04/01/09 [Abel 2 #53] - Aw, so happy...

[Sid]

Actually, I can see the point of that. Two generations completely ruined and the people at the heart of each story on the verge of insanity... and yet when we skip forward 400 years, Abel isn't nuts and trying to kill people.

I'd like to see that, yes. A little ray of sunshine, or at least something other than full-on death and depression to make the transition to the current Abel everybody is gay for.

But right now, it's basically a textbook case of "Break The Cutie", with pretty much everybody around Abel dying or potentially going insane. And now we have Aniz, briefly set up his complete happiness... and apparently shatter it. You see the people in the last panel here and the first panel here? At the current rate, I'm fully expecting two of them to be dead by the end of this chapter. The same goes for the Cubi in the first panel here - chances of survival are slim now that Abel The Walking Death Curse has made eye contact. (Okay, that goes a bit far, but after Cindy, Hennya, Xander, Devin and arguably Cid, I'm VERY hesitant to bond with any character who is not confirmed to be alive and well in current canon.)

Also, they make a cute couple.

Oh God, they do. They're so adorable together...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Aww frick Amber I put my stamp of hate on Aniz a while ago, now you go try to give me reason to sympathize Aniz.

Maybe it's my wish to see people reform, but I never really hated him.  "I feel the good in you" as it were 

*cough* Of course, "feeling the good in you" may well have a totally different meaning if you have a dirty mind...

[thegayhare]

Aww frick Amber I put my stamp of hate on Aniz a while ago, now you go try to give me reason to sympathize Aniz.

Maybe it's my wish to see people reform, but I never really hated him.  "I feel the good in you" as it were 

*cough* Of course, "feeling the good in you" may well have a totally different meaning if you have a dirty mind...

Even more so if you recollect in the scene that line was taken from he was saying it to his father

[Tapewolf]

*cough* Of course, "feeling the good in you" may well have a totally different meaning if you have a dirty mind...

Yes, but we won't be going there, will we?

[Alondro]

*cough* Of course, "feeling the good in you" may well have a totally different meaning if you have a dirty mind...

Yes, but we won't be going there, will we?

*Charline grins*  Yesh!  It is my duty!   

So, what are we talking about?   

[Garsemor]

Actually, I can see the point of that. Two generations completely ruined and the people at the heart of each story on the verge of insanity... and yet when we skip forward 400 years, Abel isn't nuts and trying to kill people.

I'd like to see that, yes. A little ray of sunshine, or at least something other than full-on death and depression to make the transition to the current Abel everybody is gay for.

But right now, it's basically a textbook case of "Break The Cutie", with pretty much everybody around Abel dying or potentially going insane. And now we have Aniz, briefly set up his complete happiness... and apparently shatter it. You see the people in the last panel here and the first panel here? At the current rate, I'm fully expecting two of them to be dead by the end of this chapter. The same goes for the Cubi in the first panel here - chances of survival are slim now that Abel The Walking Death Curse has made eye contact. (Okay, that goes a bit far, but after Cindy, Hennya, Xander, Devin and arguably Cid, I'm VERY hesitant to bond with any character who is not confirmed to be alive and well in current canon.)

I have made a list of people Abel new and who were introduced to us that are still alive at the time Abel is taken to SAIA.
The people are: 1. May (Abel's mom)
                          2. Kria

Thats the list of people he liked who are still alive although May is not certain if she survived the heavy ingeries combined fhit the stress.
This is likely the most depressing post I have ever writhe.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I have made a list of people Abel new and who were introduced to us that are still alive at the time Abel is taken to SAIA.
The people are: 1. May (Abel's mom)
                          2. Kria

Thats the list of people he liked who are still alive although May is not certain if she survived the heavy ingeries combined fhit the stress.
This is likely the most depressing post I have ever writhe.

Next time, try writing it in English.

[Goatmon]

I see it, I reed it, I think about it, but I still can't believe it. Ok, so Siar fell but I still can't see reason for such a tragedy. I mean love is about being together trough everything. Trough happiness and and despair, trough pain and relief, trough war and peace. This is the definition of love as I see it. Those who love each other ignore the world, they are together and no one can have a say in it.

