2013/01/20 [DMFA #1371] - Once upon an time...

[ChaosMageX]

Well, you are entitled to your opinion, but if she really pulled off a gambit 50 or so years long, I'd be friggin' impressed.

Well, when compared to the typical lifespan of cubi, 50 years is practically nothing, and as other strips have indicated, creatures that live that long might have a penchant for creating schemes that can last several decades if not longer.

If Dark Pegasus can create a plan that takes decades alone to prepare, I wouldn't be surprised if Destania would do the same thing.  For all we know Destania could have been planning this since before Abel was even born, since she probably knew it was Aniz's goal to have kids.  It might have just happened that offing Abel fit snugly into her grand plan, and if he hadn't existed in the first place or had done something different that wouldn't have made offing him work to help accomplish her ultimate goals, she might have thought of an alternate way to move her grand plan forward.

But, Dark Pegasus himself doing that was impressive. Besides, the length of the plan compared to lifespan isn't really the determining issue in hatching a plan of this sort - planning for longer periods of time becomes progressively harder and harder. Hell, if you want to do lifespan ratios, a solidly executed, complex plan which takes five years to a person is damn impressive too.

Hmmm, I guess that might be one of the reasons why HR people ask you where you see yourself in 5 years.  How precisely you answer can help show them how impressive you are.

But yeah, you're right, I'm not sure if there is any evidence to indicate Destania has had a precise plan that she's been executing for at least a decade, other than possibly reading between the lines of this strip.  All of the actions she's done so far might have been based solely on her emotions.

However, if she does admit that her husband and her son were nothing more than pawns in a master plan to eliminate the dragons from Furrae, then that would make her impressive, since it means she's been planning this for at least as long as Dan has been alive, but it'll also make her a cold evil monster, at least in my book.

[VAE]

Destania has kind of always been one of the "evil teammates," alongside Kria and Biggs.  Right now, she's working against the heroes; soon, she'll probably be on their side, and everyone will treat her with the same suspicion they always did.  I mean, how many Beings has she tortured in her classes?  How many folks must she have killed for Biggs if for no other reason?  And she's still trying to wipe out the dragons, even if Pyroduck is probably exempt...

One of those things is not like the others. Wiping out the dragons does sound like an eminently reasonable goal, especially for a cubi.

[Tuyu]

But yeah, you're right, I'm not sure if there is any evidence to indicate Destania has had a precise plan that she's been executing for at least a decade, other than possibly reading between the lines of this strip.  All of the actions she's done so far might have been based solely on her emotions.

However, if she does admit that her husband and her son were nothing more than pawns in a master plan to eliminate the dragons from Furrae, then that would make her impressive, since it means she's been planning this for at least as long as Dan has been alive, but it'll also make her a cold evil monster, at least in my book.

It could also be something she came up with after marrying Edward. Suppose she does have feelings for him. Suppose also that she had a plan to eliminate the dragons by sacrificing Dan, but which would also preserve Edward wherever he's being kept. She could then recover Edward, have more babies, continue the clan, have her cake and eat it too, all by sacrificing one child.

[Drayco84]

Is it just me, or does Matilda's third eye look kind of... Derpy?

[Zebra Bug]

There is no point in challenging Amber.  As the author, she is omnipotent and omniscient with respect to Furrae.   I was merely discussing the direction the plot seemed to be going.

I see the following as the main methods for converting Destania back into an anti-hero.

It isn't really Destania.  Somebody else is pretending to be Destania. (like Dark Phoenix)

Destania is under the mind control of somebody really evil.  (like Darth Vader and Palpatine)

Destania had secretly planned for the attack to fail and was pretending to be angry.  (Xanotos gambit)

It was all a dream,  (like Dallas)

Destania knows a secret about Abel that makes him a danger to all of Furrae.  (If you knew a baby would grow up to become Hitler, would you kill him.)

Having Abel killed would advance some other plot that would serve the greater good.  (like Dumbledore in Harry Potter expecting Harry to be killed going after he who must not be named)

I'm sure that there are others.

My goodness, someone is perceptive and reads TV Tropes. Made my brain hurt. But they all make sense.

There is a chance that this could have been something Destiania has been working on since she was 'betrayed' by Aniz. It was the first time she'd ever been in love, and he spurned her. Her heart was broken, and she never was very 'nice' to begin with. He was the only one she let soften her as far as we know. She had massive motivation to get him back. Who knows just how deep she will play for revenge, even though he's already dead. By her husband's previous wife's doing no less. I wonder if that is why she married him to begin with?

[Naldru]

After looking at your reply, I took the quiz and also came out white.  I suppose that white also indicates over analysis.  You will notice that I left out the options that have been threatened with instant transportation to the tin hat section, although I just realized that one of them came close.   I wonder if Jyrras would also rank as white.  By the way, your reply also prompted me to look at what TV Tropes had on Dan and Mab.  Boy, is that a wall of text.

Many cubi claim that they don't over-react.  I think that that strip not only illustrates the extent to which cubi can over-react, it also answers the question over whether somebody impersonating a phoenix could handle the flames.  As for genocide, homicidal rage, and massive property destruction, one can always fall back on the cubi mantra: it seemed like a good idea at the time.

[Zebra Bug]

I don't know if Abel was actually engulfed in flame or if it was just meant as a sight gag though.

[Grey Wolf]

We're all assuming, so far, that Destania isn't lying (I don't see her motivation, but I suppose their could be one...). Just putting that out there.


I wonder if Destania was actually trying to do Abel a favor? She referred to the hit as a 'gift.'
Remember when she (posing as Devin's ghost) asked Abel if he was going to kill himself? And I could be reading things wrong, but I've noticed Abel has shown extremely depressive/borderline suicidal behavior. Heck, he even told Fa'lina that he didn't see any point to his life after his father died. Destania once said killing Abel would be a 'mercy.'
Maybe Destania is upset because she's thinking "Abel, you idiot! I gave you what you want/what's best for you! Why didn't you take it?"