2022-03-08 [DMFA #2070] Pain and Abel

[Glenn Griffon]

That poor guy really needs a hug that lasts a year.

[ProfesseurRenard]

🎶A million shards of glass🎶

[Tapewolf]

Yeah, that definitely summarises Aniz' misadventures.  The breaking-out-of-the-panel thing is some awesome artwork as well.

[Shadow_B_Panther]

The feels in that page and how you expressed his despair with the broken panels leaving the page, Amber really went above and beyond. I personally feel that the page was worth the slight delay. Add in that with the talk of Aniz the last few pages made me want to revisit Abel's story and reminded me of how bad he was.

That said, if Amber is still reading our comments here, thanks for your effort. It really paid off and we appreciate it. Take care of yourself.

[joshofspam]

Well this page really sumarizes both with what Abel says and with the panel art with how it went down

But to take it back to the Cuckoo comparison, I wonder if the Dragon purge of the cubi might have escalated things a bit when it came to that?

You really have to wonder what made Aniz think any of his actions was a good idea?

[WhyNot?]

But to take it back to the Cuckoo comparison, I wonder if the Dragon purge of the cubi might have escalated things a bit when it came to that?

I'm not sure what you're asking with this specific point. Are you referring to Siar Clan specifically or to Dragons killing Cubi in general? Because those seem to be random spurts of violence in a 7000 year long cold war after a very bloody not-so-cold war crawled to an end, so it's a very vague and wide net to cast if we're talking how it effected Cubi in general.

You really have to wonder what made Aniz think any of his actions was a good idea?

But in regards to Aniz specifically I'd assume that these were the reasons he chose to do things the way he did:

He had no-one to foist the kid off on if he took him as a baby. Unlike others who probably get some sort of help from the rest of their clan when they do something like this Aniz would have had to have been a single parent. Much easier to leave him with his actual family and stick around to make sure he doesn't get hurt in the meantime.

He's a massive racist, doesn't care about Being life and honestly can't imagine Abel being capable of being upset about it in the long term. Keep in mind the only individual we know of that he's shown to care about is Dee....whom even Aary, who self-admittedly loves her, sounds uncomfortable talking about how much of a Cubi Supremacist she was.The idea that when someone came to terms with what they were could possibly still care about Beings was probably unfathomable to him long before what happened to Siar Clan.

But in the short time threatening her life does get the kid to stay at SAIA. Fa'lina doesn't just keep people and just suddenly taking him aside and dragging him off isn't going to make him want to. Even if he ultimately did decide to attend.....Aniz wants more kids and isn't going to stick around with May, any kind of sweet talk he could give to talk a kid into doing so would probably be shown to be lies when he abandons the mom. Not to mention that staying long-term at the Academy would be much safer than walking free for 11 months of every 12 while still so unclear on exactly the risks he faces and, besides, 40-ish years among Cubi is no doubt enough to get him to stop caring about Beings....right?

And of course, one simple fact.....Aniz likes to have fun and he has no sense. These qualities make him a goof and cause him to pursue the 'unobtainable' girl, but for someone who thrives off misery these also take on a much darker form. The same thing that drives him to showoff how funny he is to equals is the same thing that drives him to be as theatrical and extravagant as possible when crushing the 'lesser', the bit of him that doesn't say no when it seems like he's going to over-reach tells him he's in complete control of a situation when really anything could go wrong.

Hennya was unplanned, obviously, she put up slight resistance when he thought there would be none and his sense of control was shaken and so in a rage he regained it as quickly and decisively as possible.....before realizing what he'd done and blaming her for it, still unable to admit fault. Like an abuser who finally beats someone to death in a rage in a way they could never get away with over some minor offense it was never about what she actually did that caused her death. They disrupted the narrative of power and control for a pathetic and hollow person, who couldn't handle it and in doing so lost control for which they continue to blame the victim for 'making them hurt them'.

