2007-05-18 Ouch (Abel 90)

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Well, Devin's mother may have been the only one who knew Aniz was an incubus...  The power of Love can made you do anything for the one you love, even if your love is cad.  If Devin's Mother knew that Aniz was only looking for a cubi baby, and he would leave her, if her child didn't have wings, then she could have easily killed her earlier babies.  But someone being about may have stop her from killing Devin.  Maybe, people were getting suspicious that she was have all these cubs and none were survived beyond a few days.  Now, with modern magics, they would be more suspicious sooner, maybe investigating after the first or second death.

Aniz is proving to be a cad in the top rates... and maybe an villain in his own right as the story goes on.  Being Incubus, Aniz could have twisted Devin's mother easily into loving him even if he was a monster, and that nothing Aniz did was wrong or someone else fault, her fault or the child or her family...  I have seen many cads, who have done that without Cubi powers to very intelligent people, too.


PBH

[Naldru]

I pray that the following is simply the result of an overly vivid imagination.

It could be that I was reading too much into it, but I went back through Abel's story and some of the statements just clicked and meshed with some cases I had read about and a few that I had learned about through other means.  (None involved my family, friends, or co-workers, just in case anyone who knows me is wondering.)  If the other case details matched, Devin's father would be looking for a submissive wife, one for whom he was the only thing in her life.  Drugging her would be no fun, although he might try to trick her.  (Think of the Hitchcock movie Gaslight.)  Having a child would mean that the wife would have something to care about other than him, and would be unacceptable.  If found out, he might kill the wife since her existence without him as the entirety of her world would be unacceptable.  He certainly wouldn't leave the wife anything in the way of property or money.  If he left her, he might well kill her simply because the idea of her being able to survive without him is unacceptable.  He would actually view killing the wife and child as a favor to them since he felt they couldn't exist without him.  If he did have mental powers, he wouldn't use them because using them would mean that he couldn't control her without them.  In his world view, the only real thing would be himself and he would have no interest in leaving something for the future.  As the Sun King said ** Apres moi, le deluge **.  The future doesn't exist.  He would leave the wife in such a mental state that she might commit suicide after he left.

It just seems that the events in Devin's life could have been copied directly from one of these cases.  It could well just be coincidence, and it affects me more strongly than it should because I associate the story with these cases.  Social workers often think they see warning signs where later investigations prove the fears to be groundless.

This kind of person is a monster, a type of monster that I find far scarier than any fictional creature because it is the kind of monster that actually walks our earth.  Aniz may be a monster and a cad, but he doesn't fit the profile for this type of monster.

I see one other practical consideration against Aniz being Devin's father.  Cid/Aniz was an adventurer and traveled a lot.  If such a character had multiple families, I would think that he would have the families in different towns so that members of the two families would be less likely to meet each other.

The final result is that I don't believe that Aniz is Devin's father, but not because I don't believe that Aniz is a cad and a monster.  He's just the wrong type of monster.

[bill]

I pray that the following is simply the result of an overly vivid imagination.

A prayer answered!

[Zedd]

What a heck of a mouth on that one

[superluser]

I still think that Aniz wouldn't have enough time to have carry on two child-bearing relationships at the same time--especially if at least one of them was a marriage.

Also, remember that Aniz claims to have assumed Cid's identity.  He might have to assume other identities of slain adventurers to carry on multiple relationships, and that would be significantly more difficult than simply carrying on multiple relationships.  Plus, it would be hard to explain why Devin's dad and Cid (and whomever else he was impersonating) never went after the same target.

I think PBH's earlier theory that Cid is still alive is better.

[kalika36]

for starters lol im not really a newbie..i just typically read and lurk in the forum. but to give myself a lil bit of dmfa cred javascript:void(0);
mow dizzylol .....ive known amber since highschool and have been with DMFA since her first inking and using mrs. spicer's crap scanner for her website and comic (im just stating this so i dont seem like some random goer from wayyyy left field) but anyways i liked where the discussion was goin so i thought id throw my three cents in....lol here's my crazy notions.......

