03/29/10 [AS2#95] Wow...

[Turnsky]

Yeah, but... Shinji Ikari? Really? You don't think that's a bit strong, maybe? A bit harsh? I mean, we all have baggage, man. That's no reason to go comparing anyone to the Adolf Hitler of Emo.

given how Abel's facade of jerkdom was easily shaken off by various incidents..

this could also explain the bad blood that he and Aary has..


and besides, can you think of a better personality analogue? i sure cannot...

[demecowen]

Ok I have to agree with Aary on this one. If Abel had chance to train and if he could allied himself with powerful cubi that hated Aniz guts then he coward for not even considering that option.

Though it is questionable how between 1 to  30 year of training could get him prepare to fight 400 year psychopath cubi and win.

[AGE00]

There's the thing:  He's got both.  He's impulsive.  He makes decisions that others don't understand based on his own, frankly, crazy logic.  The whole clan revival plan ring a bell?  Rushing out to his death at the hands of a dragon?  Lashing out at the one person who cared enough to save his life?   

He's also shown a pretty good ability to plan and stick to said plans.  Now what happens when he forms a plan and acts it out due to that crazy and impulsive logic of his, like he's been doing so far?  He's unstable at best.  Unstable and, from what we've seen, prone to violence when things don't go as he planned them.  May becomes a thorn in his side from knowing too much?  How long 'till his crazy little mind forms a plan to off her?  Maybe she doesn't even do anything to be a thorn in his side, maybe he just sees the possibility of it and decides that this time, he's going to have a plan to deal with that, unlike what happened with Hennya.

And all this time, Abel is off crying in some basement rather than even trying to make a difference.  The whole point of saying that it's a gamble that Abel had no stake in is bupkis.  He was taking as much of a gamble by not acting if we're going to rely on what ifs.

Even then, he could have tried to do something to stop Aniz.  Even if he couldn't go out and see his mom for fear for her life, he could have taken those combat courses.  He didn't.  He cowered instead.

I guess I feel as though I understand the logic behind everything Aniz has done so far, and killing Abel's mother just doesn't fit in with that logic. She's not a threat, she's not an obstacle, she's not even an annoyance. Literally the only person she's an inconvenience to is Abel. So, unless Aniz wanted to intentionally goad Abel into a confrontation, there's just no reason to kill the woman, and even that would be a miscalculation. As long as Abel's mother was alive, she could be used to manipulate him. Kill her, and Aniz would lose his only real leverage. It just doesn't make sense to me on any level.

Yeah, but... Shinji Ikari? Really? You don't think that's a bit strong, maybe? A bit harsh? I mean, we all have baggage, man. That's no reason to go comparing anyone to the Adolf Hitler of Emo.

given how Abel's facade of jerkdom was easily shaken off by various incidents..

this could also explain the bad blood that he and Aary has..


and besides, can you think of a better personality analogue? i sure cannot...

Abel's avoidant. It's a pretty common personality type. It just doesn't crop up in fiction much because people tend to prefer characters who, y'know, do stuff. And, seriously, you can't compare Shinji's shirking of his personal responsibility for the safety of the entire human race to Aniz and Abel playing their little game of Unhappy Families.

[Turnsky]

Abel's avoidant. It's a pretty common personality type. It just doesn't crop up in fiction much because people tend to prefer characters who, y'know, do stuff. And, seriously, you can't compare Shinji's shirking of his personal responsibility for the safety of the entire human race to Aniz and Abel playing their little game of Unhappy Families.

yet you can't get past his emotional issues, and more importantly: father issues..

[Mao]

I guess I feel as though I understand the logic behind everything Aniz has done so far, and killing Abel's mother just doesn't fit in with that logic. She's not a threat, she's not an obstacle, she's not even an annoyance. Literally the only person she's an inconvenience to is Abel. So, unless Aniz wanted to intentionally goad Abel into a confrontation, there's just no reason to kill the woman, and even that would be a miscalculation. As long as Abel's mother was alive, she could be used to manipulate him. Kill her, and Aniz would lose his only real leverage. It just doesn't make sense to me on any level.

