Oh yes, I am not judging you for confronting the text without any slack-cutting. I agree that can be fun. Just commenting on where I thought our difference of perspective was coming from.

Also, I think you broke my brain. But actually Vashti/Esther Slash could totally work. Is it possible to write fanfic in the Bibleverse??? I'm getting all sorts of vague possibilities as to where this could go but aside from a very strong feeling that it could go somewhere very entertaining (with some mild slash content), I haven't got much.