[Drakkenmensch]

Quick Jyrras! ABEL NEEDS A HUG RIGHT NOW!!!

[joshofspam]

But to take it back to the Cuckoo comparison, I wonder if the Dragon purge of the cubi might have escalated things a bit when it came to that?

I'm not sure what you're asking with this specific point. Are you referring to Siar Clan specifically or to Dragons killing Cubi in general? Because those seem to be random spurts of violence in a 7000 year long cold war after a very bloody not-so-cold war crawled to an end, so it's a very vague and wide net to cast if we're talking how it effected Cubi in general.

I was thinking something along the lines of how some of the other clans go about getting children from Being pairings and how  during and after the war might have influenced that.

For current times, it sounds like the cuckoo scenario is motivated to get the kid quickly to Falina's school before an overzealous adventurer or a dragon backed hit squad can target the newly realized cubi.

But what about before the dragons were trying to exterminate the Cubi? I almost feel like Cubi could have been closer to Beings then they are now, if not for all the dragon propaganda and the effects of it having on the cubi culture.

[GreenReaper]

The feels in that page and how you expressed his despair with the broken panels leaving the page, Amber really went above and beyond.

It's always fun when you break the panels - but I'm sure it's a real pain, too. Reminds me of the time Sefeiren depicted the shattering of relationships in Family Matters (the comic is marked Adult, but that page is not). I tried something vaguely similar with WindowBlinds a long time ago, using Kestrel's depiction of a certain dragon that some may know from Furcadia, and it worked for the Start panel, but I never got around to the window frame.

I almost feel like Cubi could have been closer to Beings then they are now, if not for all the dragon propaganda and the effects of it having on the cubi culture.

Divide and conquer, a classic technique. If everyone united against the dragons, perhaps something could be done.

[Tarakona]

I love the art and the emotion in this panel. The shattering pictures perfectly depict the shattered lives. I like the picture of Aniz used to show his...humanity for lack of a better term. Sure he's the villain everyone loves to hate but at one point he was a carefree "kid" with a pleasant life. I'm no expert but I know the effects of trauma on some folks and Abel makes a good point that he's happy Jy has never known it.

Folks respond to trauma in different ways. Not excusing Aniz by any definition, but I wonder what others may have done. As usual this comic was worth the wait.

[The One Guy]

I like the picture of Aniz used to show his...humanity for lack of a better term. Sure he's the villain everyone loves to hate but at one point he was a carefree "kid" with a pleasant life.

That's not a picture of of Aniz as a "kid," that's Aniz disguised as the adventurer he killed.



You know, in looking more closely at the page, I realized just how well designed this image was:

• Each line shows the before and after for the relevant character, but the last line for Abel himself dissolves completely, showing how he feels he lost his former life completely.
• Aniz's line is the only one showing cracks at the beginning of the line as he was already broken before this point.
• The other lines indicate a broken future, but Hennya's line comes to a point.  She dies soon after everything started going wrong.

[Nightmask]

I love the art and the emotion in this panel. The shattering pictures perfectly depict the shattered lives. I like the picture of Aniz used to show his...humanity for lack of a better term. Sure he's the villain everyone loves to hate but at one point he was a carefree "kid" with a pleasant life. I'm no expert but I know the effects of trauma on some folks and Abel makes a good point that he's happy Jy has never known it.

Folks respond to trauma in different ways. Not excusing Aniz by any definition, but I wonder what others may have done. As usual this comic was worth the wait.

This is though he was only like that around other Cubi, similar to how a white supremacist may come off a great person around other white people but when he's NOT around them...  Then the emotional devastation of losing his clan leader had him completely embrace his darkness.

[WhyNot?]

This is though he was only like that around other Cubi, similar to how a white supremacist may come off a great person around other white people but when he's NOT around them.