Unless she starts hindering his plans.  I don't know if you've noticed but she's friends with Kria.  You know, the Soulstealers?  Big, nasty and prominent Demon family?  Part of the Ruling class of a city?   She's also in good standing with that city.  A city of demons and other creatures who are a bit on edge due to the actions of Aniz.  If she chose to, she could probably have quite the nasty rabble after him.  Now what happens when that happens to be interfering with his plans again?  Or he even sees the possibility of it and decides to put a plan in place to keep it from happening?  By your view he's got a logical mind capable of planning and carrying out those plans.  You say she's not an obstacle, and you're right.. currently she's not.. but she could be.  She's got friends.  She knows his plan and what he's up to.  She's got motive.  The threat is there.

[joshofspam]

Yes he may be scared but I don't think that this was a situation that we can just say that he's a coward and say he made the wrong choice. More like he considered all the bad choices and pick the one that wasn't as bad as the other.

We don't know for certain if it was time squandered. He might have been learning quite a bit to use against his father to make up for his short comings.

He seemed to think that his mom was safe and would live as long as he stayed at the academy. Well if the only thing keeping him at the academy was his mom then it wouldn't be to much of a stretch that his dad would keep her alive so he stays there and give Abel the time to learn what he needs. Abel is probably well learned quite a lot.

I don't know if it would be wise to depend on others just because they say their willing to help in this academy. It may have been more dangers for him and his mom. Something like that may involve cubi politics.

Just thinking that, I don't think Abel's decision a bad thing turning them down. I seem  to remember Fa'lina warning him of some that would use him.

It's just a mess.

[AGE00]

Abel's avoidant. It's a pretty common personality type. It just doesn't crop up in fiction much because people tend to prefer characters who, y'know, do stuff. And, seriously, you can't compare Shinji's shirking of his personal responsibility for the safety of the entire human race to Aniz and Abel playing their little game of Unhappy Families.

yet you can't get past his emotional issues, and more importantly: father issues..

Again, it's a matter of degree. Shinji's emotional issues pretty much all stem from his father issues, those issues consisting almost solely of his father being kind of a dick. Abel's dad turned out to literally be a monster who immediately went on to beat Abel's mother and kill his close friend. And that was just one of a series of traumatic events Abel experienced in that one day.

Unless she starts hindering his plans.  I don't know if you've noticed but she's friends with Kria.  You know, the Soulstealers?  Big, nasty and prominent Demon family?  Part of the Ruling class of a city?   She's also in good standing with that city.  A city of demons and other creatures who are a bit on edge due to the actions of Aniz.  If she chose to, she could probably have quite the nasty rabble after him.  Now what happens when that happens to be interfering with his plans again?  Or he even sees the possibility of it and decides to put a plan in place to keep it from happening?  By your view he's got a logical mind capable of planning and carrying out those plans.  You say she's not an obstacle, and you're right.. currently she's not.. but she could be.  She's got friends.  She knows his plan and what he's up to.  She's got motive.  The threat is there.

Y'know, that's actually not a bad argument. A little convoluted, perhaps, but compelling. I'm going to have to think about that.

[Mao]

Yes he may be scared but I don't think that this was a situation that we can just say that he's a coward and say he made the wrong choice. More like he considered all the bad choices and pick the one that wasn't as bad as the other.

We don't know for certain if it was time squandered. He might have been learning quite a bit to use against his father to make up for his short comings.

He seemed to think that his mom was safe and would live as long as he stayed at the academy. Well if the only thing keeping him at the academy was his mom then it wouldn't be to much of a stretch that his dad would keep her alive so he stays there and give Abel the time to learn what he needs. Abel is probably well learned quite a lot.

I don't know if it would be wise to depend on others just because they say their willing to help in this academy. It may have been more dangers for him and his mom. Something like that may involve cubi politics.

Just thinking that, I don't think Abel's decision a bad thing turning them down. I seem  to remember Fa'lina warning him of some that would use him.

It's just a mess.

Aary seems to be of the impression that he's not done squat.  I think that, given that she goes to school with him, she might have a pretty good idea.  As for not depending on others?  Maybe, but then again from what we've been told the alternative is to do it yourself.. which he hasn't done either.  As for folks using you, it's not using if you know they're doing it.

Fa'lina gave him the knowledge he needed to ensure that he wouldn't be used simply by telling him that folks had their own motives and hates of Aniz.  He knows that people hate Aniz and honestly couldn't care less about him.  Heck, Destania pretty well came out and said it as it was.  Her concern is destroying Aniz.  Using Abel to do so would delight her.  They have a common goal:  Revenge on Aniz.  She's got the power he needs.  Sounds like mutual 'using' to me.

