Dear
rosalynde,
I'm sorry you started out as a Mary Sue. Happily, to both our credits, the reason you were a Sue is because we were borrowing the fandom's universe to hold extended adventures in, and the actual universe's characters really had much less to do with us than the main characters of the Star Wars universe have to do with the Rogue Squadron spinoff. I mean, Wedge was just a really minor character in the movies, and ... yeah.
And when we took you out of the universe, you were still a viable character, because it was really all in your head anyway. Though I still think the tactic is a nice conceit, and I may use it to good effect later. Oh, and I still
adore Ensign Paul Rowan and I adore Diane Swiftclaw and that whole thing with the ice-cream getting her girlfriend all drunk and the resulting bout of ... um, yeah.
And also happily, while you still resemble me in many important details, and your universe has things going the way that it would have gone had I been able to get my way at many major junctures, you also have the problems that go with those alternate paths. You aren't such an insufferable knowitall, either, and you are a much less reliable narrator for it. Because you used to be absolutely unbearable. I think I like you better after high school, come to think of it, and I'm contemplating junking some of the bits that I thought were the best at the beginning.
At any rate, I'm glad you've grown up to be an actual decent Original Character.
Love,
azurelunatic