Holy god I've been lurking for a looong time before being able to post and I've hardly seen the forum blow up like this. I skimmed but I don't have the attention span to wade through it all so bear with me:
Knowing Tai's nature, the possibility of romantic things happening might have entered her mind when she asked Marigold to dinner, but I don't think it was her main goal; as far as I know fanfic writers meeting in real life is kinda rare so Tai might have just been happy to meet someone with a passion about it that equaled hers. What I'm saying is Tai didn't set out on this date thinking 'HAHAHA ANOTHER INNOCENT SOUL TO RAPE,' I think it was more like 'sweet we can get our nerd on, and later if everything goes right we can get something else on.' Tai's a little too sex-driven, it's true, but she's not a predator, and once Marigold rebuffs her, she'll accept it and awkwardness will ensue.
Which brings me to my next point: I agree with akronnick whole-heartedly, Dora and Faye were totally in the right by not interfering. Marigold is an adult and still has a lot of growing up to do, and at her age the best way for her to do it is by making her own mistakes. After the awkwardness happens, Marigold will be embarrassed but she'll learn a valuable lesson. And who knows, maybe she won't rebuff Tai and learn something else entirely. The point is, you never know until you try, and Marigold's got a lot of trying to catch up on.
For the people comparing Tai to Sven: Interesting, I think you could draw some interesting parallels there, but it still doesn't mean that Dora and/or Faye should have interfered like they did for Hannelore, because Marigold is not like Hannelore, at least not completely. Dora felt it necessary to intervene on Hanners' behalf because (in Dora's eyes, anyway) Hanners is extremely sheltered, extremely naive, and has absolutely no romantic experience. She also has a mental instability that would cause her to freak out in a big bad way if something went wrong on the date. Marigold, though a bit naive herself, isn't as sheltered - even though she didn't today, she can pick up on innuendo (when Angus was commenting on how she and Hanners were "enjoying themselves" the night she stayed over: Marigold caught it; it went right over Hannelore's head), she reads very sexual fanfic, and when drunk, she aggressively came on to her roommate. As closed-off as she is, she's quite a few steps above Hanners. Bottom-line: Marigold going with Tai is quite a bit different than Hannelore going with Sven.
People, this isn't that big a deal. Like I said I feel a little bad Marigold and Tai since chances are they're both going to experience some disappointment tonight (tonight comic-time), but hey, shit happens, you learn from it and grow up that much more.
Man somebody else posted while I was typing this. Ah screw it I don't feel like another wall of text. If I've repeated someone else here, friggin sue me!