2013/12/23 [Matilda #41] Here We Go with Matilda's Fratricide

[Rafe]

And she's sure playing it nasty.  I wonder how serious the trouble she stirred up actually is.  I'm sure she wouldn't endanger her sister, but she might have marked herself for death for all we know.

[Howl]

Matilda, what you've done is gonna cost you an arm and a leg. You better head back real quick.

At least you can give your sister a hand with coping, though.

[Zebra Bug]

Holy hell-os Matilda looks fierce. And.....vicious. And angry. I think she might have caused a break-down in her poor sister.

[Tuyu]

Wow...how perfectly horror movie of her...

But I still don't see how this is going the help her or her sister.

"C'MON, AMBAAARGH! LET ME HAVE IT!!1!"

[tehbeefer]

So this is how it's going to play, eh?  If Heshi can't/won't take care of them, she'll do it herself.  I think the last couple of pages and this one really help show that, despite her tribe's rather unfortunate view on women, Matilda really is a blue volcano mythos, complete with the aggressive and temperamental nature inherent to her kind (not necessarily a bad thing).  I like that.

[ArchTeryx]

Called it. :-)

Yeah, this isn't exactly a Wonderland futterwacken Matilda came out doing.  I were Hishnai, I'd think that Matilda had gone absolutely bugf(#k insane and want to be somewhere else too.  Like maybe a few planets over, in some nice hot corner of Io or something.

What'll be interesting is how her society DEALS with someone busily having a complete psychotic break. The bugf@*k insane don't follow rules, including in combat. Kicking her out may be the safest way to go, but maybe they'll be dumb enough to line up and let Matilda beat the crap out of them with her brand new Hand of Glory.

[joshofspam]

Of course, one can wonder just how much Matilda will do.

some have mentioned that maybe she would at least try to set her sister up. Then again, we can't be to sure how much her culture has influenced her and to what ends. What if under these situations it's up to one of the siblings to kill off the entire immediate bloodline in a case of honor to prevent weakness to spread through the tribe?

I can't be sure of what's next, but that scene does not look like it will be handled to well with those that are involved and are going to be. This is going to have long turn ramifications most likely.

[HaDDea]

Wow...how perfectly horror movie of her...

But I still don't see how this is going the help her or her sister.

Well, if this earns her recognition as a male, she may be able to arrange a marriage for her sister prior to being banished - it isn't pleasant, but it's better than waiting around to be done away with by the rest of the tribe.

[ZacAttac21]

What we expected, yet not what we expected. Well played, Amber.

[tehbeefer]

"Alright boys, so which one of you fine buckos wants to marry dame maniac what tore her own brother's arm off?"
So much for her eligibility, though this should actually help make sure her sister winds up with a keeper.

[Wanderer]

Mentally scarring siblings for fun and proft.

[ArchTeryx]

"Alright boys, so which one of you fine buckos wants to marry dame maniac what tore her own brother's arm off?"
So much for her eligibility, though this should actually help make sure her sister winds up with a keeper.

Yeah.  "Treat her sister with some decency or she'll come back and beat the crap out of you with your own arm."

Sound about right for this batch of Mythos, really!

[Tuyu]

I could see them telling their kids that, but the current adult males?  A female tough enough to kill Heshi isn't that impressive...

In fact, I'll go all the way and say their reaction would be, "Killed by his sister? Yeah, that sounds about right for Heshi."

[Hariman]

I could see them telling their kids that, but the current adult males?  A female tough enough to kill Heshi isn't that impressive...

In fact, I'll go all the way and say their reaction would be, "Killed by his sister? Yeah, that sounds about right for Heshi."

And then she beats someone unconscious with her brother's arm to be taken seriously.

Or, more likely, everyone just believes her and lets her leave, with Kesserk and Hishnai taking her an her brother's place in the mountain.

[Scow2]

So this is how it's going to play, eh?  If Heshi can't/won't take care of them, she'll do it herself.  I think the last couple of pages and this one really help show that, despite her tribe's rather unfortunate view on women, Matilda really is a blue volcano mythos, complete with the aggressive and temperamental nature inherent to her kind (not necessarily a bad thing).  I like that.

Tribes unfortunate views on women? Like the ones Matilda expressed in the rest of her whole-cloth lie she made up about her banishment story to capitalize on a being's sympathy? So far, all the women have been happy with the way their culture treats them, up until a psychotic breakdown occurs.

Of course, we'll have to wait to see how Matilda's being a female plays into it, but I suspect it won't be as simple as the "Rebellious Woman sticks it to the patriarchy" story Matilda presented.

[HaDDea]

Tribes unfortunate views on women? Like the ones Matilda expressed in the rest of her whole-cloth lie she made up about her banishment story to capitalize on a being's sympathy? So far, all the women have been happy with the way their culture treats them, up until a psychotic breakdown occurs.

Of course, we'll have to wait to see how Matilda's being a female plays into it, but I suspect it won't be as simple as the "Rebellious Woman sticks it to the patriarchy" story Matilda presented.

I'm not sure she is trying to capitalize on a being's sympathy - I do think she is maintaining a lie for a reason (though I do not know what that reason is). I think that Matilda's telling of the gender imbalance is at least broadly true because of what her father says to her about Heshi finding her and Hishnai good husbands, the rather casual attitude towards males fighting and killing each other shown at the beginning of the tale, and the other stuff in her actual recollections that backs up most of the cultural stuff she's talked about. Plus, it is really hard to make up a true whole-cloth lie; it's much easier to make alterations to the truth.

I suspect Matilda is lying so that in the event that some adventurers got it into their heads to go near the Blue Volcano Mythos and revealed they had met her, if they revealed the truth about how Heshi really met his end, her sister would be as good as dead. I think Matilda's lying to protect her only remaining family member.

Poor Hishnai - you lost your father, brother and sister all in one day. But poor Matilda lost even more.

[Rafe]

Poor Hishnai - you lost your father, brother and sister all in one day. But poor Matilda lost even more.

True.  She's apparently going to tell Hishnai that she killed her brother (who she actually loved). And so, in order to protect her sister, she's probably going to be hated by her the rest of her life, made a criminal and banished from her people, and is never going to be able to tell anyone the truth.  

It's a very noble and selfless thing to do, especially since no one can ever know how much she gave up to do it.  Matilda would probably have given her life for this not to have happened.  It's possible that she given up something even more valuable to her than her life - her sister's love, her good name, and her home.