1. cid is still alive. he's prolly off adventuring or on some ridiculous quest with dan's dad chasing some wild notion possibly conjured by Aniz..... when they finally return they find the whole Aniz and May situation which could explain  how Able comes to meet Destania and be enrolled in SAIA

2. cid is dead...the other adventures find out about the facade and hunt down Aniz which is how Able comes across Dan's mom and dad and destana is able  to teach Able bout being an incubus and at the behest of her and Kria, May allows them to take him to the academy
or...

3. Kria has probably always known what Able is....its prolly why she really wanted him to learn magic. but anyways now her suspicions fully confirmed she returns to get the amulet busts in on the whole scene kills aniz and then takes Able to the academy


also just another added bonus....Aniz might be saying thpse things to may and able because it causes them to experience an emotion that he has a particular taste for...he might not mean any of it but for the sake of him "feeding" or gaining power he'll say what is necessary.

[kaskar]

       I feel Kalika is way off base on the whole thing here. What is being shown as Abel's story should be remembered to have happened about 275 to 300 years ago in the normal comic. Remember, this is ABEL's story , and was the title , Summer of Youth Dan and the rest of the gang will be 275-300 years hence. 

        While the characters in the regular DMFA cannot affect Abels story, ( unless jyrras makes a time machine ), the past that is shown in Abel's story can affect the present. When does Aniz come in on the regular page ?

However, everyone gets more interested in a despicable cad, or a flagrant villian, more than the goody-two -shoes law keepers. Is it thumbs up or down for Aniz ?

[kalika36]

i guess you are right i kinda did space out the whole they live for hundreds of years bit but  you cant  blame  a girl for throwin out ideas

[Naldru]

At least nobody's proposed the ** Dallas ** theory yet.  I may be dating myself however.  This is a plot device based on an old television show where Abel would wake up at the end of the story and realize that it was all a dream.  Note:  I am not proposing it.  Don't shoot me.  Groan if you must.

[kaskar]

Well, Devin's mother may have been the only one who knew Aniz was an incubus...  The power of Love can made you do anything for the one you love, even if your love is cad.  If Devin's Mother knew that Aniz was only looking for a cubi baby, and he would leave her, if her child didn't have wings, then she could have easily killed her earlier babies.  But someone being about may have stop her from killing Devin.  Maybe, people were getting suspicious that she was have all these cubs and none were survived beyond a few days.  Now, with modern magics, they would be more suspicious sooner, maybe investigating after the first or second death.    Aniz is proving to be a cad in the top rates... and maybe an villain in his own right as the story goes on.  Being Incubus, Aniz could have twisted Devin's mother easily into loving him even if he was a monster, and that nothing Aniz did was wrong or someone else fault, her fault or the child or her family...  I have seen many cads, who have done that without Cubi powers to very intelligent people, too.  PBH

However, remember that there is only a razor's edge between being a real cad, or oppertunism, heroics, and other varied actions. It all depends who writes the record book. If we read Aniz's record's, it may say, ( slowly repopulating the clan ) . Of course, if he turns up in dmfa, It would be as an oppuntunistic jerk.  He may be a jerk, but he can use that trait to advantage later . 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

What a heck of a mouth on that one

Yeah, Bill is like that. Don't pay him any mind... :-]

[Netami]

Can we also be exempt from the toll he makes us pay every time we log in? That fifty dollar one...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Of course not.

(I get 20%...)

[Netami]

And yet we still have to deal with this age-old, outdated cardboard box service. Upgrade to a wooden chest or something! A suspicious man would begin to wonder where all that money is going to...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Can I laugh evilly?


Pretty please? :-]

[Netami]

You may convey this laughter by using the supplied emoticons! 

