marvels over what a coincidence it is that Lan Wangji happened to get broccoli just as he wanted some. Lan Wangji says "mn."
Wei Wuxian has this feeling he should get broccoli, he's not sure why, but he gets distracted along the way and ends up overthrowing a corrupt regime, destroying several evil gods, and adopting some strays which he turns up with on Lan Wangji's doorstep, with a sheepish expression saying "It's weird, I only meant to get some broccoli." Lan Wangji says "Mn."
If Jiang Cheng needs broccoli, Wei Wuxian will do whatever is necessary to get him some broccoli, as long as Jiang Cheng never, ever finds out that it was Wei Wuxian who got it for him.
If Wei Wuxian needs broccoli, Jiang Cheng will get it and then slam it down on the counter saying "I got you your damn broccoli" and then go off to hit something a lot.
The Broccoli Test, if you're not familiar, is an old fannish trope that asks the simple question: if two people were out shopping together, and one of them was standing by the broccoli, and the other one was some distance away and suddenly realized they needed broccoli, could they convey it to the first person, and could the two of them successfully acquire broccoli? There's more about it in the fanlore link, but that's the gist: If person A wants broccoli, will person B get them broccoli? And it becomes a metaphor for all sorts of communication and service and so on in their relationship.
So, do your current favorite characters pass the Broccoli Test?
Here's mine:
Garak gets the broccoli, but manages to give the impression he knew Bashir wanted it due to a complicated Cardassian intelligence operation that may or may not actually exist.
Bashir knows that Garak wants the broccoli, but he's not sure a normal person would know, so he pretends he didn't know. Garak knows he knew but Bashir isn't sure if Garak knows he knew.
Lan Wangji gets Wei Wuxian the broccoli, because he knows Wei Wuxian that well. Wei Wuxian marvels over what a coincidence it is that Lan Wangji happened to get broccoli just as he wanted some. Lan Wangji says "mn."
Wei Wuxian has this feeling he should get broccoli, he's not sure why, but he gets distracted along the way and ends up overthrowing a corrupt regime, destroying several evil gods, and adopting some strays which he turns up with on Lan Wangji's doorstep, with a sheepish expression saying "It's weird, I only meant to get some broccoli." Lan Wangji says "Mn."
If Jiang Cheng needs broccoli, Wei Wuxian will do whatever is necessary to get him some broccoli, as long as Jiang Cheng never, ever finds out that it was Wei Wuxian who got it for him.
If Wei Wuxian needs broccoli, Jiang Cheng will get it and then slam it down on the counter saying "I got you your damn broccoli" and then go off to hit something a lot.