Yeah as I said here:

He's a massive racist, doesn't care about Being life and honestly can't imagine Abel being capable of being upset about it in the long term. Keep in mind the only individual we know of that he's shown to care about is Dee....whom even Aary, who self-admittedly loves her, sounds uncomfortable talking about how much of a Cubi Supremacist she was.

It's something I noticed awhile back when I was looking at the time Dan got the Aniz rundown: People seeming to try and tie down all of Aniz and Dee's character flaws down as the result of this one traumatic event, describing it as what 'turned them evil' and....I'm not going to argue it didn't have an effect, but a Dragon killing Cubi does not explain anti-Being racism.

It's simply that what fuels the casual dismissive attitude of an affluent man talking about a people he's probably not going to personally impact in any great measure becomes so much worse when put through a man with no great means and little compunction taking from them.....whoever they might be.

[Nightmask]

This is though he was only like that around other Cubi, similar to how a white supremacist may come off a great person around other white people but when he's NOT around them.

Yeah as I said here:

He's a massive racist, doesn't care about Being life and honestly can't imagine Abel being capable of being upset about it in the long term. Keep in mind the only individual we know of that he's shown to care about is Dee....whom even Aary, who self-admittedly loves her, sounds uncomfortable talking about how much of a Cubi Supremacist she was.

It's something I noticed awhile back when I was looking at the time Dan got the Aniz rundown: People seeming to try and tie down all of Aniz and Dee's character flaws down as the result of this one traumatic event, describing it as what 'turned them evil' and....I'm not going to argue it didn't have an effect, but a Dragon killing Cubi does not explain anti-Being racism.

It's simply that what fuels the casual dismissive attitude of an affluent man talking about a people he's probably not going to personally impact in any great measure becomes so much worse when put through a man with no great means and little compunction taking from them.....whoever they might be.

I see it as the moment that whatever bottom line of evil they might have had was erased, leaving them with no depth of evil that they were unwilling to descend to.  Mind you that's talking about an individual that in Destania's case taught classes in horrific torture and murder and wanted to include infants but was stopped by Fa'lina.  We haven't even remotely seen the depths of her evil and most likely (and thankfully) won't see it ever, only mainly hearing about it from others.  Destania may have been softening because of her relationship with Aniz but once that was destroyed she completely lost it, I can only see her eventually dying after a failed attempted by Dan to save her because she doesn't really want to be saved.

[ProfesseurRenard]

This is though he was only like that around other Cubi, similar to how a white supremacist may come off a great person around other white people but when he's NOT around them.

Yeah as I said here:

He's a massive racist, doesn't care about Being life and honestly can't imagine Abel being capable of being upset about it in the long term. Keep in mind the only individual we know of that he's shown to care about is Dee....whom even Aary, who self-admittedly loves her, sounds uncomfortable talking about how much of a Cubi Supremacist she was.

It's something I noticed awhile back when I was looking at the time Dan got the Aniz rundown: People seeming to try and tie down all of Aniz and Dee's character flaws down as the result of this one traumatic event, describing it as what 'turned them evil' and....I'm not going to argue it didn't have an effect, but a Dragon killing Cubi does not explain anti-Being racism.

It's simply that what fuels the casual dismissive attitude of an affluent man talking about a people he's probably not going to personally impact in any great measure becomes so much worse when put through a man with no great means and little compunction taking from them.....whoever they might be.

I see it as the moment that whatever bottom line of evil they might have had was erased, leaving them with no depth of evil that they were unwilling to descend to.  Mind you that's talking about an individual that in Destania's case taught classes in horrific torture and murder and wanted to include infants but was stopped by Fa'lina.  We haven't even remotely seen the depths of her evil and most likely (and thankfully) won't see it ever, only mainly hearing about it from others.  Destania may have been softening because of her relationship with Aniz but once that was destroyed she completely lost it, I can only see her eventually dying after a failed attempted by Dan to save her because she doesn't really want to be saved.

One wonders how much softening happened when she was with Edward, and how long it lasted before coming unstuck.