Odds are the fall of Sair wasn't the cause, the emotional fallout on Aniz probably was.

Couldn't agree more.

It's sad to see that Aniz was, apparently pretty happy and not such a bad guy at some point.  Clearly things... changed quite a bit.

[MT Hazard]

It seems in absence of love Dest turns evil(er).

Then after four hundred years she falls for an adventurer with a striking resemblance to her old lover and for the moment, she is less evil. Doesn't stop her planning genocide though.

How many half-siblings do you think Dan has?

[Tapewolf]

I was suddenly reminded of this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cp_3NEWTzU  (ignore the video)

So you think you're having good times
With the boy that you just met
Kicking sand from beach to beach
Your clothes are soaking wet
But if you look around and see a shadow on the run
Don't be too upset because it's just the paper sun

[Sunblink]

You know, I think this explains a lot of things.

If Aniz was just a privileged, whimsical kid with minimal combat experience and who had no responsibility to do anything, then I feel his inexperience really showed during the execution of his plan with Abel. I almost think that he had no idea what he was doing because he lived such a frivolous life prior to what he did with May and Abel.

This also makes thinking about him impersonating Cid and having to go through a whole, fake relationship with May rather interesting.

All-in-all, though, I still hate Aniz. This is great character exposition but given how he destroyed Abel's and May's lives and killed Hennya, I can't really like him. I like him as a character, but I'd be thrilled to hear if he was accidentally slain at one point.

[Tsunari]

EDIT:
To better answer your question, it might be that most of Siar's children were massacred, though it seems unlikely.  That might have driven Siar to suicide, but since neither Aniz nor Abel have (in strip) shown tentacle-heads, we have to assume that Siar herself is dead.
In the scenario that Siar was left bereft, Aniz would suddenly become very important as a survivor, since he would be able to make more children for Siar (tri-wings can't reproduce IIRC).

Tri-Wings can't reproduce?  Also I don't recall anywhere tentacle-heads = the clan founder is alive, no tentacle-heads = the clan founder is dead.

[Tapewolf]

Tri-Wings can't reproduce?

So I've heard.

Also I don't recall anywhere tentacle-heads = the clan founder is alive, no tentacle-heads = the clan founder is dead.

http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,3268.msg141352.html#msg141352

"Basically put: The only time you'd normally see head-tentacles is on a Cubi who's clan founder is still alive and kicking(and thus supplying to their clanlings the energy needed to have such a feat naturally), or a very well-trained and pretty powerful Cubi who managed to learn it.  However in the latter, the effects are temporary and their wings will almost always revert to their default tendril-style.
Either way...head tentacles tend to equal trouble. As any Cubi who has the power to wield them...be it through clan founder or just pure training...is not really a Cubi most want to tangle with."

[bradypodidae]

I notice the wording leaves room for exceptions to all cases.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I notice the wording leaves room for exceptions to all cases.

Amber is good like that.

By the way, nice avatar. I corrected the typo in your personal text, though.

[Tapewolf]

I notice the wording leaves room for exceptions to all cases.

Well, 'Cubi are shapeshifters, after all.

[Michael Chandra]

Y'know if the dragons were involved in Siar's fall, it's kinda reasonable for D to want 'em all dead. But I guess we'll wait and see what really happened. =)

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Something about this comic bothered me all day, and I finally put it down. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've seen Destania in an unguarded, happy for the sake of being happy moment. It's so at odds with the cunning manipulator mode that I asscociate with her that I keep finding myself needing to look at the comic again to verify it.

[SpottedKitty]

I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've seen Destania in an unguarded, happy for the sake of being happy moment.

There's also the bit at the end of Dan's first-fight-with-DP flashback, where she meets Dan coming back to Lost Lake. Although granted, that happens a few hundred years later. (This was also a bit of a surprise to me, I'd picked up from somewhere the idea that the whole "gone looking for her missing husband" thing had happened when Dan was much younger.)

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

But the difference is with the Dan episode, she's surprised, she said the wrong thing, but she isn't really off of her emotional balance (or probably not anyway). Here though..........

[AndersW]

I just noticed that Aniz didn't have a beard in the last few comics.