[Prof B Hunnydew]

    However, everyone gets more interested in a despicable cad, or a flagrant villian, more than the goody-two -shoes law keepers. Is it thumbs up or down for Aniz ?

Good people feel that once an evil is explained to them, ie. the monsters had motives for the things they do.  Then that evil somehow loses some of their teeth...   This is not the case, since there is always another monster out there, and we still get blindside by it's attack, even if they are follow the same path as the last monster.  We are slow to change to protect ourselves, or we lose focus on the threat if it has not attack us in some time.

And good people are always shocked or find it hard to believe the depths of cruelty, the monsters will go to get what they want, because the people don't want to think about that they,themselves, would do, given just the "wrong" set of scenarios or misfortures...


PBH

Edit: a True Hero has seen the monsters within themselves and have defeated or tamed them for the great good.  they also watch for the monsters return to the citygates or within themselves.

[Taerkar]

       I feel Kalika is way off base on the whole thing here. What is being shown as Abel's story should be remembered to have happened about 275 to 300 years ago in the normal comic. Remember, this is ABEL's story , and was the title , Summer of Youth Dan and the rest of the gang will be 275-300 years hence. 

Around 370 to 380 years ago actually, depending on how old Abel is right now since his age is listed as being 399 in the Cast listing.

I'm going to have to read through it again because I'm missing the whole Devin thing.

[Naldru]

    However, everyone gets more interested in a despicable cad, or a flagrant villian, more than the goody-two -shoes law keepers. Is it thumbs up or down for Aniz ?

Good people feel that once an evil is explained to them, ie. the monsters had motives for the things they do.  Then that evil somehow loses some of their teeth... 

If I see a building burning down, knowing why the fire started doesn't make me want to accept the fire.   It might help me put out the fire, prevent similar fires in the future, or decide whether the remaining structure can be fixed or should be torn down.  That's how I feel about understanding the motives of evil people.  Yes, everybody has motives for what they do, although they may not be consistent, rational or compatible with society.  It doesn't necessarily make me feel good about them.

Typhoid Mary didn't want to do evil.  It's just that cooking was the only thing she knew how to do.  That didn't justify her actions, reduce her risk to society, or mean that she shouldn't have been confined to an institution.

Some people are sympathetic to evil because they themselves find the idea of doing evil attractive.  They dislike thee goody-two-shoes law enforcers because they are an impediment to doing evil.  If they are good solely because of the fear of retribution, are they truly good?

I have heard that engineers have trouble fitting into society because they don't understand people.  I sometimes wonder if they don't fit in because they do understand people.

[bill]

At least nobody's proposed the ** Dallas ** theory yet.  I may be dating myself however.  This is a plot device based on an old television show where Abel would wake up at the end of the story and realize that it was all a dream.  Note:  I am not proposing it.  Don't shoot me.  Groan if you must.

Wait, I thought the Dallas theory was the one where there were two snipers.

[Naldru]

At least nobody's proposed the ** Dallas ** theory yet.  I may be dating myself however.  This is a plot device based on an old television show where Abel would wake up at the end of the story and realize that it was all a dream.  Note:  I am not proposing it.  Don't shoot me.  Groan if you must.

Wait, I thought the Dallas theory was the one where there were two snipers.

That was the Grassy Knoll theory.

Unless you are referring to the episode from Red Dwarf where it was suicide.

[bill]

I prefer the JFK Reloaded theory where it was caused by a massive automobile crash involving JFK's limo jumping over a bridge.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

I have heard that engineers have trouble fitting into society because they don't understand people.  I sometimes wonder if they don't fit in because they do understand people.

Engineers are simple folk, they like things that go from point A to C so long as you do B.  They wonder and love to find what B is? if it is Unknown.  Fires are chaotic, but they follows the same formulae to get started and the same rules to finish them.  But even knowing the Evils of fires, does not stop fires from happening when people Forgot to use common sense, and not use gasline on the barb-Q that is too close to the house.  Lighting fireworks off inside a crowd nightclub with only one or two exits.