[Turnsky]

Abel's avoidant. It's a pretty common personality type. It just doesn't crop up in fiction much because people tend to prefer characters who, y'know, do stuff. And, seriously, you can't compare Shinji's shirking of his personal responsibility for the safety of the entire human race to Aniz and Abel playing their little game of Unhappy Families.

yet you can't get past his emotional issues, and more importantly: father issues..

Again, it's a matter of degree. Shinji's emotional issues pretty much all stem from his father issues, those issues consisting almost solely of his father being kind of a dick. Abel's dad turned out to literally be a monster who immediately went on to beat Abel's mother and kill his close friend. And that was just one of a series of traumatic events Abel experienced in that one day.

i fail to see the distinction, both are monstrous for entirely different reasons. Take into consideration the characters of either and their relative actions.. Shinji did blame his father for his mother's death, after all.. I'm sure Abel holds Aniz responsible for just as much, all things considered.

[Naldru]

I believe that the fact is worth mentioning that Fa'lina was unsure whether she could keep Aniz from killing May.  Destania had arranged for a spell that essentially made Aniz undetectable to creatures, presumably including cubi.  Also remember that Fa'lina can't tell if Aniz was serious about killing May.  If Fa'lina had questions, what chance would other cubi have.

Would Aary care what happened to beings such as May?  If her only feeling is that Abel should have gone after Aniz, that isn't necessarily the best approach.  Abel doesn't have any good options.

Kria is mad at Aniz because Abel and May were her friends.  However, she wants him punished because he is guilty of disturbing the peace.  (Using the original meaning of the term.)  Having a war between cubi within Zinvth would have very serious political repercussions.  Picture cubi and demon versions of "liver eating" Johnson going after each other's tribes.  Outside of Zinvth, it would be difficult to locate Aniz.

[WhiteFox]

WHOOO! Go Aary!  

Seriously, Abel... stop being so emo. Go kick butt and chew bubble gum.

[AGE00]

Again, it's a matter of degree. Shinji's emotional issues pretty much all stem from his father issues, those issues consisting almost solely of his father being kind of a dick. Abel's dad turned out to literally be a monster who immediately went on to beat Abel's mother and kill his close friend. And that was just one of a series of traumatic events Abel experienced in that one day.

i fail to see the distinction, both are monstrous for entirely different reasons. Take into consideration the characters of either and their relative actions.. Shinji did blame his father for his mother's death, after all.. I'm sure Abel holds Aniz responsible for just as much, all things considered.

There are parallels, I acknowledge that, but... Y'know, at the end of the day, I just wanna hit Shinji Ikari in the face with a shoe, whereas I'm a lot more ambivalent about Abel. I don't know what it is. I find something especially odious about Ikari.

[joshofspam]

Yes he may be scared but I don't think that this was a situation that we can just say that he's a coward and say he made the wrong choice. More like he considered all the bad choices and pick the one that wasn't as bad as the other.

We don't know for certain if it was time squandered. He might have been learning quite a bit to use against his father to make up for his short comings.

He seemed to think that his mom was safe and would live as long as he stayed at the academy. Well if the only thing keeping him at the academy was his mom then it wouldn't be to much of a stretch that his dad would keep her alive so he stays there and give Abel the time to learn what he needs. Abel is probably well learned quite a lot.

I don't know if it would be wise to depend on others just because they say their willing to help in this academy. It may have been more dangers for him and his mom. Something like that may involve cubi politics.

Just thinking that, I don't think Abel's decision a bad thing turning them down. I seem  to remember Fa'lina warning him of some that would use him.

It's just a mess.

Aary seems to be of the impression that he's not done squat.  I think that, given that she goes to school with him, she might have a pretty good idea.  As for not depending on others?  Maybe, but then again from what we've been told the alternative is to do it yourself.. which he hasn't done either.  As for folks using you, it's not using if you know they're doing it.

Fa'lina gave him the knowledge he needed to ensure that he wouldn't be used simply by telling him that folks had their own motives and hates of Aniz.  He knows that people hate Aniz and honestly couldn't care less about him.  Heck, Destania pretty well came out and said it as it was.  Her concern is destroying Aniz.  Using Abel to do so would delight her.  They have a common goal:  Revenge on Aniz.  She's got the power he needs.  Sounds like mutual 'using' to me.

True. I guess nothing is certain until it's over though.