Tri-Wings can't reproduce?

So I've heard.

I thought it was clan-founders that couldn't reproduce.

[Tapewolf]

I thought it was clan-founders that couldn't reproduce.

It's possible to create a clan without having a tri-wing (by branching?) but I think you'll find that Amber normally uses 'Founder' to mean to a tri-wing.

It makes a lot of sense if you think about it - 'Cubi become less 'mortal' the more powerful they get.  An immature 'Cubi needs to eat, sleep and drink and is able to dream.  An 'adult' 'Cubi loses these abilities, but as Destania has proven, can still reproduce.  A tri-wing, being fantastically more powerful is liable to be even less biologically-based.  The demonology implies that they can't be killed through normal means at that power level (unless it's referring to the deified 'Cubi), so I suspect the ability to reproduce has gone out the window by that point. 

[rabid_fox]

Aniz is Wildy. Outrageous, but I friggin' called it, man.

[Buhamet]

I have to agree with a few people on here, why is it that Abel's story has to be constantly filled with doom and gloom for everyone? I know it's meant to show the harsh stuff Abel goes through growing up and at SAIA, but it's sorta getting a bit riduculous for everyone now.

As for the fall of Siar, I agree, it does mean that Aniz would suddenly have to start taking some reponsibility for the welfare of his clan, and so it'll either pile stress onto him until a mental breakdown or something similar

Furthermore, that strip has annoyingly re-inforced my opinion of the edward Aniz theory being highly possible

if Aniz was edward, Destania might hesitate at the inn when trying to kill him, remembering old love (awwwww).
It also helps explain how the two of them could go from "first meeting" to married in the space of about 2-3 months.
Although Destania does currently intend to kill him (in the Abel story arc) it doesn't mean she was still convinced to do so 25 years before the main storyline. After all, everyone changes over time. I wouldn't be surprised if Aniz regained his sanity and Destania had a good long think and decided not to try to kill Aniz in that time.

[AndersW]

I think that some theory would just die, if some Author would stop patching the holes in it. 

[Michael Chandra]

I have to agree with a few people on here, why is it that Abel's story has to be constantly filled with doom and gloom for everyone? I know it's meant to show the harsh stuff Abel goes through growing up and at SAIA, but it's sorta getting a bit riduculous for everyone now.

Now imagine the suckers who actually voted for this story arc!

[Tapewolf]

Now imagine the suckers who actually voted for this story arc!

Um, you do realise that both options were billed as being darker than the main strip, right?  It was made pretty clear by Amber that neither of them was going to be all smiles and roses.

If we'd got the Regina Arc instead, (A) it would likely have finished years ago and (B) We'd be in exactly the same position, only it would be Dan instead of Abel who was nearly suicidal because Regina had used him to eviscerate a dozen or so of his friends.

[Michael Chandra]

And to think Regina called Abel crazy.

To be honest, Dan came out much better than Abel most likely. Abel spent the rest of his life at the academy, Dan vowed revenge. "If I try to kill him he kills mom" vs "If I don't become stronger to kill her she may go after my friends" is quite a different motivation.

[Tapewolf]

To be honest, Dan came out much better than Abel most likely. Abel spent the rest of his life at the academy, Dan vowed revenge. "If I try to kill him he kills mom" vs "If I don't become stronger to kill her she may go after my friends" is quite a different motivation.

Well, for Abel, that's only going to be a consideration for the next few decades.  30-50 years from 'now' in Abel's Story, she'll have passed on and Abel will be free of that particular constraint.
In both cases, it screwed the character up for a bit - Dan's sudden blossoming into rage would seem to indicate that he's been burying his feelings about that particular incident for some time.
Abel had about 375 years to cope and if there's any race that's got a natural knack for being hot-shot psychiatrists, it's surely got to be the 'Cubi race.

[demecowen]

You really think that Abel would cope in 375 years? To the point of not trying to get back at Aniz for what he did to his mother and friend?

Yeah is scared right now, but who would blame him, but when he start training he might think at trying to kill Aniz before his mother pass away. 

Even if Abel didn't try to Aniz. Abel would still have problems that was self evident when took how long for Abel to leave Saia.