A) Almost all of this has been discusion about the story, so no. Not a derail.
B) It's not that Danny died, it's how he died that's the problem.
How would I kill him, then? I really don't subscribe to your 'death should be dramatic' philosophy at all.
Maybe because of my job. Probably because of my job, actually.
I don't know if you've read everything in this thread, but I'm an EMT. I've seen a lot of death. Perhaps not as much as some people in the field, because I'm in private service instead of 911, but I've seen my fair share. Let's see if I can remember...
-First day precepting. First run. Guy collapses in his apartment. I man the BVM on the way to the ER as the medic does...medic things. Come back to the same ER later, guy is likely going to be declared dead. Guy has no family members, an ex-wife who honestly seemed uninterested. He's dying alone.
-Helipad transport. Guy shot himself in the face. Brains leaking onto the medic's leg. Guy's heart stops twice on the drive over, but they keep bringing him back because he has a donor card. They were literally doing CPR for spare parts. No family present, no last words I ever heard.
-Two infants. Less said about those the better. I'm sure there was crying once the families actually arrived at the hospital, but there was none while I was there. For everyone in the room at the infant PICU, this is just their job.
-Woman coming out of ICU. Totally unconscious, no responses of any kind to any stimuli. You hear about death rattles, but you don't know what they are 'till you've heard one. Get her onto the bed at hospice, nurses about to take responsibility for the patient. I glance over, and ask the question, "Is she even breathing?" Nope. I tactfully hand the DNR to the attending physician. I actually think of this one as a funny story because she was in a bizarre kind of limbo where she was on their bed (their responsibility), but they hadn't signed for the patient yet (our responsibility). They just took care of it because, hey, hospice. No family. No crying. Not dramatic.
-Woman got T-boned by a semi. Still alive when the helicopter lands, but her face is wrecked and she's bleeding everywhere. I pass by the ER 15 minutes later and she's already been declared. Undramatic, unexpected. No preamble, no husband to cry over her broken body.
If I had to guess, I've seen more death than you, and the one thing that gets to you after you've seen enough is how
completely ordinary it is. Death happens. All the time and all around you. It's not dramatic, there's usually no last words. Family crying as you pass into the void is a dream, not a reality, for most. Death is violent, it is cruel, it is sudden, it happens without warning. It's not a fucking plot device.
That's what happened to Danny.
Edit: That sounds really dark. I'm fine, guys. It's shocking what people can get used to even without a multidimensional space whale constantly making you stable.
Editedit: I think of the derail counter as a running joke, not a ritual summoning circle for Ol- mods. For mods. I don't expect or want anyone to be infracted for this.