But now I wonder why Abel was offering to put Merlitz out of his misery and why if he is now one of the best student's at the academy she still resents him? Is it this cofrontation or that he might have taking training from Destania?

[Mao]

I believe that the fact is worth mentioning that Fa'lina was unsure whether she could keep Aniz from killing May.

Yes, but that was just talking about her.  There are more folks available than just her.

Destania had arranged for a spell that essentially made Aniz undetectable to creatures, presumably including cubi.

It didn't say anything like that.  She just used her power to block Aniz from Hizell's sight, last I read.  Never said anything about 'cubi or creatures.

Also remember that Fa'lina can't tell if Aniz was serious about killing May.  If Fa'lina had questions, what chance would other cubi have.

He's crazy.  Would you want to take the risk?  He's gone completely unpredictable.  Hence the problem here.

Would Aary care what happened to beings such as May?  If her only feeling is that Abel should have gone after Aniz, that isn't necessarily the best approach.  Abel doesn't have any good options.

Sure he does.  He could have actually tried to train himself.  Instead he just hid away and cried from what we've heard.  Even if you toss aside all of the other folks who wanted to help with the claim of they're just using him and would probably end in May getting killed, he had tonnes of resources available to him that he could have used to arm and prepare himself to take Aniz down before he was a threat to May.

Kria is mad at Aniz because Abel and May were her friends.  However, she wants him punished because he is guilty of disturbing the peace.  (Using the original meaning of the term.)  Having a war between cubi within Zinvth would have very serious political repercussions.  Picture cubi and demon versions of "liver eating" Johnson going after each other's tribes.  Outside of Zinvth, it would be difficult to locate Aniz.

Yeah, and punishment for murder would probably be pretty nasty.  Toss on the fact that Kria is a little random herself and very protective of her friends and family, and I wouldn't consider it unlikely that a certain someone never made it to court.  As for a war?  Maybe.  It could happen.  That said, who would be willing to go to war with the Demons, over the death of someone who committed a crime in a city and who had wronged quite a few powerful and potentially nasty folks.  Sounds like a recipe for a massive stalemate to me.

[jeffh4]

1.  This actually isn't the first time Aaryanna and Abel have encountered eachother.  Perhaps it is bad storytelling on my part, or something I will probably mention up in actual DMFA, but in regards to their meeting, one could say there is already a bit of bad history between the two for multiple reasons.  

The level of familiarity in Aary's tone with Abel told me they were already acquaintances.  

I do like how Abel is showing some character flaws here.  Makes him a more real person.  

As far as people's suggestion that Abel study weapons, offensive magic and combat so he can hunt down and destroy Aniz, remember that Abel had 20+ years where he gave and received love from his father.  Even though he found out his dad's true character, that does not mean Abel wants to go out and commit patricide.

** Edit: Corrected my word choice thanks to Pascal!

[AGE00]

Patricide. Fratricide would be if he killed his brother.

[Mao]

As far as people's suggestion that Abel study weapons, offensive magic and combat so he can hunt down and destroy Aniz, remember that Abel had 20+ years where he gave and received love from his father.  Even though he found out his dad's true character, that does not mean Abel wants to go out and commit fratricide.

You don't have to kill him to neutralize the threat.  There are plenty of ways to do so.

[Ted Schiller]

Aaryanna says it's so easy, Abel could have done it anytime.

Fa'Lina says dealing with Abel will take seventy-six years.

http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Ab_013.php
http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Ab_014.php

Aaryanna says Aniz could have been defeated anytime.

Fa'Lina says there are serious political reasons why Aniz can't be touched.

http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Ab_009.php

I trust Fa'Lina's judgement

Ok. Apparently stealing November is out. So how about October? Any complaints stealing a week of October. I can leave Halloween there and pick just one of the middle weeks.

Last week of August.  I won't miss it.

With regards,
Ted

[Les]

Fa'Lina mentioned repercussions from Taun's clan.. I wonder.  does Taun have any interest or sympathies toward Aniz in particular.. or is it part of her self-ascribed role as 'guardian of the `Cubi' that makes her belligerent at the idea of 'turning-over' any `Cubi to outsiders, regardless of reason?

[Feather Dancer]

Fa'Lina mentioned repercussions from Taun's clan.. I wonder.  does Taun have any interest or sympathies toward Aniz in particular.. or is it part of her self-ascribed role as 'guardian of the `Cubi' that makes her belligerent at the idea of 'turning-over' any `Cubi to outsiders, regardless of reason?