People are much more complex, have different triggers and rules for each individual.  Engineers find social rules difficult to understand,  hard to trust and/or forever changing with each new generation, culture, and new town.  Culture and society are a really chaotic systems to them, that has no rhyme or reason for what social rules are, why they are change, or why some of the destructive traditions remain even to point of anarchy.  (Easter Island: best example) 

BTW: I pity Typhoid Mary, she was a good person, running in fear from a plague she could not die from.  I wonder if she ever knew that she cause all those deaths.


PBH

[Naldru]

BTW: I pity Typhoid Mary, she was a good person, running in fear from a plague she could not die from.  I wonder if she ever knew that she cause all those deaths.

It was quite clearly explained to her, but it's not  clear if she ever really believed it.  It was only after she continued being a cook after it was explained to her that she was institutionalized.  And it had been discovered that she had resumed being a cook because of the appearance of typhoid cases.  She had been using an assumed name the last time, and that was part of the driving force behind the commitment.

There is an engineering attitude, but I think it's a little different from what you are thinking, and not all engineers have it.  The joy is not in finding the unknown but in getting the job done and perhaps an intolerance of those whose attitude they view as an obstruction to getting the job done and getting it done right.  In some ways, it is similar to that of a military officer.

There was a Jimmy Stewart film in 1951 entitled No Highway.Jimmy Stewart's character is the epitome of the engineering personality.  The scenes where he does things where people would say "Nobody would do that" are the ones that actually match behavior from engineers I have known.  (Here I am talking about family.)  The screenplay was written by Nevil Shute, who was an aeronautical engineer.

I just had a real shock.  I had thought that the movie was based on the crash of a de Havilland Comet in the 1950's.  But the listings I have show the crash to have been in 1954 and the movie released in 1951.  (There is a wikipedia article on the Comet.)  The similarities are very eerie.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Gosh we are way off topic, But I do find that Mary Mallon, orignial Typhiod Mary, story, interesting in that Many painted her Evil, when she was just a poor woman who could not make a living but as a cook..  The Medical department of New York  City never tried to help her understand her condition or try to train her to do something else.   They just lock her up because she had to go back to cooking to make a living. 

Evil enjoys messing with people's mind, lives, and stuff, just because they can.  Malice for just the power trip.    Aniz maybe evil because he feeds off of confusion.  or because he is a jerk.

PBH

[Fuyudenki]

A prayer answered!

Yeah, 'cause you're totally the type of person who can answer prayers, or read Amber's mind(which may itself fit into answering prayers.  I enjoy watching the comic unfold, personally.)


Anyway, I thought this would be a valid place to ponder if Abel might have spent upwards of 250 years at SAIA, and then decided to become a basement troll hiding from his father.  This, of course, assumes Aniz is still alive in "present" continuity, and now that I think about it stretches things a bit.

We may know for sure in a couple of weeks, though.(if Aniz dies, then we know my thought can't be true!)

[Zedd]

Wel ltheres a couple hunches what will happen in a few days though? Cause what looks like might a fight will start..A big one not even Fa'Lina can stop this one

[bill]

A prayer answered!

Yeah, 'cause you're totally the type of person who can answer prayers, or read Amber's mind

y thank u!

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Anyway, I thought this would be a valid place to ponder if Abel might have spent upwards of 250 years at SAIA, and then decided to become a basement troll hiding from his father.  This, of course, assumes Aniz is still alive in "present" continuity, and now that I think about it stretches things a bit.

Well, Unless the Aniz does get kill in this comic, there is no reason why he can't still be live.  He is incubus, he will live thousands of years.

PBH

[GreenReaper]

I don't think it's May that's going to start throwing the punches. I think it's Abel. Kids get awfully angry when you hit their mother. Could those be the shadows of wings in the background of the last panel?

Of course, it's questionable how far he's going to get with that, but who knows, maybe he'll pull something out of the hat.