Unfiltered Story #191502

(I self-publish a small series of stories and a connected tabletop RPG. There are some characters I have who get introduced either a few pages before they die or else are already planned to die. One of my pre-readers has a tendency to fall in love with these characters.)

Me: I’m making some more sample spells for the demo game this summer. I’ve made spells for *list of characters including one of the aforementioned deadlist characters*

Pre-Reader: Ahh. Why’d you have to bring up *character*? The trauma is still fresh.

Me: She’s not dead yet.

Pre-reader: But I know your plans for her.

Me: Oh well. At least *name of character introduced and killed in the newest short story* isn’t on the don’t-say list yet.

Pre-Reader: *traumatized groan*

Me: Okay, is the reason I haven’t received grammar edits on the new story yet due to emotional trauma?

Pre-Reader: *plaintively* Maybe.