Ever since we had Taun's page page I've leant towards the "Even if a Cubi deserves it, race comes before justification." otherwise no doubt at all Fa'lina would have made good on turning him over no question.

[Mao]

Aaryanna says it's so easy, Abel could have done it anytime.

No.  She didn't.  She simply said that he didn't even try.  He had all of these resources available to him and he didn't even try.

Fa'Lina says dealing with Abel will take seventy-six years.

http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Ab_013.php
http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Ab_014.php

So?  That could mean any number of things.  It could have just been a ruse so she could pile drive him with the little ban on his children for a bit.

Aaryanna says Aniz could have been defeated anytime.

Again:  No she didn't.  Didn't even imply that.  All she's pissed about is that Abel just sat there and cowered rather than even try, and now he's whining about how things played out.  Things he didn't even *try* and change.

Fa'Lina says there are serious political reasons why Aniz can't be touched.

Sure is, but I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts that if it was Abel who went out and 'touched' him, folks wouldn't have a whole lot to say.  His own family turned on him, and he reaped the rewards of his misdeeds at his own family's hands.  If anyone else interfered I could see grounds for political uproar, but then again there's enough folks in high places who'd like to neutralize Aniz for one reason or another that I think there'd be a pretty hard to break stalemate there.  Things might break out into all out war.. and I don't think any of them want or can truly survive that right now.  Despite some recovery, the 'cubi still aren't in the best of shape after the Dragon/Cubi war.

[Les]

Fa'Lina mentioned repercussions from Taun's clan.. I wonder.  does Taun have any interest or sympathies toward Aniz in particular.. or is it part of her self-ascribed role as 'guardian of the `Cubi' that makes her belligerent at the idea of 'turning-over' any `Cubi to outsiders, regardless of reason?

Ever since we had Taun's page page I've leant towards the "Even if a Cubi deserves it, race comes before justification." otherwise no doubt at all Fa'lina would have made good on turning him over no question.

Indeed, though I wonder if she would or wouldn't be eager to help train Abel up if he just availed himself of such services.. keep things 'in-house' as it were.

[Shachza]

If you think about it, Abel's kinda like Shinji from neon-genesis.  

I think Shinji showed more courage than Abel ever did and that really sad.

And I think you're wrong.  I hated that kid so much by the end of that series.

"Shinji, if you don't kill one very evil person then everyone in the world is going to die!"
"WAAAAAAA!  Hurting people is bad, I can't decide what to do!  WAAAAAAA!"

Also remember that Fa'lina can't tell if Aniz was serious about killing May.  If Fa'lina had questions, what chance would other cubi have.

He's crazy.  Would you want to take the risk?  He's gone completely unpredictable.  Hence the problem here.

Would Aary care what happened to beings such as May?  If her only feeling is that Abel should have gone after Aniz, that isn't necessarily the best approach.  Abel doesn't have any good options.

Sure he does.  He could have actually tried to train himself.  Instead he just hid away and cried from what we've heard.  Even if you toss aside all of the other folks who wanted to help with the claim of they're just using him and would probably end in May getting killed, he had tonnes of resources available to him that he could have used to arm and prepare himself to take Aniz down before he was a threat to May.

I agree, he was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't.  But he avoided the issue, which means he defaulted to "didn't" which is the worst way to do anything.  It wasn't a conscious decision based on the facts of the issue, he just hid in a corner until Fa'lina dragged him out to face his problem at the last point in his life in which he might be able to come to some kind of resolution.

Sheesh, are we really siding with Aary on this?  Her methodology sucks, and I feel like a bit of a dick now.

Fa'Lina mentioned repercussions from Taun's clan.. I wonder.  does Taun have any interest or sympathies toward Aniz in particular.. or is it part of her self-ascribed role as 'guardian of the `Cubi' that makes her belligerent at the idea of 'turning-over' any `Cubi to outsiders, regardless of reason?

Ever since we had Taun's page page I've leant towards the "Even if a Cubi deserves it, race comes before justification." otherwise no doubt at all Fa'lina would have made good on turning him over no question.

That's a good policy to hold if you want to exterminate your own race.

