Judgement

aww. so cute. So cute

I've seen people take this interaction one of two ways; Salt saying something completely inoffensive and sweet and Fount subsequently deciding he absolutely fucking loathes this guy and wants him to die, or Salt reinforcing the purpose that Fount hates and just complained about and thus Fount being completely right to be angry (and then they try to tie it in to some point about how Salt should have checked up on the virtues and so he has no right to be mad about them corrupting and... etc etc. You know the drill with people who hate Salt an inexplicable amount and give way too much grace to Shadow Milk simultaneously).

I feel as though... everyone is missing the point here, a little? I've never seen anyone describe the real meat of this interaction with any precision. Meanwhile, I think I have something a bit more accurate and substantial. Now, let me preface this with something actually kind of amusing; I recently found out that there's a good chance I don't just have BPD, but also NPD on top of that. It makes complete sense in retrospect, and I really don't know how I thought there was 0 chance of it. Why am I bringing this up? Well...

I sincerely think they packed this guy with NPD day one. Little guy just got made like that.

What does that mean in regards to this interaction? Envy. Feelings of unshakeable, deeply resentful envy. This I think is the foundation of Silent Salt and Shadow Milk's entire dynamic; the very reason Shadow Milk is so consistently obsessed with him, so strange about him in ways he isn't with ANY of the others. Within the frame of this interaction, the feelings of envy come from one particular place; the fact that the Fount not only hates his job, but has to force himself to be nice to Cookies. He has to put in the effort. It doesn't come naturally to him, and he just does it because it's what he's meant to do, because otherwise he's not doing his job as a Virtue correctly. So, when he looks at the Salt of Solidarity, he sees everything he's not. Someone who's effortlessly kind to Cookies, who is perfectly happy and content with his job, who can pull it off consistently and well, and who doesn't have to be reminded on why the Virtues have to be kind and giving to Cookies. Someone who is kind just because they're kind, not because they were told to. And it makes him so, so fucking mad. The anger is weird, nebulous, inexplicable to him, and vaguely directed at Salt, the Witches, and himself. That's why he immediately looks upon Salt with disdain here, because in his mind, this interaction parses as "Oh, you think you're so humble, huh? So simply appreciative and kind? So unbothered by your position? So easily able to stick by it? Whatever. Whatever you say.", and he's clearly trying to save face through it, not trying to be hostile, trying to keep his cool and... not doing too good a job of it. But the attempt is there, I suppose.

That said, I think what absolutely no one seems to be discussing is the fact that... past this, they DID continue to be friends. They DID form some sort of connection, some sort of bond. The feelings of envy were there from day one, and they've persisted up until this very day, but... even still,

They spoke. They debated. They had conversations, one on one. There had to have been SOME closeness between them. And THIS is what makes their relationship so fascinating to me. Even when they were close, those nagging feelings of envy likely stayed at the back of Fount's mind, specially as they were further proven time and time again. At a certain point, I think the line started blurring between hatred and admiration; why are you so kind? Why are you why I'm not? What I could never begin to be? You're everything. I'm nothing like you. I hate you. I adore you. Something along those lines. The kinda thing that never once ever actually gets said, or even fully reckoned with, but that slowly boils under the surface. And the kind of thing that, as the one holding those feelings gets worse, becomes more and more maladaptive and outright hostile.

Ahem. Enough of that tangent. TL;DR: No, I don't think Fount was right to be so angry at something perfectly normal and said out of sincere kindness, but you can trace back exactly WHY he did, and it makes complete sense, and it honestly makes their overall long-term relationship so much more fascinating. I do find it fun how it's clear Fount was a hater from day 1. It makes his progression frankly fascinating, from Fount, to First Headmaster (still Fount as the main gig), to Shadow Milk. Starting out real bad, seemingly getting better, hitting a plateau, and then crashing violently. I made this chart last night while thinking about it.

day 225 - ender pearl...?