[PetFriendAmy]

A few reasons off the top of my head why Abel would be scared to fight Aniz:

-Not sure if he'd be strong enough. Yes, Aniz hadn't finished battle training and yadda-yadda, but when a guy cuts people into multiple chunks without even thinking, that would probably make a pretty strong and lasting impression.

-Scared of fighting/killing in general. I mean, blood-phobia, for one. And if this is anything to go off of, I'd say it's a fair bet that he's scared to kill people in general because he doesn't want to become like his father.

-Potential repercussions. It's already been said that Aniz might've killed May if Abel showed up, plus who knows what kind of political issues and whatnot would spring up. There really wasn't any telling what would happen if he decided to show up and battle him to the death.

-May. We already know that he was scared his mom would hate him, and his showing up just to kill someone could possibly make her hate him even more in his mind.

-General feeling of "it's okay, I have more time." He didn't really realize how time was marching on around him, so he put it off and figured he could always get to it another day.


...but yeah, there'd be a lot of things that could've potentially gone wrong, so I can understand why he'd be scared. XD; And yeah, maybe it's a little cowardly to be held back by so many what ifs, but can you really blame him? Going out and battling someone to the death isn't the kind of thing he's used to.

[Mao]

I agree, he was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't.  But he avoided the issue, which means he defaulted to "didn't" which is the worst way to do anything.  It wasn't a conscious decision based on the facts of the issue, he just hid in a corner until Fa'lina dragged him out to face his problem at the last point in his life in which he might be able to come to some kind of resolution.

Sheesh, are we really siding with Aary on this?  Her methodology sucks, and I feel like a bit of a dick now.

I have to agree with the worst possible solution view.  It's a sad, sad waste.  I just hope he learns from this either from the rather harsh and unpleasant lashing he's taking from Aary.  Don't get me wrong, I think she's being a real bitch in how she's delivering this, but I think it's what Abel needs.  People have been pretty nice to him so far, particularly Fa'lina.  He's been coddled.  Time for some harsh lovin' imho.  Sometimes you have to be the villain to get people to see the truth.  Sometimes a villain is what is needed to give people that shove they need, that spark that drives them forward to where they need to go and to what they need to do.  It's better if you take that role knowingly and execute it with care, because through it you can eventually have the hero you helped give rise to realize that what you did wasn't out of malice or hatred but out of necessity and sometimes, desperation.

I'm not convinced that Aary is doing this with that kind of mindset, but I won't write it off.  Either way, I hope that this is the spark that spurs Abel forward, even if only a little bit.  From what we've seen of the future Abel though?  I feel the outlook is grim.  He's still a coward who runs from his problems and is ruled by fear.  Fear of himself.  Fear of his past.  Fear of others.  He's a coward.

A few reasons off the top of my head why Abel would be scared to fight Aniz:

-Not sure if he'd be strong enough. Yes, Aniz hadn't finished battle training and yadda-yadda, but when a guy cuts people into multiple chunks without even thinking, that would probably make a pretty strong and lasting impression.

-Scared of fighting/killing in general. I mean, blood-phobia, for one. And if this is anything to go off of, I'd say it's a fair bet that he's scared to kill people in general because he doesn't want to become like his father.

-Potential repercussions. It's already been said that Aniz might've killed May if Abel showed up, plus who knows what kind of political issues and whatnot would spring up. There really wasn't any telling what would happen if he decided to show up and battle him to the death.

-May. We already know that he was scared his mom would hate him, and his showing up just to kill someone could possibly make her hate him even more in his mind.

-General feeling of "it's okay, I have more time." He didn't really realize how time was marching on around him, so he put it off and figured he could always get to it another day.


...but yeah, there'd be a lot of things that could've potentially gone wrong, so I can understand why he'd be scared. XD; And yeah, maybe it's a little cowardly to be held back by so many what ifs, but can you really blame him? Going out and battling someone to the death isn't the kind of thing he's used to.

These are good points, don't get me wrong.  I just think it's kind of sad and pathetic to be held back like that.  He's got stuff in place that could have resolved most of those, but he didn't even try.  He was absolutely paralyzed from the looks of it.  It's like watching a virtuoso pianist who is acclaimed greatly from his CD's and recordings being afraid to preform publicly because someone might boo him.  Despite having the ability to pull together a stage crew who could make it pretty well as good as his studio.

As I've said elsewhere though, he doesn't have to kill Aniz to neutralize him.  There doesn't need to be bloodshed.  Not that he explored any of those options either from the sounds of it.

[Infranscia]

-Not sure if he'd be strong enough. Yes, Aniz hadn't finished battle training and yadda-yadda, but when a guy cuts people into multiple chunks without even thinking, that would probably make a pretty strong and lasting impression.

I'm going to build off that a bit.

Looking back at the first half of the story, Abel DID try to fight ol' daddy...  With much less than optimal results.  Again, yes, he didn't finish his training, but if Abel hit him with a chair hard enough that it shattered and Aniz didn't even bat an eye, you have to wonder what a second attempt would end in.  Yes, it's possible that Abel could have completed a combat course that his father never did, but sometimes power can bridge the experience/training gap, and I highly doubt that Abel would have been able to gain as much power as his dad had in 40 years.

And for allies... Well, we don't know how strong the average Cubi is, especially just students at the academy who haven't had the chance to feed off souls or anything.

It's like watching a virtuoso pianist who is acclaimed greatly from his CD's and recordings being afraid to preform publicly because someone might boo him.

Or a highly talented violinist being afraid of performing in front of an audience because his pants might fall down.

...Sorry, I've seen a few Bewitched reruns recently, and that actually happened in one of the episodes.  Twice.

[Eon]

Dude... Aaryanna just won many respect points from me!

[VAE]

I logged in mainly to say this - i have not so much time

AARYANNA FTW!   I liked her character the entire comic no matter what villain does everyone make of her, and now she said something i was thinking for ages, pretty much in the same way i would have done and well, also proved that my dislike of abel was well-reasoned.
Abel had every opportunity to beat Aniz as Aniz himself was a good for nothing back at school and even if improving somewhat still would be a not so great opponent.
And Abel, instead of fixing him up for good, especially when Destainia has offered him help, did nothing to fix it .... In other words he does not deserve sympathy, but a whack in the head!
And although it sounds evil - fears can be fought with exposition and stuff...
I guess i am so partial as at my worst i tend to be similarly useless and afraid of failure and well , abel has promoted it to a lifestyle, especially when anything his father could do he has potential to do as well - he has powers anyone can just dream about!!
And Aary has at least achieved her goal - she found where Dee has dissapeared, unlike someone.

[Mao]

Looking back at the first half of the story, Abel DID try to fight ol' daddy...  With much less than optimal results.  Again, yes, he didn't finish his training, but if Abel hit him with a chair hard enough that it shattered and Aniz didn't even bat an eye, you have to wonder what a second attempt would end in.  Yes, it's possible that Abel could have completed a combat course that his father never did, but sometimes power can bridge the experience/training gap, and I highly doubt that Abel would have been able to gain as much power as his dad had in 40 years.

Maybe not.  It's very hard to say on that one.  The problem is:  He didn't even try, so we'll never know.  He instead just hid away and was, essentially, a coward.  To afraid to even find out if it was possible.

I'll give Dan's rapid growth from regular adventurer who had a hard time taking down Regina, to one that had her pissing herself scared as a counter example though.  Many people play Regina down quite a bit, but she's still got some really nasty *racial* traits that make her formidable by default that get even nastier if utilized well.  In Aniz, we have someone who goofed off in school who has some nasty racial traits and a bit of experience with them, and Abel who has the same racial traits and the chance to possibly learn the skills as well as many others that could make all the difference.  Too bad he didn't even *try*.

And for allies... Well, we don't know how strong the average Cubi is, especially just students at the academy who haven't had the chance to feed off souls or anything.

It wasn't just Cubi students.  Some of the professors (Destania) were interested in Aniz's head.  As has been mentioned, Kria would probably like a piece or two of Aniz and I have a hard time believing that, given how liked May seems to be, there aren't a few more nasties from Zinvth who wouldn't mind taking a chunk out of him on her behalf.  Toss on folks who just plain want to help Abel out of kindness/compassion/sympathy and no real malice towards Aniz... plenty of folks about.

Or a highly talented violinist being afraid of performing in front of an audience because his pants might fall down.

...Sorry, I've seen a few Bewitched reruns recently, and that actually happened in one of the episodes.  Twice.

Great, now I'm picturing Abel walking up to Aniz in the main arc at some point and his pants dropping just as he's finally about to get a spine.  *snerks*

[Chakat Blackspots]

Aary is quite right here.  When you think about it, Abel is a wimp who is self loathing and uses Saia as a security blanket (as Turnsky said).